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Culture by Design.
At Sellar Strategic Advisory, we believe great cultures don’t happen by accident, they’re built by design. Culture by Design is where we share ideas, insights, and stories about what it takes to create workplaces where people and performance thrive together.
Leadership Strategies


Why Clarity Is the Most Underrated Leadership Skill Right Now
Clarity isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about creating enough shared understanding for people to make good decisions without constant escalation.
Randall Sellar
6 days ago3 min read


January Reflections: Culture by Design
Across leadership, change, and culture work, organizations are asking more of their people, faster, simultaneously, and often without creating the conditions required to sustain it. The result isn’t resistance. It’s a strain.
Randall Sellar
Jan 301 min read


The Gap Between Change Strategy and Change Capacity
Most change doesn’t fail because people resist it. It fails because organizations don’t have the capacity to carry it. When change is treated as an event instead of a load, even the best strategies collapse under strain.
Randall Sellar
Jan 234 min read


Psychological Safety Isn’t Soft; It’s the Infrastructure of Performance
Psychological safety is often misunderstood as a “soft” concept. In reality, it’s one of the strongest predictors of performance, learning, and successful change. When people feel safe to speak up, challenge ideas, and admit uncertainty, organizations move faster, not slower. The data tells a very different story from the stereotype.
Randall Sellar
Jan 163 min read


The Leadership Work Nobody Trains For
Leadership today includes work few people are trained for: emotional labour, psychological safety, constant change, and supporting teams under pressure. As expectations expand, many leaders are carrying roles they were never prepared to hold. This piece explores the hidden demands shaping modern leadership, and what organizations must do differently to support the people they rely on most.
Randall Sellar
Jan 103 min read


What Organizations Should Resolve to Stop Doing This Year
A new year doesn’t always require new initiatives. Sometimes, progress comes from stopping the habits that quietly drain energy, clarity, and execution. As organizations head into the year ahead, the most powerful resolution may not be what they add, but what they finally choose to remove.
Randall Sellar
Jan 53 min read


What 2025 Taught Us
2025 didn’t introduce new leadership, culture, or DEIB challenges — it exposed which ones were structural and which ones weren’t. This interactive reflection brings together what the year revealed about clarity, consistency, capacity, and trust under pressure.
Randall Sellar
Dec 29, 20251 min read


What 2025 Taught Us About Leadership
2025 didn’t just test leadership; it revealed it. Leaders faced constant change, rising uncertainty, and growing demands for clarity and consistency. The year showed that effective leadership wasn’t about having all the answers, but about making aligned decisions, communicating clearly, and designing systems that could hold under pressure. The strongest leaders didn’t wait for stability; they created it.
Randall Sellar
Dec 19, 20254 min read


What 2025 Taught Us About DEIB
2025 was a defining year for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging. Representation stalled where it mattered most, trust declined, and belonging became harder to sustain amid policy reversals and cultural fatigue. This year made one thing clear: inclusion doesn’t happen organically. It must be intentionally designed, led, and protected.
Randall Sellar
Dec 12, 20254 min read


What 2025 Taught Us about Organizational Culture Trends
2025 revealed a hard truth: organizations don’t fail because of technology—they struggle because of culture. From trust declines to rising overwhelm, this year highlighted the human side of performance. Here are the lessons leaders must take forward.
Randall Sellar
Dec 5, 20254 min read


The Human Gap: Why AI Won't Save a Broken Organizational Culture
Most leaders expect AI to make work easier. But AI doesn’t reduce confusion, misalignment, or burnout—it magnifies them. The Human Gap is the space between what AI can automate and what people need to thrive. Organizations that close this gap will gain the real advantage.
Randall Sellar
Dec 1, 20254 min read


Culture Energy - The New Competitive Advantage Nobody is Measuring
Work feels heavier for many organizations—and it’s not just burnout. What’s missing is Culture Energy: the fuel that drives clarity, trust, connection, and performance. With more ambiguity, faster change, and rising fatigue, Culture Energy has become one of the most reliable yet overlooked predictors of organizational health. When leaders design for it, everything moves better.
Randall Sellar
Nov 23, 20254 min read


The Culture Tax: The Hidden Costs Draining Your Organization Every Day
Organizations rarely fail because of poor strategy. They fail because of friction — the small, everyday moments where clarity breaks down, trust weakens, or alignment slips. These hidden frictions create a Culture Tax that drains time, energy, and performance when culture is built by default instead of by design.
Randall Sellar
Nov 16, 20253 min read


Building Connection in Leadership: The Hidden Cost of Disconnection
Disconnection in leadership doesn’t happen because leaders don’t care — it happens because today’s workplace pulls them away from what matters most: connection. Explore how modern pressures are creating disconnected leaders, the hidden cost to culture and performance, and how to rebuild trust by design, not by default.
Randall Sellar
Nov 11, 20253 min read


The Trust Dividend: Why Culture Starts (and Ends) with Trust
Trust is the invisible currency of every successful organization. It fuels collaboration, innovation, and performance — yet it’s often overlooked or assumed.
When people trust their leaders and the company they work for, they bring more energy, creativity, and accountability. Trust isn’t a “soft” skill — it’s a measurable advantage and the foundation of every strong culture.
Randall Sellar
Nov 3, 20253 min read


From Awareness to Action: Making Inclusion Stick
Inclusion fatigue is real, but so are the barriers it was designed to dismantle. While priorities may shift, the need for inclusion has never been more critical.
Randall Sellar
Oct 27, 20253 min read


The Hidden ROI of a Culture Reset
A Culture Reset is a focused, 90-day sprint designed to realign how people work together with what the organization is trying to achieve.
It’s not about new posters or buzzwords, it’s about re-establishing the link between purpose, behaviour, and results.
Randall Sellar
Oct 20, 20252 min read


Designing the Future: How Intentional Culture Drives Real Change
Strong businesses are built by empowered people. But empowerment doesn't happen by accident..

Randall Sellar
Oct 14, 20253 min read


Unlocking Human Potential: Strategies for Organizational Success
In today's fast-paced world, organizations face numerous challenges. From adapting to technological changes to meeting the evolving needs of customers, the pressure is on. However, one of the most significant assets any organization has is its people. Unlocking human potential is not just a buzzword; it is a vital strategy for achieving long-term success.

Randall Sellar
Oct 7, 20254 min read
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