Growth Hacking Culture

Ivan Palomino
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The Growth Hacking Culture Podcast is a series of insightful interviews with prominent experts on mindsets, skills and mental resources to grow individually, lead motivated teams and create human-centric work cultures. These episodes are about thought provoking ideas to scale up and growth hack human-centric and performing work cultures. Hosted by Ivan Palomino.

  1. The Communication Gap Nobody Talks About: How to Lead and Be Heard Across Every Generation

    3D AGO

    The Communication Gap Nobody Talks About: How to Lead and Be Heard Across Every Generation

    There's a conversation happening in most organizations that nobody is having out loud. Experienced professionals going quiet in meetings. Younger leaders assuming everyone speaks the same language. Messages that land perfectly with one part of the team and completely miss another. And somewhere in the middle, a slow leak of engagement, trust, and performance that shows up on the bottom line long before anyone names the cause. Lee Caraher has spent decades at this exact intersection. As a CEO, author, and one of the clearest voices on multigenerational leadership, she's watched the same communication breakdowns play out across industries, company sizes, and cultures — and she knows exactly where they start. It starts with an assumption. The belief that because you said it, everyone understood it the same way. That "end of day" means the same thing to a 55-year-old as it does to a 28-year-old. That appreciation looks the same for everyone. That experienced professionals will keep raising their hands forever, even when nobody seems to be listening. In this conversation with Ivan Palomino, Lee gets into the specific habits, blind spots, and mindset shifts that determine whether a multigenerational team performs or quietly falls apart. In this episode: Why specificity — not sensitivity training — is the real fix for generational communication The appreciation languages that actually move people, and why a paycheck isn't one of them How to arc every career so your most experienced people stay valuable and engaged Why staying relevant after 50 isn't optional — and what brain science says about your capacity to do it What leaders owe every generation on their team — and what each generation owes themselves This one is for the leader managing a team that spans 30 years of lived experience. And for the experienced professional wondering whether the organization still has room for what they bring. Connect with Lee Caraher: leecaraher.com | double-forte.com Books: Millennials and Management | The Boomerang Principle 📘 Ivan Palomino is launching his new book: Expired? The Science of Staying Indispensable in a World Obsessed with New → https://www.ivanpalomino.net/expired-book-ivan-palomino   The Growth Hacking Culture is a top 5% global podcast hosted by Ivan Palomino, exploring the human side of leadership and workplace performance.

    55 min
  2. Your Meeting Starts Before You Walk In — Master Presence with Amy Reczek

    APR 21

    Your Meeting Starts Before You Walk In — Master Presence with Amy Reczek

    You've done the work. Hit the targets. Delivered consistently. And yet somehow, when the promotion conversation happens, your name isn't the first one that comes up. It's not about performance. It's about presence. And most of us were never taught the difference. Amy Reczek has spent years helping professionals bridge that gap — not with grand gestures or personal branding frameworks, but with something far more accessible: the small moments most of us are sleepwalking through every day. The elevator ride where your phone is out and the CEO steps in. The conference lobby where you're staring at your badge instead of the room. The flight where you have twenty minutes next to someone who could change everything — and you spend it on autopilot. These aren't missed opportunities by accident. They're missed opportunities by habit. In this conversation, Amy walks us through what she calls the in-between moments — the hallway exchanges, the lunch lines, the thirty seconds before a meeting officially starts — and shows how tiny, intentional shifts in those moments build the kind of credibility and visibility that formal performance reviews simply don't capture. She talks about trading "I-framing" for "U-framing." About replacing rehearsed small talk with genuine curiosity. About how asking "tell me more" opens more doors than any elevator pitch ever will. And about why introverts don't need to become extroverts to lead — they just need a toolkit that works with their energy rather than against it. What makes this conversation genuinely useful is how human it stays throughout. The advice stretches across cultures and personalities — it works for the quiet Swiss executive as much as it does for the naturally gregarious colleague who just needs a little more direction. Amy isn't selling a script. She's offering a way of showing up that feels like you, just more intentional. By the end, you'll start seeing your workplace differently. Not as a series of formal meetings and scheduled interactions — but as a continuous stream of small moments where presence, curiosity, and the willingness to actually listen can quietly change the arc of a career. If you're tired of waiting to be noticed for work you're already doing — this one is for you. Connect with Amy Reczek: Amy's book Connect to Close Her website https://www.amyreczek.com/ About the Host - Ivan Palomino: Ivan Palomino is writing a book. It's called Expired? — and it's about what it actually takes to stay relevant in a world that keeps moving the goalposts. If that question keeps you up at night, you might want to be among the first to hear about it. → ivanpalomino.net/expired-book-ivan-palomino

    52 min
  3. Lisa Woodruff on How to Manage "Invisible Work" and Reclaim Your Mental Clarity

    APR 15

    Lisa Woodruff on How to Manage "Invisible Work" and Reclaim Your Mental Clarity

    In the modern corporate world, we have been sold a lie that if we just find the right app or work an hour longer, we will finally catch up. For many of us, work feels less like a ladder and more like quicksand—the more we struggle, the deeper we sink into a pile of invisible work that never makes it into the official job description. In this episode, we sit down with Lisa Woodruff, founder of Organize 365 and author of Escaping Quicksand. Lisa has spent her career deconstructing the science of productivity and executive function to help people reclaim their most valuable asset: mental clarity. We dive into why your current organizing isn't working, how to build systems that actually protect your weekend, and what it really takes to stay organized as you move from being an individual contributor to a legacy leader. Lisa also explains the heavy "invisible workload" often carried by women, who frequently manage a 30- to 50-hour-a-week household job in addition to their professional roles. In this episode, we discuss: The Myth of Work-Life Balance: Why we should stop seeking "integration" and instead view our time through the distinct categories of work, home, and play. Cognitive Resources: Why your brain is "not a good student" and often brings home problems to the office and work ideas to the backyard. The "Double Planning" System: Using dedicated work boxes and home boxes to capture ideas immediately so the brain doesn't feel fractured. The "Invisible" Household Job: Why managing a home is a full-time economic and operational business that consumes 25 to 40 hours of mental labor per week. Corporate Productivity Killers: Why instant messaging and direct messaging platforms destroy deep work and team efficiency. Energy-Based Scheduling: How to bucket your week into specific days for meetings, deep work, and administration to avoid "task-switching" drain. The "Fake Meeting" Strategy: How employees can reclaim control of their calendars by blocking out time for essential deep work and preparation. The Unhappiness U-Curve: Understanding the psychological dip in your 40s and why it is a vital time to recalibrate for the second half of life. Perfection vs. Excellence: A critical mindset shift that replaces the exhaustion of "being perfect" with the sustainable pursuit of high-effort results and self-grace. Mental Schemas: How our brains move repetitive tasks into long-term memory and why this "invisible" management becomes overwhelming in mid-life. CEO vs. Operations Perspectives: Identifying the different types of "invisible work" performed by visionary leaders versus administrative and warehouse teams. Burnout Prevention: Using retrospective time documentation to prove to leaders where your hours are actually going and regain a sense of control. The 50s Renaissance: Why reaching your 50s often brings a new level of confidence, wisdom, and the ability to finally prioritize your own personal goals.   Stop reacting to the "bing" of the next notification and start building systems that respect your cognitive resources and your life outside the office.   Get a copy of Lisa's latest book here https://organize365.com/escapingquicksand/ Connect with Lisa https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisawoodruff/

    48 min
  4. Working Parents Have the Highest Burnout Rates in Your Company. Here's What to Do About It | Rosina McAlpine

    APR 12

    Working Parents Have the Highest Burnout Rates in Your Company. Here's What to Do About It | Rosina McAlpine

    Every HR leader knows the numbers. Absenteeism. Turnover. Declining performance. What most won't say out loud is who's driving them. Working parents. Not because they're less committed. Not because they can't handle pressure. But because we built the modern workplace for a reality that stopped existing decades ago — and nobody has had the courage to redesign it. Dr. Rosina McAlpine has spent over a decade working with hundreds of organizations and hundreds of thousands of working parents on exactly this problem. As CEO of Win Win Parenting and a former university researcher in work-family integration, Dr. Rosina McAlpine doesn't deal in feel-good programs and tick-box policies. She deals in data, systems change, and the kind of practical frameworks that actually move the needle. In this conversation with Ivan Palomino, Dr. Rosina McAlpine breaks down why the "leave your personal life at the door" model is now a business liability, what a genuinely family-friendly organization looks like beyond the branding, and how HR leaders can build the business case in numbers a CFO will respect. If you're an HR professional, a people leader, or an executive who suspects your organization is losing more than it realizes — this episode is your starting point.   In this episode: The 5-point framework for a workplace where working parents actually thrive Why equity and equality are not the same thing — and why it matters for everyone The real cost of working parent burnout your finance team isn't tracking Why no program works without leadership role modeling behind it Where to start when the budget is tight and the skeptics are loud Connect with Dr. Rosina McAlpine: winwinparenting.com | drrosina.com    Growth Hacking Culture is a top 5% global podcast hosted by Ivan Palomino, exploring the human side of leadership and workplace performance.

    47 min
  5. The Neuroscience of Company Culture: How Stress, Psychological Safety and Brain Science Drive (or Kill) Organizational Performance

    APR 5

    The Neuroscience of Company Culture: How Stress, Psychological Safety and Brain Science Drive (or Kill) Organizational Performance

    Most organizations are investing billions in leadership development, resilience training, and mindfulness programs — and burnout rates keep climbing. The problem isn't the intervention. It's that they're treating symptoms while the culture keeps producing the damage. In this episode of the Growth Hacking Culture Podcast, Ivan Palomino speaks with Dr. Irena O'Brien — cognitive neuroscientist and founder of The Neuroscience School — about what brain science actually tells us about workplace culture, stress, and organizational performance. Dr. Irena cuts through the corporate wellness theatre to deliver what the research really says: culture is not a soft layer on top of performance. It is one of the key conditions the brain uses to calculate threat, cost, effort, and possibility. And when that culture is chaotic, punitive, or overloaded — your people's brains are spending more of the day managing biological cost than doing the work you hired them for. In this episode you will discover: → The most dangerous neuroscience myth running loose in corporate culture right now → Why insight and awareness training don't create behavioral change — and what does → What psychological unsafe environments do to the prefrontal cortex over time → The concept of allostasis and why every CEO should understand it before making culture decisions → Why high performers burn out faster — and what the data says about culture vs. compensation as a driver of turnover → The 6-hour cognitive limit and how decision fatigue silently degrades your organization's judgment → Why working from home improved productivity for many — and what that tells us about energy and autonomy → How to organize work around your brain's actual energy peaks Free resource from Dr. Irena O'Brien: Applied Neuroscience Starter Kit — built specifically for this episode's audience: 👉 https://loveneuroscience.com/culture 🌐 Listen to her podcast, The Neuroscience of Coaching https://neuroscienceschool.com/podcasts/  About the host: Ivan Palomino 📩 Sign up for Simply Human (free monthly newsletter): https://simplyhuman.substack.com/ 🎙️ Follow the Growth Hacking Culture Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/growth-hacking-culture/id1610439533 📝 Visit Ivan's Blog: https://www.ivanpalomino.net/blog-ivan-palomino 🐦 Twitter/X: https://x.com/ivanpalomino_ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ivanpalomino.official/

    36 min
  6. Why Talent Won't Save You | Evan Marks on the Mental Edge Every Leader Needs

    MAR 30

    Why Talent Won't Save You | Evan Marks on the Mental Edge Every Leader Needs

    Most leaders are wired to push harder when things get tough. Evan Marks spent 25 years on Wall Street doing exactly that — until a panic attack stopped him cold at 46. What he built after that experience became M1 Performance Group, and a coaching philosophy that's now used by top executives, athletes, and traders around the world. His core argument: talent is table stakes. What actually separates the best from the rest is what happens in your head when everything goes sideways. In this conversation, Evan and Ivan get into the real stuff — the 35,000 decisions your brain processes daily, why "controlling your emotions" is the wrong goal, how to find composure when the pressure never lets up, and what regret has to do with any of it. No hacks. No toxic positivity. Just a honest conversation about what elite performance actually looks like from the inside. Evan's book The Quiet Edge drops soon.  Find him at m1performancegroup.com And don't forget to listen to his latest TedTalk What if Your Worst Day Could Change the World Growth Hacking Culture is a top 5% global podcast hosted by Ivan Palomino, exploring the human side of leadership and workplace culture.

    50 min
  7. Fredrik Haren on The Curiosity Architecture: Designing a Brain That Thrives at Work

    MAR 23

    Fredrik Haren on The Curiosity Architecture: Designing a Brain That Thrives at Work

    Have you ever felt like your brain is on "auto-pilot"? You sit in the same chair, stare at the same screen, and follow the same routines until your office feels like a "sensory desert". Biologically, we are wired for discovery, yet the modern workplace often trades that natural curiosity for pure efficiency. In this episode, I’m joined by the "Creativity Explorer" himself, Fredrik Haren. Fredrik has traveled to over 75 countries to interview the world's most inventive minds, and he’s here to help us build what he calls the "Curiosity Architecture". We aren't just talking about "brainstorming" fluff. We’re diving into the real tactics—from the "50-Meter Rule" used by Swiss illustrators to the way an identical twin uses AI to "brainstorm with themselves". If you've ever felt that curiosity at work is an "admission of incompetence," this conversation will help you flip the script and turn "not knowing" into your greatest professional asset. 🎙️ In this episode, we explore: The 50-Meter Rule: Why turning around every 50 meters helps you see "twice as much forest"—and how to apply that to your desk. Micro-Rituals for the Office: Why simply shifting your chair 25 degrees can trick your brain out of a "biologically stuck" state. The Art of "Fractaling": How to find world-class ideas by diving deep into your own supply chain or the lives of your customers. Bypassing the Amygdala: How leaders can design meetings that signal "safety to play" rather than just "safety to comply". The "What Do You Think?" Rule: A life-changing tip for raising creative children and leading more innovative teams. 🕒 Timestamps: 00:00 – Why the modern office is a "Sensory Desert". 05:40 – The 50-Meter Rule: A ritual for seeing what others miss. 12:10 – The "Dopamine Trick": Breaking out of auto-pilot. 17:35 – Digital vs. Tactile: Why your brain needs physical artifacts. 23:15 – What is "Fractaling"? Finding the hidden value in your work. 30:10 – Designing "Safe" Meetings: Getting the best from your team. 35:30 – Questions > Answers: Rewiring the corporate reward system. 45:50 – AI as your "Digital Twin": Scaling your own curiosity. 52:40 – Final Thoughts: One small change to make to your desk today. 🔗 Connect with Fredrik Haren: Website: FredrikHaren.com Book: The World of Creativity    About the host: Ivan Palomino Sign up for "Simply Human" (Ivan's free monthly email newsletter): https://simplyhuman.substack.com/ Follow the Growth Hacking Culture Podcast on Spotify or Apple podcast Visit Ivan Palomino's Blog: https://www.ivanpalomino.net/blog-ivan-palomino Follow Ivan Palomino on Twitter: https://x.com/ivanpalomino_ Follow Ivan Palomino on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ivanpalomino.official/

    54 min
  8. The Habit Factor: Transform Corporate Values into Daily Actions with Christoph Merrill

    MAR 18

    The Habit Factor: Transform Corporate Values into Daily Actions with Christoph Merrill

    In this episode of Growth Hacking Culture, we dive deep into The Habit Factor—the scientific bridge between stated company values and actual employee behavior. Our guest, Christoph Merrill (The Habit Freak), argues that most culture initiatives fail because they rely on inspiration rather than habit formation. When the pressure of the corporate world hits, people don't fall back on mission statements; they fall back on their habitual defaults. If you want to transform your organization, you have to stop "managing" culture and start "hacking" habits. In this episode, we deconstruct: The Habit Loop in Business: How to identify the cues and rewards that drive current (and often counter-productive) office behaviors. Why Willpower is a Corporate Myth: Why even the most dedicated employees struggle with culture change without a habit-based system. Identity-Based Habit Formation: Moving your team from "following rules" to "embodying the brand" through consistent, repeatable actions. The 92-Day Habit Rule: Why short-term "culture workshops" don't work and the timeline required for a new habit to become the organizational default. The Zappos Model: Real-world examples of how habit-driven identity creates a self-sustaining high-performance culture. Whether you are an HR leader, a CEO, or a manager looking to improve team dynamics, this conversation provides a tactical blueprint for using habit science to drive measurable cultural transformation. Connect with Christoph Merrill: Want to learn more about mastering your defaults or bringing habit-based transformation to your team? Connect with "The Habit Freak" here: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophmerrill/  Website: https://www.christophmerrill.com/  Show Notes & Timestamps 00:00 – The problem with "Values on Walls." 05:30 – Christoph Merrill’s journey into habit science. 11:15 – Why willpower fails in a corporate environment. 17:40 – Designing a "Default Operating System" for your team. 25:20 – The 92-Day Rule: Moving from initiative to instinct. 33:10 – Maintaining cultural integrity during high-stress periods. 42:05 – Practical first steps for "Culture Hacking" your department.

    1h 2m
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About

The Growth Hacking Culture Podcast is a series of insightful interviews with prominent experts on mindsets, skills and mental resources to grow individually, lead motivated teams and create human-centric work cultures. These episodes are about thought provoking ideas to scale up and growth hack human-centric and performing work cultures. Hosted by Ivan Palomino.

Information

  • Creator
    Ivan Palomino
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 All rights reserved Ivan Palomino.
  • Show Website
    Growth Hacking Culture

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