Tyler Shultz on the Hallmarks of a Bad Corporate Culture [Podcast]

Compliance Perspectives

By Adam Turteltaub When we last spoke with Tyler Shultz back in 2020, he discussed his experience at Theranos as both an employee and a whistleblower. Four years later, the case is in the rearview mirror, the former CEO is in prison, he founded two startups of his own, and he now speaks to corporations about cultivating courageous work cultures With the benefit of some time and distance, he shares in this podcast his experiences and what he has learned, particularly about corporate culture. The behaviors he saw at Theranos provided for him a lesson in what not to do. There, he felt the dysfunctional culture was created intentionally. Management, he believed, wanted employees to fear them and reinforced that through locked doors, barricades and firing people who disagreed with leadership. here were even NDAs that restricted the ability of employees to speak with each other. To create a good culture, he argues, companies need to do the opposite of what he saw at Theranos. First, start by defining what the core values of the organization are to give employees a common language with which to discuss potential issues. Next, create a culture that reinforces those values. That includes: Ensuring that the policies match the values Not having overly restrictive NDAs Preventing the formation of silos Encouraging collaboration Watching out for high levels of turnover Being transparent with regulators and investors Listen in to learn more about how to create the right culture and avoid becoming the next Theranos. Listen now