Michael Stallard
Co-founder and President of E Pluribus Partners and Connection Culture Group
While working on Wall Street, Michael observed how differences in the cultures of merging organizations frequently sabotaged post-merger performance. He had also experienced cultures that brought out the best in him and his team, and others that did not. As a result, he decided to research organizational culture in-depth, which led to writing two books about it, Fired Up or Burned Out (Harper Collins) and Connection Culture (ATD Press), and co-founding two firms to help leaders and organizations, E Pluribus Partners and Connection Culture Group.
For more than 17 years now, Michael and his colleagues have developed frameworks, training and tools that have been used in a wide variety of organizations, from a small medical technology startup to a branch of the U.S. armed services and one of the world’s largest retailers. Today, Michael is recognized as one of the foremost experts on how leaders develop cultures of connection that improve the health and performance of individuals and organizations. He gives keynote speeches, teaches seminars, facilitates workshops and consults for many organizations. Michael and his wife, Katie, reside in Greenwich, Connecticut. They have two grown daughters and a son-in-law, all alumni of TCU.
Connection Culture: The Competitive Advantage of Shared Identity, Empathy, and Understanding at Work, 2nd Edition, September 2020
Connection Culture provides a new way of thinking about organizational culture that is based on the universal human need to feel connected to others. Connection contrasts with feeling unsupported, unappreciated, left out, or lonely. The book describes “cultures of connection” that help people and organizations thrive versus “cultures of control” and “cultures of indifference” that drain the life out of people and sabotage organizational performance.
Connection Culture features inspiring stories of diverse leaders who cultivated cultures of connection, scientific evidence that people need human connection to maintain good health and perform at their best, and descriptions of practical ways to connect that include attitudes, uses of language, and behaviors. Research presented shows organizations with cultures of connection experience better employee wellness and wellbeing, higher employee engagement, tighter strategic alignment, higher quality of decisions, greater rate of innovation, and more agility and adaptability to address the rapid rate of change in the world today.
Campus Speaking Engagements
Spring 2021 – Tapping into the Power of Human Connection webinar with Mike & Katie Stallard