086: Culture Isn’t a Poster on the Wall—It’s the Ground Your Team Walks On, with Guest Eyad Mubaied
Release Date: 06/12/2025
114: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Sandbox
Leadership Sandbox: Strategies to Uplevel Workplace Communication, Team Collaboration, and Your Corporate Culture
Merry Christmas 2025! In this special holiday episode, Tammy J. Bond shares a powerful message on the "gift of who you are." As we sprint toward the end of the year, it’s easy to focus on quotas and wrap-ups, but the most impactful gifts you can give your team cost nothing. Tammy breaks down four essential "gifts" every leader should offer this season to restore hope, spark courage, and set a transformational tone for 2026. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: The Power of Being Truly Seen: Tammy shares a personal reflection on why seeing the person behind the production is a leader’s...
info_outline
113: The 2025 Leadership Paradox - Control vs. Empowerment
Leadership Sandbox: Strategies to Uplevel Workplace Communication, Team Collaboration, and Your Corporate Culture
As we round out 2025, leaders are facing a series of "this-or-that" choices: Control vs. Empowerment, Stability vs. Agility, Automation vs. Humanity. Tammy J. Bond argues that the real superpower for 2026 isn't choosing one—it’s holding the space for "Both-And." This episode explores why managers are "drowning" in complexity and how the "Yes, And" framework—Tammy's personal philosophy—can transform paralyzing tensions into opportunities for growth. Learn how to stop "reloading the dishwasher" for your team and start building a culture of trusted productivity. The Leadership Tensions of...
info_outline
112: December Is Here: Use Year-End Pressure to Fire Up Q1
Leadership Sandbox: Strategies to Uplevel Workplace Communication, Team Collaboration, and Your Corporate Culture
December isn't just about holidays; it's the most emotionally loaded month for your team—full of stress, burnout, and falling engagement. Tammy J. Bond challenges leaders who treat this month as a "survive and hope January is better" exercise. That approach already sets up Q1 for failure. This episode reveals the high cost of manager burnout and provides the necessary shift in mindset and three essential conversations leaders must have before December 31st to clear the "Workplace Sandbox" and transition into a high-performance 2026. The December Reality Check The Engagement Crisis: The...
info_outline
111: AI Is Here - But So Are Human Emotions
Leadership Sandbox: Strategies to Uplevel Workplace Communication, Team Collaboration, and Your Corporate Culture
AI is here, but so are human emotions. Tammy J. Bond highlights that implementing AI is not just a technical deployment; it's a massive disruption to your team's identity, sense of security, and self-worth. The core challenge for 2026 is leading the emotional side of automation, as your team is both hopeful and terrified. This episode exposes how leaders are currently dropping the ball with silence and lack of guidance, offering a playbook to intentionally build trust and human sustainability around AI usage. The Human Cost of AI Silence Leaders are often failing to implement AI well because...
info_outline
110: Grateful Leadership
Leadership Sandbox: Strategies to Uplevel Workplace Communication, Team Collaboration, and Your Corporate Culture
In this quick Thanksgiving episode, Tammy J. Bond challenges the notion that gratitude is just a holiday tradition—it's a leadership strategy. She shares that leaders often get stuck in a "scarcity loop," focusing only on what is not working yet. This episode provides four quick points to help leaders shift their perspective from lack to presence, turning gratitude into a proactive force that expands positive outcomes and boosts team performance. Key Leadership Insights: The Scarcity Loop: Leaders commonly focus on the "yet's" (what they don't have yet, who's not performing yet), leading...
info_outline
109: How to Handle the Passive-Aggressive Co-Worker Without Losing Your Mind (or Your Cool)
Leadership Sandbox: Strategies to Uplevel Workplace Communication, Team Collaboration, and Your Corporate Culture
Passive aggression is the emotional sabotage dressed as politeness that is silently draining your team's energy and trust. Tammy J. Bond pulls back the curtain on this pervasive workplace toxicity, revealing that leaders who ignore it aren't keeping the peace—they're preserving the problem. With over 50% of employees reporting being targeted by passive aggression, this episode provides direct, no-fluff strategies for leaders and middle managers to confront this "camouflaged conflict" and restore health to their teams. Key Leadership Insights: The High Cost of Avoidance: Passive aggression...
info_outline
108: Hey Ladies! Stop Apologizing. Seriously.
Leadership Sandbox: Strategies to Uplevel Workplace Communication, Team Collaboration, and Your Corporate Culture
Tammy J. Bond fires up the microphone for women leaders, challenging the pervasive habit of over-apologizing in professional settings. She argues that frequently defaulting to phrases like "I'm sorry, but..." or "This might not be the right time, but..." causes your apologies to show up louder than your actual leadership, draining your credibility and inviting doubt. This episode confronts the conditioning that leads women to wait to be invited instead of owning the room and provides a power move to replace apologies with confident, conscious confrontation. Key Leadership Insights: The...
info_outline
107: Are You in the Right Seat?
Leadership Sandbox: Strategies to Uplevel Workplace Communication, Team Collaboration, and Your Corporate Culture
In this quick, yet critical episode, Tammy J. Bond tackles a fundamental leadership challenge: ensuring you have the right people in the right seats on your organizational "bus”. Prompted by a leader struggling with under-delivery (not under-performance), Tammy challenges the common impulse to start with people. Instead, she provides a strategic framework to audit your organization, starting with the needs of the business before assessing the talent you have. This episode is imperative for leaders planning their success for the upcoming year and looking to replace disfunction with...
info_outline
106: The Hybrid Trap: Why Your "Flexibility" May Be Working Against You
Leadership Sandbox: Strategies to Uplevel Workplace Communication, Team Collaboration, and Your Corporate Culture
Leaders, you might call it flexibility, but your team calls it chaos. Tammy J. Bond cuts through the "hybrid fantasy" that believes simple Slack chats can replace connection, clarity, and collaboration. She exposes the silent culture split created by hybrid models, arguing that failure is rooted not in location, but in disconnection and unstable leadership. This episode provides the strategic framework for leaders to start intentionally engineering trust to make hybrid work successful. Key Leadership Insights & Hard Truths: The Hybrid Fantasy: The belief that a few Zoom calls and Slack...
info_outline
105: Middle Manager Meltdown - Caused by Leadership
Leadership Sandbox: Strategies to Uplevel Workplace Communication, Team Collaboration, and Your Corporate Culture
Tammy J. Bond shares her frustration after hearing a story from a middle manager dealing with a chaotic environment. The core issue: senior leaders are prioritizing being liked and showing misplaced "compassion" over actual leadership, accountability, and clear expectations. This episode is a fierce examination of how this dynamic demoralizes middle managers, promotes a culture of mediocrity, and actively destroys team trust and performance. Tammy challenges both senior leaders to put on the "boss hat" and middle managers to lead down and courageously speak up. Key Takeaways for Leaders (At...
info_outlineWhat if your perceived company culture isn't what your team actually experiences? In this eye-opening episode of the Leadership Sandbox, Tammy J. Bond sits down with Eyad Mubaied, author of The Culture Driven Organization and founder of Cultivate Culture LLC, to dismantle common myths about organizational culture.
Eyad shares powerful insights from his Culture Creation Model, revealing how true culture transformation goes beyond mission statements to align your Philosophy, Process, and People. Discover why leaders must own and shape their culture, rather than outsourcing it to HR, and learn how to audit your workplace for blind spots. This conversation provides actionable strategies for leaders at all levels to foster a culture-driven organization that genuinely impacts employee engagement, business growth, and overall performance.
Key Takeaways for Leaders:
-
Culture Drives Performance: Understand why a robust organizational culture is the engine of high performance, not just an aesthetic add-on.
-
Leader Ownership: Leaders are the primary architects of corporate culture; it’s built by design, not by default.
-
The Culture Creation Model: Learn how aligning your philosophies, processes, and people is crucial for sustainable culture transformation.
-
Audit Your Culture: Discover how to effectively assess your current organizational culture to identify and address toxic norms and blind spots.
-
The Power of Listening: Your culture is defined not by what you say, but by how well you listen to your team.
-
Continuous Improvement: A healthy workplace culture requires ongoing attention and a commitment to continuous improvement.
In This Episode, You'll Learn:
-
The #1 myth leaders believe about company culture and who truly sets it.
-
How to audit your organizational culture effectively without ego getting in the way.
-
Why performance-focused teams can still miss the mark on cultural alignment.
-
Eyad's "sticky note wisdom" for everyday leadership development.
-
The critical role of middle management in shaping and reinforcing culture.
-
How to address toxic norms and foster a positive workplace culture.
Chapters:
-
00:00 The Journey to Cultivating Culture: Eyad Mubaied's path from finance to culture transformation.
-
02:28 Understanding Culture: Definitions and Misunderstandings: Dispelling common myths about organizational culture.
-
05:11 The Role of Leadership in Shaping Culture: Why leaders must own their workplace culture.
-
08:04 The Culture Creation Model Explained: An in-depth look at Eyad's framework for culture creation.
-
16:21 Philosophies, Processes, and People: The Key Components of Culture: Deep dive into the pillars of the Culture Creation Model.
-
22:15 Auditing Culture: Identifying Blind Spots: Practical tips for assessing your organizational culture.
-
24:19 The Impact of Culture on Business Growth: Connecting culture directly to performance outcomes.
-
27:35 Assessing Organizational Culture: Further insights on evaluating your workplace dynamics.
-
29:19 Middle Management's Role in Culture: The crucial part middle leaders play in culture transformation.
-
32:20 Addressing Toxic Norms in Culture: Strategies for confronting and changing unhealthy organizational behavior.
-
35:39 Defining and Measuring Culture: How to make culture tangible for improvement.
-
38:02 Culture's ROI and Executive Mindset: The business case for culture-driven organizations.
-
43:43 Transforming Leadership Perspectives: Shifting how leaders view and engage with culture.
-
47:07 Key Takeaways for Leaders: Actionable advice for immediate implementation.
🔗 Connect with Eyad Mubaied:
Website: cultivateculturellc.com
LinkedIn: Eyad Mubaied
Book: The Culture Driven Organization – Available on Amazon
🚨 Love what you heard?
-
Subscribe to The Leadership Sandbox
-
Leave a review to help other bold leaders find the show
-
Tag us on social @TheTammyBond with your biggest takeaway!
Listen or Watch Now: bondgroupenterprises.com/podcast