Culture and People was founded by Misho Stefanov, an internationally recognized organizational and communications consultant, as a response to a powerful frustration and a sense of deep calling. 

The frustration was born during Misho’s extensive career in the fields of corporate and non-profit communications consulting. Organization after organization, project after project, and team after team, he observed the same thing over and over again: disengaged people in misaligned teams with low trust and zero sense of belonging were producing below-the-average results for leaders on the brink of burning out (or often times well beyond it). Suffering people, suffering results, suffering organizations. 

The more his frustration grew, the stronger the ancient words rang in his mind: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And being only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?” (Hilel The Elder, 110 BC). That’s how the frustration, which leads many people to desperation or indifference, created in Misho a deep calling – he knew he had to do something to help people, teams, and organizations improve. 

That was the beginning of an exciting journey that led him to training and teaching, pursuing a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership in Vienna, Austria, and taking a deep dive into the world of anthropology, ethics, organizational philosophy and psychology. And eventually changing the trajectory of his career from the field of corporate communications to the much more exciting (in his own words) field of culture and people, of which communication remains a crucial component. 

After consulting and working with executive directors, senior leaders and strategic teams for international clients such as VMware, LIDL, and HPE (to name just a few) in more than 10 countries across 3 continents, Misho decided to launch Culture & People – a consultancy network of global experts, focused on supporting leaders and organizations worldwide in their efforts to improve their cultures, understand and engage their key groups of human beings (internally and externally) and achieve extraordinary results.

That’s how from the very beginning, we at Culture and People strive to combine the very best of both worlds – that of social science and that of business knowledge, in order to improve the effectiveness and ultimately, the thriving of humans in business.

Our virtues

‘Values’ is an (too) often misunderstood buzzword. We prefer to think
and speak of virtues. Values are about what we claim is important. Virtues are about what
we live out as important. Virtues are values in action.

Hard data answers the “WHAT” question, but can never give us an insight into “SO WHAT”.

Our Chief Metaphor

To understand who we strive to be, you need to engage your imagination and dive deep into the metaphor that lies at the heart of our worldview!

Picture yourself walking down a long, narrow corridor. Your eyes are drawn by a gentle beam of light, coming through the narrow crack of a door left ajar. You quietly approach the door and take a look through the narrow opening. Before your eyes lies a spacious study, bathed in sunlight coming from a tall, classic window. Impressive floor-to-ceiling bookshelves tower over a tiny desk, positioned right in front of the window. Behind the desk sits a middle-aged man, surrounded by piles of books. His absent-minded expression tells you that, even though he is looking through the transparent glass, he is actually not seeing the clouds and trees outside. He is a thinker, journeying the invisible and labyrinthine ways of truth, looking for answers to big questions, insatiably curious, always asking, always seeking.

You are about to move on quietly – you know thinkers like him hate being disturbed. But just as you go, you unwillingly touch the door. To your horror, it moves with a loud squeak. You freeze on the spot. The thinker flinches, as if waking from a dream, turns his head towards the door, and sees your terrified expression. It’s too late to run away. 

He gets up from his chair and starts walking towards you. But to your surprise, he doesn’t seem frustrated or disturbed. Instead, his face glows with a warm and radiant smile. He quickly approaches you, flings the door wide open, and gives you a warm hug, as if you were an old friend he has been waiting for. He points to a couch in the corner of the room, offers you a cup of tea, and invites you to spend the afternoon with him. Saying ‘no’ will be rude now that you’ve disturbed him, so you take your tea with some milk and sink in the softness of his couch.   

What follows is a couple of hours of intense, deep discussion. You discover that he has dedicated his life to finding answers to many of the questions you have been asking yourself. He claims that he doesn’t have all the answers, and yet he generously shares ideas and insights that solve many of your dilemmas. Then he asks about your thoughts, and he listens to what you have to say as if his life depends on it – with intensity and respect that you’ve never experienced before.  

As the sun starts slowly setting down behind the classic window, you realize it’s time to go. You thank him for the tea, and the conversation. Then he laughs away your apologies for disturbing him and walks you to the door. There you get a warm hug for goodbye and an invitation to come again soon. As you walk out, he closes the door, leaving it ajar again. You can’t help but look through the crack one last time, just to see how he sits back in his chair to resume his thoughts. How different does he look now to you – the thinker is now a friend. You slowly walk away, knowing that you will be coming back very, very soon.

A Global Network of Great Minds

We partner with top minds from all over the world. Each of the members of our global network has a unique set of abilities, industry insights and expertise that help our clients overcome challenges, create effective culture, achieve their goals, and build and sustain thriving organizations.