How individuals influence culture (and what Zorro can teach us about it)

Culture often gets talked about as something set by leaders, strategies and values decks.

In this episode of A Curious Space, we zoom in somewhere else.

We explore the role individuals play in shaping culture day to day, through small choices, habits and behaviours that quietly ripple out across teams and organisations.

We unpack a simple but powerful idea: we all have the power to significantly shape the cultures we are part of, especially when we do it together.

In this episode, Kate and Maddie discuss:

• Why culture is made up of small actions rather than grand gestures

• How individuals can influence culture intentionally, even without formal authority

• Emotional contagion, mood hoovers and radiators

• The spheres of control, influence and concern, and why they matter when change feels overwhelming

• What Zorro can teach us about growing influence by starting small

• How team identity shapes behaviour and outcomes

• Why being deliberate about “how we want to be” as a team really matters

As ever, we share practical reflections, useful frameworks and ideas you can take straight back into your work.

• Stephen Covey – Spheres of Control, Influence and Concern

• Margaret Heffernan – Beyond Measure

• Sean Achor – The Happiness Advantage

• Haslam, Reicher & Platow – Research on leadership identity and “who we are”

• Drexler–Sibbet Team Performance Model

We’re collecting questions, challenges and conundrums for our Agony Aunt episodes later in the series.

If you’ve got a tricky team dynamic, a culture question, or something you’d love a thoughtful outside perspective on, email us at:

hello@acuriousspacepodcast.com

Huge thanks to our brilliant producer, Tim Fox, for keeping us on track and making the podcast sound far more coherent than it sometimes feels in the moment.

And thank you to our music creator, Richard Flindell, for the soundtrack that carries us in and out of these conversations so beautifully.

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it, rate it, or send it to someone who might need a reminder that small actions really do matter.