Brett Hoogeveen

“The Leadership Mindset: Improve the Way You Think and Lead with Seven Transformative Principles”
In the modern world of work, organizations understand the value of “culture.” Culture drives talent; talent drives quality; quality drives customers; and customers drive revenue. But what does it take to drive culture? In this highly-interactive “choose your own adventure” session, participants will learn a mental model or “mindset” for leadership, based around BetterCulture’s Seven Principles of Leadership©, that has a proven track record of creating award-winning workplace cultures. Along the way, we’ll explore current data and trends, time-tested leadership best practices, and a handful of easy to implement, practical skills and tactics that will equip any leader to develop their teams and strengthen their workplace culture.

“Stars vs. Vacuums: The Invisible Battle for the Heart of Your Workplace Culture!”
Alternate: “Building Better Workplace Culture from the Bottom Up”
Workplace culture is the backbone of business success, yet its health is often shaped by forces beyond traditional top-down leadership. Can a thriving culture be built and protected from the bottom up—by frontline employees and individual contributors? Absolutely. The secret lies in recognizing and addressing the invisible battle happening every day in your organization. It’s the battle between your Stars—those inspiring, role model employees who elevate everyone around them—and your Vacuums—the toxic individuals who drain energy, morale, and productivity. In this informative session, Brett Hoogeveen, CSP Co-Founder of BetterCulture, will reveal how to identify these cultural forces, shift the balance in favor of the Stars, and empower your organization to achieve remarkable results.

*Additional Value Add: Attendees will also receive a fully complimentary 12-month personal license to BetterCulture’s 20 Tenets of Bottom-Up Culture assessment and coaching platform. This giveaway (valued at $149) delivers significant additional value and provides a mechanism for the learning and value gained at your event to sustain over a full year thereafter. MUCH BETTER THAN A BOOK GIVEAWAY!

“Stupid Things Leaders Do – A Guide to Not Ruining your Company Culture”
The fastest way to become a better leader isn’t by becoming brilliant — it’s by stopping the unintentional “stupid things” that quietly hold you back. In this refreshingly honest and highly relatable session, leadership expert and BetterCulture Co-Founder Brett Hoogeveen takes a clear-eyed look at the surprisingly common mistakes leaders make that derail trust, damage culture, and drive good people away — often without even realizing it. Drawing on years of experience working with thousands of leaders across dozens of Best Places to Work organizations, Brett shares real-world stories and practical insights that shine a light on what not to do — and why avoiding these missteps is often the fastest path to better results. You’ll laugh, you’ll learn, and you’ll likely recognize a few of these “stupid things” in your own leadership journey (don’t worry, we all have them). But this session isn’t just about what to stop doing — it’s also about what to start doing instead.

“The Better Workplace Formula”
Are you tired of vague notions like “soft skills” and “team synergy” when discussing workplace culture? Almost every business leader acknowledges that company culture matters. But many of those same leaders shy away from talking about culture strategically because of the perception that culture is soft, squishy, and hard to quantify. In this session, BetterCulture co-founder Brett Hoogeveen, a former engineer, startup investor, and self-proclaimed “numbers guy” will teach attendees how to look at employee engagement and workplace culture through an entirely “non-squishy” lens: the lens of numbers and mathematics. Learn to harness the statistical bell curve as a way of conceptualizing and driving progress. Explore the five organizational pillars that drive culture improvement. Apply tried and true business constructs for continuous improvement to create a culture improvement strategy. By the end of this session, attendees will learn to calculate their organizations’ Culture Impact Score™ (CIS), a unique, data-driven metric that forecasts the ripple effect of actions on employee engagement, development, and retention. Don’t miss this opportunity to revolutionize your understanding of company culture. It’s time to let the numbers do the talking and start maximizing your cultural impact today!

“FAIL: Top Business Decision-Making Mistakes (and How Smart Leaders Avoid Them)”
Few things are more fundamental to success—in life or in business—than making smart, effective, strategic decisions. Yet, the human brain is hard-wired to lead us astray, causing us to make misjudgments, jump to conclusions, and overlook critical information. Why is it that certain leaders thrive while others struggle for confidence and clarity? What is it that great strategic decision-makers know? How do they think—and perhaps more importantly, how don’t they think? The answers are as fascinating as they are powerful and can transform how you approach making strategic decisions. Join this session for a lively and practical exploration of decision-making, probability, and the human mind. And see if you can learn to beat the odds!

“Building Better Workplace Culture from the ‘Bottom Up’”
Leaders today are expected to do it all – set the vision, manage performance, coach teams, resolve conflict, retain top talent, and shape culture. That’s a heavy lift. And let’s be honest: not every leader has the skillset – or the bandwidth – to do all of it well. But what if we could lighten the load? This session challenges a common but flawed assumption: that workplace culture is something leaders must singlehandedly drive. In reality, when employees are given clear behavioral expectations, the right systems and tools, and a little encouragement, they can actively build and protect the culture themselves. Brett will introduce a refreshing philosophy of bottom-up culture-building – one that equips employees to take real ownership of their workplace environment. You’ll also explore a research-informed set of 20 high-impact employee behaviors that any team can use to shape culture from the inside out – behaviors that BetterCulture has seen drive engagement, accountability, and performance in organizations of all sizes.

You’ll walk away able to:

• Reduce the pressure on your managers by distributing cultural ownership across the team.
• Equip employees to model, reinforce, and protect the behaviors that matter most.
• Align culture-shaping behaviors with business strategy for scalable, bottom-up impact.

If you’re ready to stop dragging culture uphill and start building a workplace where everyone pushes in the right direction – this session is for you.