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You Can Culture: Transformative Leadership Habits for a Thriving Workplace, Positive Impact, and Lasting Success
In the pursuit of performance and reputation, it’s tempting to overlook the actual health of your organizational culture. Before long, however, ominous symptoms often emerge—disengagement, division, dysfunction, silence, and destructive behavioral patterns—hindering you from delivering on your mission and strategy and eroding trust with your team, clients, and other crucial stakeholders.
To make things worse, many leaders are confounded by culture, and typical change efforts are ineffective and unsustainable, with a staggering 85 percent failure rate. But there is a better way.
Having personally endured the devastating effects of growing up in a toxic cult, Tobias Sturesson committed his career to helping large purpose-driven organizations overcome their most daunting culture challenges. On his quest, he made a crucial discovery: that, just like our physical health, achieving a thriving culture requires a change of habits. A minor change to what you repeatedly do can have a significant impact on your team and organization.
Drawing from his extensive experience and in-depth interviews with numerous renowned researchers, experts, and executives from well-known organizations, Tobias has identified the four most crucial and timeless culture-building leadership habits.
You Can Culture is your meticulously researched guide to these habits, laid out in twelve actionable practices. Each practice is an invitation to introspection and growth, offering reflection questions, practical tools, and leadership actions.
Suitable for managers and executives alike, You Can Culture empowers you to strengthen trust, transform your culture, be a values-based leader, and leave a lasting legacy of positive change.
To make things worse, many leaders are confounded by culture, and typical change efforts are ineffective and unsustainable, with a staggering 85 percent failure rate. But there is a better way.
Having personally endured the devastating effects of growing up in a toxic cult, Tobias Sturesson committed his career to helping large purpose-driven organizations overcome their most daunting culture challenges. On his quest, he made a crucial discovery: that, just like our physical health, achieving a thriving culture requires a change of habits. A minor change to what you repeatedly do can have a significant impact on your team and organization.
Drawing from his extensive experience and in-depth interviews with numerous renowned researchers, experts, and executives from well-known organizations, Tobias has identified the four most crucial and timeless culture-building leadership habits.
You Can Culture is your meticulously researched guide to these habits, laid out in twelve actionable practices. Each practice is an invitation to introspection and growth, offering reflection questions, practical tools, and leadership actions.
Suitable for managers and executives alike, You Can Culture empowers you to strengthen trust, transform your culture, be a values-based leader, and leave a lasting legacy of positive change.
312 pages, Hardcover
Published October 8, 2024
10 people are currently reading
1736 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 28, 2025
This is a fantastic book, but it is more than just words on pages it is a toolbox of insight and wisdom, a multifaceted resource for personal reflection and team development, and an inspiration that with intentionality and focus you can be an agent change for any culture in your sphere of influence.
Two more things you need to know going into reading this book are:
1. It can be used a Culture change framework for you to work with over a 12 month period.
2. This book is a personal story of overcoming a horrendous toxic culture and also includes hundreds of other voices that Tobias a curated through his podcasts, client stories and research.
This book is not just for HR and the C-suite but super helpful for the B-suite.
Two more things you need to know going into reading this book are:
1. It can be used a Culture change framework for you to work with over a 12 month period.
2. This book is a personal story of overcoming a horrendous toxic culture and also includes hundreds of other voices that Tobias a curated through his podcasts, client stories and research.
This book is not just for HR and the C-suite but super helpful for the B-suite.
November 16, 2025
You Can Culture is an eye-opening, deeply researched, and profoundly human guide to what truly drives a thriving workplace, and why so many organizations fail to get culture right. Tobias Sturesson brings a rare blend of lived experience, professional expertise, and investigative depth, offering leaders a framework that is both intellectually rigorous and immediately applicable.
What sets this book apart is Sturesson’s unique vantage point. Having survived the damaging effects of a toxic cult environment, he brings an intimate understanding of destructive culture, how it forms, how it spreads, and how it erodes the dignity, trust, and well-being of individuals. That perspective gives his work an emotional weight and authenticity rarely found in leadership literature. Instead of theory for theory’s sake, Sturesson writes with the urgency of someone who knows, firsthand, the cost of unhealthy leadership practices.
The book dismantles the myth that culture is intangible or overly complex. Sturesson reframes culture as something shaped by habits, the things leaders repeatedly do, consciously or unconsciously, that either build trust or break it. Through extensive interviews with researchers, executives, and experts from respected global organizations, he distills four core leadership habits that underpin long-term cultural health. These habits are not trendy models or fleeting frameworks; they are timeless, foundational behaviors that create psychological safety, reinforce values, and foster environments where people can thrive.
Each of the twelve practices within these habits is supported by reflection questions, insightful examples, and actionable tools that readers can adopt immediately. Sturesson guides leaders through self-examination, ethical clarity, communication strategies, and trust-building actions that ripple through entire organizations. His approach feels equal parts diagnostic and developmental, helping leaders identify root causes of dysfunction while equipping them with the tools to nurture growth and integrity.
For executives, managers, team leaders, and culture influencers across all sectors, You Can Culture is a transformative roadmap. It bridges research and real-world experience while offering a compassionate, empowering message: culture isn’t accidental, it’s built. And with the right habits, it can be built well.
This book is not just about organizational performance. It’s about creating workplaces where people feel safe, valued, connected, and able to contribute at their full potential. Sturesson gives leaders the permission, and the responsibility, to lead with intention and humanity.
What sets this book apart is Sturesson’s unique vantage point. Having survived the damaging effects of a toxic cult environment, he brings an intimate understanding of destructive culture, how it forms, how it spreads, and how it erodes the dignity, trust, and well-being of individuals. That perspective gives his work an emotional weight and authenticity rarely found in leadership literature. Instead of theory for theory’s sake, Sturesson writes with the urgency of someone who knows, firsthand, the cost of unhealthy leadership practices.
The book dismantles the myth that culture is intangible or overly complex. Sturesson reframes culture as something shaped by habits, the things leaders repeatedly do, consciously or unconsciously, that either build trust or break it. Through extensive interviews with researchers, executives, and experts from respected global organizations, he distills four core leadership habits that underpin long-term cultural health. These habits are not trendy models or fleeting frameworks; they are timeless, foundational behaviors that create psychological safety, reinforce values, and foster environments where people can thrive.
Each of the twelve practices within these habits is supported by reflection questions, insightful examples, and actionable tools that readers can adopt immediately. Sturesson guides leaders through self-examination, ethical clarity, communication strategies, and trust-building actions that ripple through entire organizations. His approach feels equal parts diagnostic and developmental, helping leaders identify root causes of dysfunction while equipping them with the tools to nurture growth and integrity.
For executives, managers, team leaders, and culture influencers across all sectors, You Can Culture is a transformative roadmap. It bridges research and real-world experience while offering a compassionate, empowering message: culture isn’t accidental, it’s built. And with the right habits, it can be built well.
This book is not just about organizational performance. It’s about creating workplaces where people feel safe, valued, connected, and able to contribute at their full potential. Sturesson gives leaders the permission, and the responsibility, to lead with intention and humanity.
August 5, 2024
If I were to read this book the way the author intends me to, I may never get the right time to brag about it and get as many people to read it, and that would be a shame. So, my sincere apologies to the author and heartfelt gratitude to the Publisher for granting me an ebook copy of this to read in exchange for a review.
You Can Culture delves in values-driven leadership and what it means to create, have and sustain a culture in an organization that thrives. There are 4 main habits that every leader ought to have to pursue this goal, and the habits one can explore and practice are broken down so that anyone who reads this book can go on a 12-month journey of practical life lessons.
Of the four main habits, I found myself drawn to the second habit "Get Clear," because I struggle with clarity and most recently the question of can one have permanent values or can they change based on a situation? If they change based on situations then what does that mean integrity-wise? Are we as ethical as we say we are or as we think?
I love how each chapter draws examples from case studies, situations where organizations and leaders had to take action and how they went about it.
The layout of the book is easy to follow and the introduction provides details on what to expect, so if a reader wants to know about one habit, they can easily track down the chapters and read on them-and also answer the reflection questions. It's a thoughtful way of ensuring the reader is engaged.
I would recommend this book as one to read for anyone in leadership or aspiring to lead, and also as a great companion for anyone in an organization
You Can Culture delves in values-driven leadership and what it means to create, have and sustain a culture in an organization that thrives. There are 4 main habits that every leader ought to have to pursue this goal, and the habits one can explore and practice are broken down so that anyone who reads this book can go on a 12-month journey of practical life lessons.
Of the four main habits, I found myself drawn to the second habit "Get Clear," because I struggle with clarity and most recently the question of can one have permanent values or can they change based on a situation? If they change based on situations then what does that mean integrity-wise? Are we as ethical as we say we are or as we think?
I love how each chapter draws examples from case studies, situations where organizations and leaders had to take action and how they went about it.
The layout of the book is easy to follow and the introduction provides details on what to expect, so if a reader wants to know about one habit, they can easily track down the chapters and read on them-and also answer the reflection questions. It's a thoughtful way of ensuring the reader is engaged.
I would recommend this book as one to read for anyone in leadership or aspiring to lead, and also as a great companion for anyone in an organization
August 19, 2024
I am writing this review for the potential readers of this book as well as the future me.
I received an eARC from #netgalley and #amplifypublishing.
Thank you to them and everyone involved in the publishing of this book. I read this book a couple of weeks ago (summer 2024).
Firstly, a bit of professional-and-personal-preferences context to help understand my rationale in this review. Due to my personal values and principles, I’m a bit distant to topics involving business.
Secondly, I have some professional experience at corporates, and worked in various positions; some involving management, and in different departments and industries from sales and marketing to IT, copyediting to customer/client relationships.
I consider myself an artist first and an educator-researcher second or simultaneously, rather than a corporate leader or manager. Nor have I the intention to become a business leader, but occassionally, I pick business books up as a form of guilty pleasure (like watching Nic Cage films) and/or to see if there are any changes, updates, new practices and insights, and especially those that can be implemented to creative practices, academia, creative industries, quotidienne life and be shared with our leaders, decision-makers and when I am in such a position/situation of decision making.
I requested this book with these in mind - keeping an open mind but due to the extensive amount of crap in self-help, reference, business publications, I was ready to read this when I was on a commute, and not get much value out of it. I was positively surprised and I loved the presentation, structure, the prose, the practical and genuinely useful and insightful discussions, questions, references in this title. I was able to take away plenty. Unlike similarly themed books, anything that is common sense or well known was presented from a different perspective and most of the inights were nuanced, focuses, specific and fresh.
The slight con was about 5% of the content is repetitive. Otherwise, this is what I expect from a non-fiction book. I loved the emphasis on progress, awareness, regaining trust, accepting mistakes, evolution of the culture, seeing mistakes as part of a whole cultural/systemic root, the values, principles and the culture. Funny as it might sound, I saw the insights as insights for life, being a better human and a trustworthy guide when people need to look up to you.
I received an eARC from #netgalley and #amplifypublishing.
Thank you to them and everyone involved in the publishing of this book. I read this book a couple of weeks ago (summer 2024).
Firstly, a bit of professional-and-personal-preferences context to help understand my rationale in this review. Due to my personal values and principles, I’m a bit distant to topics involving business.
Secondly, I have some professional experience at corporates, and worked in various positions; some involving management, and in different departments and industries from sales and marketing to IT, copyediting to customer/client relationships.
I consider myself an artist first and an educator-researcher second or simultaneously, rather than a corporate leader or manager. Nor have I the intention to become a business leader, but occassionally, I pick business books up as a form of guilty pleasure (like watching Nic Cage films) and/or to see if there are any changes, updates, new practices and insights, and especially those that can be implemented to creative practices, academia, creative industries, quotidienne life and be shared with our leaders, decision-makers and when I am in such a position/situation of decision making.
I requested this book with these in mind - keeping an open mind but due to the extensive amount of crap in self-help, reference, business publications, I was ready to read this when I was on a commute, and not get much value out of it. I was positively surprised and I loved the presentation, structure, the prose, the practical and genuinely useful and insightful discussions, questions, references in this title. I was able to take away plenty. Unlike similarly themed books, anything that is common sense or well known was presented from a different perspective and most of the inights were nuanced, focuses, specific and fresh.
The slight con was about 5% of the content is repetitive. Otherwise, this is what I expect from a non-fiction book. I loved the emphasis on progress, awareness, regaining trust, accepting mistakes, evolution of the culture, seeing mistakes as part of a whole cultural/systemic root, the values, principles and the culture. Funny as it might sound, I saw the insights as insights for life, being a better human and a trustworthy guide when people need to look up to you.
December 21, 2024
This is an absolutely brilliant book, full of not just insights but human stories. It is inspiring as well as clear and easy to read. Chapters are well defined, prose is easy to understand. I would say this is a must read for leaders and want to be leaders.
Thank you to the author, publishers & NetGalley for access to this arc in return for an honest review.
Thank you to the author, publishers & NetGalley for access to this arc in return for an honest review.
September 12, 2024
This book definitely represents a journey. I was really in awe of the authors openness. The stories are really interesting and it’s a bit of a manual for life really at work and beyond. I think this is a book I would come back to again and again for inspiration and guidance.
June 20, 2025
Table of contents tells well. Not bad.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews