If you thought business books were dry, think again — Paula Mitchell’s Cracking Culture sparkles with wit, clarity and a will to shake things up for the better.

Written by a former recruitment consultant, entrepreneur, and cofounder of The Condor Collective, it’s a toolkit for change that sets out to reveal “how to create happier employment and achieve exceptional business success”. To quote one characteristically arresting, context-relevant example: “Thankfully, no one can buy heroin over the counter now… so why are we using management practices and ideology that were best practice 100 years ago?” Good question!

On the subject of questions, in essence, Cracking Culture has one vital question at its heart. Namely, “Shouldn’t employment be happier?” Citing shocking stats from Gallup’s 2023 ‘State of the Global Workplace’ report, Mitchell reveals that “only 23% of employees worldwide actually like their jobs”. In the UK, a whopping 76% of employees say they don’t feel engaged with work. As Mitchell remarks: “Eugh.”

Alongside this, Mitchell’s work and research made it apparent to her that “happier employment can be realised only as a result of deliberate actions by members of all levels within an organisation”. As a result, Cracking Culture is underpinned by the notion that while “leaders hold a significant role in determining employees’ happiness”, it’s a two-way street. That is to say, “Employees are equally responsible for their leaders’ happiness as leaders are for the happiness of employees.”

This approach to fostering happier workplaces shines through each chapter as Mitchell covers everything from why change is so vital, emotional intelligence and meaningful work, to engagement, growth and rethinking management.

Delivered in a personable, convincing style, Cracking Culture provides plenty of food for thought that’s likely to be relevant to all sizes of businesses.

Paula studied law at the University of Edinburgh before pursuing a successful career in recruitment. She spent over 10 years as the owner & managing director of Granite Search & Selection before launching The Condor Collective.

In her 20 years as a recruitment consultant, Paula interviewed over 20,000 clients & candidates becoming fascinated with human behaviour. She has spent the past 6 years further researching workplace psychology & how employees and employers alike can effect business performance, through employee engagement. This coupled with the first hand experience she has of growing and managing teams is what she has drawn on to write this insightful & easily implementable read.

You can connect with Paula on LinkedIn here.