WE NEED HUMANISM - Hunters and Unicorns presents Culture Crunch - Dr Jennie Byrne

Welcome to Culture Crunch.  

We’re here to showcase leaders within People and Culture and explore how the fastest growing tech companies are amplifying performances through increased employee engagement. 

By highlighting and celebrating the executives driving the evolution within the highest growth software companies in the world, we aim to uncover: 

• Why engagement is critical  
• The importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion  
• How to achieve true scale by attracting a diverse workforce of A Players 

Today we are joined by Jennie Byrne, physician leader, brain and behaviour specialist, entrepreneur, and author, to discuss her interpretation of a healthy workplace culture and find out how an understanding of human psychology and behaviour can give us the tools we need to thrive in a digital world. 

“We spend a lot of time and effort thinking about operations and technology in business settings and we spend so much time on that without accounting for the human side of things, that we end up wasting our time. You could spend years optimizing operations, but if you're not accounting for the human side, it's just a waste of time.” 

In her new book, Work Smart: Use Your Brain and Behaviour to Master the Future of Work, Jennie describes how the human brain and behaviour work and how this translates to a business environment. She describes the implications on mental health related to a lack of consideration for the human condition in the tech space and how we must understand human nature to create positive change within our organizations.  

Sharing her own story of being more authentic to herself and to others, dissolving the boundary between her personal and professional being, Jennie pinpoints that the future of work will be more focussed on being better people than about having the best technology.  

“I think people in leadership should really focus on equity, whether that's gender equity, racial equity, socioeconomic equity, I really do believe that if we can get equity at the leadership level, it can quickly start to translate into equity at other levels.” 

As a founding member of CHIEF, a private network focused on connecting and supporting women executive leaders, Jennie is passionate about empowering women in leadership. She shares her views with us on role models within the female leadership landscape and offers mentorship advice to women in business looking to strengthen their skills, magnify their influence, and pave the way to bring others with them.  

Whether you are an employee, manager, or leader, listen in to discover how to drive cultural cohesion and a forward-thinking mentality into your workplace and learn how a better understanding of behavioural health can help us all improve communication, maximize efficiency, and move forward faster.