Ignite Culture: Empowering and Leading a Healthy, High-Performance Organization from the Inside Out

I am not an executive or team leader, and I doubt I will ever work in an office. All the same, corporate culture is now deeply settled into American culture. I first picked up this book out of sheer curiosity, but the further I read, the more I realized the upper levels of my own workplace do have many corporate aspects. Some of the terminology was familiar to me from emails or from mass Zoom meetings.

(At the risk of one of my bosses seeing this, I think they should read this book.)

The above statement is only half a joke. While I doubt any of us would be entirely comfortable with a boss knowing that we’re not a fan of their leadership style, I do think many employers and executives could learn a great deal from Ignite Culture, and from Graziano’s years of experience in helping companies restructure themselves to make a more welcoming working environment for their employees. She takes readers through steps of improvement, building outward from first focusing on the self, then on the immediate team, and finally, on the company as a whole.

What I found most appealing (and what I think will appeal to many others lower in the pecking order) is that Graziano’s focus is not on profits or consumer engagement or public relations. Those things, she says, will follow. Instead, she urges executives to focus on improving their corporate culture, making changes that not only make their employees happier but also make them more engaged in their work. The recent Great Resignation and the supposed epidemic of “quiet quitting” (and the discourse surrounding that term) come from a lack of engagement and even outright discontent, largely caused by toxic workplace cultures that don’t value their employees as anything more than a means to an end.

I can’t say this book will solve every problem a corporation faces. As I said before, I’m no executive, and complex problems will require more complex solutions than can be wrapped up in one book. Still, Ignite Culture makes for an excellent starting place. Not only does it offer advice on communication that anyone can find helpful, it also delves a little into neuroscience and provides many further resources to draw on.

I would, of course, most recommend this book to executives, but I think many other people will find it interesting. I went in for a peek at corporate culture and came out not only with a better understanding of it but also with some handy advice on how to better handle my own communication.