A workplace culture does not sustain itself through posters or mission statements. It is built, day after day, through deliberate systems and consistent leadership behavior. That is the delivery story at the heart of a recent episode of the Mastering Workplace Culture podcast, which featured Nujood Al Khloofi and Rasha Hussain, the two practitioners behind one of the most ambitious culture initiatives at a UAE institution: Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, known as MBRU.
The question the episode set out to answer was direct: how do leaders create a workplace culture that employees genuinely believe in, live every day, and help sustain as organizations grow?
For MBRU, the answer started with implementation infrastructure. The foundation of the initiative was an organizational constitution, a formal document that codified the university’s servant purpose, its values, and measurable behaviors attached to each value. Values, in this framework, were not left abstract. They were translated into observable, assessable conduct that employees and students could actually experience.
The vehicle for that translation was the university’s pioneering Values Council, established by Nujood and Rasha. Drawing inspiration from the Disney Institute, the Mayo Clinic, and the leadership principles that helped shape the United Arab Emirates, the council worked with key stakeholders to build the constitution. Rasha describes that stakeholder-driven construction process in a three-minute clip from the episode.
What stands out in their account is the operational philosophy behind the work. The two treated culture as a shared responsibility rather than an HR initiative. Employees and students were engaged directly in defining values, identifying behaviors, and creating a culture grounded in service, respect, trust, and belonging. Their experience, as presented on the podcast, shows that leaders strengthen culture by bringing people into the process from the start rather than handing down conclusions.
Execution also lived in the details. The university deployed personalized onboarding experiences, an MBRU Concierge program, and employee recognition efforts, all designed to reinforce values through meaningful moments. The intent, as the hosts describe it, is to help employees feel seen, appreciated, and connected to the organization’s core purpose.
Recognition extends to the people who usually escape the spotlight. A three-minute clip available at https://youtu.be/kSfctaPK_vQ describes the Hidden Soldier Award, which celebrates employees who tend to work in the background. Through their commitment to modeling the ideal culture with peers and students, these Hidden Soldiers demonstrate how important culture champions are throughout an organization.
Meanwhile, the podcast conversation also touched on the conditions under which employees come to trust their leaders. Nujood and Rasha emphasized that trust follows consistency: leaders who model desired behaviors, actively listen, show genuine care and appreciation, and create environments where people thrive. Strong workplace cultures, in their telling, emerge when leaders demonstrate values through decisions, personal engagement, and daily actions rather than through slogans.
For the podcast itself, the MBRU episode has a personal backstory. Rasha Hussain published a LinkedIn article in June describing her role in building a purposeful, positive, and productive work culture at MBRU. One of the resources her team relied on was the 2014 book The Culture Engine, written by the podcast host, who reached out to learn more after seeing the book put to use. That exchange led to hosting Rasha and her project partner Nujood on the show.
The MBRU story ultimately reinforces what the episode frames as a simple but powerful truth: leaders create culture through consistent behaviors, intentional recognition, active listening, and a genuine commitment to helping people succeed. Whether that formula scales as institutions grow remains the open question the podcast poses, and the one MBRU’s Values Council continues to test in practice.
Listeners can find Mastering Workplace Culture episodes on the show’s YouTube channel, at MasteringWorkplaceCulture.com, and on all major podcast platforms. Opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own, and readers can subscribe to SmartBrief’s free leadership newsletter, one of more than 250 industry-focused email newsletters the company publishes.