When Work Cultures Turn Toxic (with Rob Copeland)

About this episode

Kim interviews Rob Copeland about his book on Ray Dalio and the culture at Bridgewater Associates.

While the podcast team is taking a Radical Sabbatical, Kim is interviewing authors of the books that have had a big impact on her in the past two years. Office culture is a fascinating topic.  It can be the special sauce that helps bring together team members to achieve excellence.  But what happens when the company culture becomes a toxic mess?  What happens when a very charismatic CEO becomes obsessed with both cataloging people’s weaknesses and then broadcasting them to the entire company?  What happens when that same CEO mandates “internal reporting” on fellow co-workers, techniques that appear to be drawn directly from the playbook of the Stasi (the former East German secret police force, famous for deep surveillance to control and punish their citizens)?  What happens when the CEO steadfastly refuses to hear criticism about himself? Why would people join and then remain at such an organization?  Kim welcomes New York Times’ business reporter and author, Rob Copland, to talk about his fascinating, deeply researched, and best-selling book, The Fund: Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates and The Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend.  Rob’s book…

People in this episode

Host: Kim Scott

Guest: Rob Copeland

Topics covered

• office culture
• toxic work environments
• leadership
• surveillance
• team dynamics
• business ethics

Keywords

• office culture
• toxic leadership
• business reporting
• surveillance
• Bridgewater Associates
• Ray Dalio
• team success
• workplace dynamics

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: New York Times, Bridgewater Associates

Books & works: The Fund: Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates and The Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend

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