I believe every leader has the power to change the atmosphere in the room.
Not by having all the answers. Not by sending another all-hands email. But by making one intentional choice to show up differently for the people they lead.
I learned this from a blog post about a bus driver shared by “Eat Pray Love” author Elizabeth Gilbert. A New York City bus driver was stuck in after-work rush hour traffic with a busload of cold, frustrated strangers. There was a scuffle between some passengers and even a pregnant woman wasn’t offered a seat. It was bad. But what that particular bus driver chose to do that day was truly remarkable. Sensing the tension, he got on the intercom and offered to take everyone’s troubles as they got off the bus so that they didn’t bring them home. He promised to dump them in the Hudson River on his way to the bus depot at the end of his shift. And just like that, a bus full of people who had been ignoring each other started grinning, laughing. Some, like the author, started tearing up. He repeated the announcement at every stop and every single person on that bus gave him an invisible bundle of their troubles on their way out. One small act of grace changed everything.
That bus driver wasn’t a CEO or some other fancy leadership title. He had no authority over traffic or weather or the mood of 40 strangers. But he had something more important: the willingness to use whatever power he had, right where he was, for the benefit of the people around him. That's the kind of leadership I help organizations build.
In 2018, the loss of my father became an unexpected catalyst. It deepened my commitment to leading with intention and grace, and made me even more certain that the way we treat people at work is never just a business matter. It is a human one.
I’m Clarissa M. Rodriguez, an attorney, former cabinet-level agency head, and culture transformation advisor. I spent nearly a decade leading a state agency through a pandemic, major legislative reform, and a full organizational transformation. I managed a 00+ million budget and more than 1,000 employees. And what I learned is that none of that works without people knowing you care. I didn’t learn this in business school. I learned it by actually leading people through crisis, grief, change, and uncertainty.
If you want a consultant who has read about culture, there are plenty of those. I lived it.
When people don’t feel safe or valued, they stop showing up or telling you the truth of their experience in the workplace. And when they stop telling you the truth, you lose your best people, your momentum, and eventually your mission. Culture Receipts™ exists because most organizations don’t have a culture problem. They have a listening problem.
My diagnostic process surfaces what your employees are actually experiencing, not what leadership assumes. Then we build the habits, practices, and leadership behaviors that close that gap for good, using a proven framework built from nearly a decade of real organizational transformation.
This work isn’t soft. Leaders who create safety and feelings of belonging create cohesive, engaged environments that get more truth. Leaders who get more truth make better decisions, increase retention, and foster more productivity. That’s how organizations survive and grow in a rapidly changing world.
And in a world where AI is reshaping how work gets done, the organizations that will adapt fastest aren’t the ones with the best technology. They’re the ones with the most honest, connected, and psychologically safe cultures. Because when people trust their leaders, they’ll tell you what’s working and what isn’t. That feedback loop is what separates organizations that thrive through change from those that get left behind.
If you’re ready to find out what your culture is really telling you, I’d love to talk.
