Work crushing your soul? Here’s what makes team culture so toxic. | Alisa Cohn

Good culture is more than just liking each other. Here’s the key way to build great culture at work. Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► Up Next ► Adam Bryant: The importance of culture in the workplace Even the most empathetic and enlightened leader in the world can foster an “unintended toxic culture” — a culture in which people are working around each other and not with each other. As a leader, you want to undergo a radical self-examination to make sure that you are not promoting a difficult culture in your work environment. This means when you think about work culture, don’t just think about employees liking each other, think about the actual traits and qualities that you need to get business done. Read the video transcript ► ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Alisa Cohn: Alisa Cohn is an Executive Coach who has worked with C-suite executives at prominent startups (such as Venmo, Etsy, Draft Kings, The Wirecutter, Mack Weldon, and Tory Burch) and Fortune 500 companies (including Dell, IBM, Microsoft, Google, Pfizer, Calvin Klein and The New York Times.) She is the author From Start-up to Grown-up, and the creator and host of a podcast of the same name. A frequent keynoter, Inc. Magazine named Alisa one of the top 100 leadership speakers, and she was named the Top Startup Coach in the World at the Thinkers50/Marshall Goldsmith Global Coaches Awards and the #1 Global Guru for Startups. She is the executive coach for Cornell’s New York City tech incubator, and she has coached leaders from around the world, including the first female minister of the transition state of Afghanistan and the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. She has guest lectured at Harvard, Cornell, The Naval War College and Henley Business School. Her articles have appeared in HBR, Inc, and Forbes, and she’s been featured as an expert on BBC World News, Bloomberg TV, and in the NY Times and Wall Street Journal. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Read more of our stories on work culture: Burnout: How to escape toxic work culture and build a better life ► [ Work-from-home promises and corporate culture “BS” are just burning employees out ► Sexual harassment at work: Gretchen Carlson on fixing company culture ► ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Big Think | Smarter Faster™ ► Big Think The leading source of expert-driven, educational content. With thousands of videos, featuring experts ranging from Bill Clinton to Bill Nye, Big Think helps you get smarter, faster by exploring the big ideas and core skills that define knowledge in the 21st century. ► Big Think Make your business smarter, faster: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Want more Big Think? ► Daily editorial features: ► Get the best of Big Think right to your inbox: ► Facebook: ► Instagram: ► Twitter: