Stop Defining Culture. Start Designing It. Sam Valentine (Miro)
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YouTubeCulture is often treated as something static: a set of values on a wall, a slide in a presentation, or a once-a-year survey result. But what if culture isn’t something you have — but something you do?
In the first episode of The Culture Engine by Esteeme, host Anna-Maria Fokshei (CEO of Esteeme) talks with Sam Valentine, Head of Employee Experience at Miro, about what organizational culture really is, how employee engagement is created, and why HR should not be the “owner” of culture.
With over 20 years of experience across education, the public sector, and global tech, Sam shares practical frameworks and real stories about:
Why culture is a living system, not a document
How engagement and culture shape each other
How to turn values into real behaviors
Why leadership modeling matters more than policies
How recognition, support, and language influence performance
And why “100% alignment” is often a dangerous goal
This episode is a must-watch for HR leaders, founders, managers, People Partners, and anyone building teams in fast-growing organizations.
Key Insights
Employee engagement is a directed passion — when your energy goes toward something that leads to fulfillment.- Culture and engagement go hand in hand — it’s a marriage, not ownership.
- Don’t start with ‘What is your culture?’ Start with: ‘What does your culture do?’
- Culture doesn’t exist as one fixed thing — in a company of 2,000 people, you have 2,000 microcultures.
- The way you manage change is the change you’ll get — if you chase 100% consensus, you build a culture that needs 100% consensus.
About the Guest
Sam Valentine
Head of Employee Experience at Miro
Sam build people infrastructure that protects revenue during organizational transformation - leading through influence rather than authority.
EXPERTISE: Culture architecture | AI transformation | People analytics | Crisis leadership | Performance management | Retention strategy | Business-driven people strategy | Manager enablement
