“HR Heretics” | How CPOs, CHROs, Founders, and Boards Build High Performing Companies Building Culture-First Companies: Insights from Culture Amp's CEO, Didier Elzinga
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Oct 7, 2025 Didier Elzinga, CEO of Culture Amp and co-founder focused on employee experience, dives into building culture-first companies. He emphasizes that growth is the key driver of employee engagement. Didier reveals that trust in leadership matters more than trust in direct management for retention. He discusses the importance of structured reviews to reduce gender gaps and advocates using data to influence leadership perspectives. The conversation also highlights the balance of empathy and accountability as crucial for fostering a thriving workplace culture.
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From Harry Potter Post To People Tech
- Didier moved from film post-production to founding Culture Amp after realizing people and culture mattered most.
- He wanted to build software to help leaders who are 'glorified psychiatrists' manage people better.
Balancing Trust And Mission
- Culture-first balances seeing the human and demanding high performance from the doing.
- Top performance is culture: you must constantly pull back to align trust and mission orientation.
Top-Right Culture Is Unstable
- The ideal mix of psychological safety and mission focus is unstable and requires constant recovery.
- Leaders must intentionally ride the line and pull the organization back when it drifts.
