A recent episode of the Mastering Workplace Culture podcast, featuring Nujood Al Khloofi and Rasha Hussain, explored a powerful question: “How do leaders create a workplace culture that employees genuinely believe in, live every day, and help sustain as organizations grow?”
In June, Rasha Hussain posted a terrific LinkedIn article describing her role in building a purposeful, positive, and productive work culture at Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences. One of the resources they relied on was my 2014 book, The Culture Engine. I was grateful that they found value in the book and I reached out to learn more. We were delighted to host Rasha and her project partner, Nujood, on the podcast.
Drawing inspiration from the Disney Institute, the Mayo Clinic, and the leadership principles that helped shape the United Arab Emirates, Nujood and Rasha share how they helped establish MBRU’s pioneering Values Council. Their goal was simple but ambitious: Transform organizational values from words on a wall into behaviors employees and students could experience every day.
The foundation of MBRU’s culture initiative was their organizational constitution, which formalized their servant purpose, their values, and measurable behaviors for each value. Rasha describes how the Values Council worked with key stakeholders to build their organizational constitution in this three-minute clip.
Nujood and Rasha approached culture as a shared responsibility rather than an HR initiative. They describe how MBRU engaged employees and students in defining values, identifying behaviors, and creating a culture grounded in service, respect, trust, and belonging. Their experience demonstrates that leaders strengthen culture by engaging people in the process from the start.
The conversation also highlights how small actions create powerful cultural impact. From personalized onboarding experiences and the MBRU Concierge program to employee recognition efforts, leaders reinforce values through meaningful moments that help employees feel seen, appreciated, and connected to the organization’s core purpose.
This three-minute clip <https://youtu.be/kSfctaPK_vQ> describes the Hidden Soldier Award which celebrates employees that are often in the background. Hidden Soldiers, through their commitment to modeling their ideal culture with peers and students, demonstrate how important culture champions are throughout an organization.
Nujood and Rasha emphasized that employees trust leaders when those leaders consistently model desired behaviors, actively listen, show genuine care and appreciation, and create environments where people thrive. Strong workplace cultures emerge when leaders demonstrate values through decisions, personal engagement, and daily actions.
The MBRU culture story reinforces a simple but powerful truth: Leaders create culture through consistent behaviors, intentional recognition, active listening, and a genuine commitment to helping people succeed.
Don’t miss any of our powerful podcast episodes on our Youtube channel, at MasteringWorkplaceCulture.com, and on all major podcast platforms.
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