Culture Is What You Tolerate: Syd Speaks on Leading with Integrity and Right Relationship
- chri116
- Jul 23
- 4 min read
Summary:
If you’re ready to rethink what’s possible for yourself, your team, or your organization, this episode will ignite something in you.
This week on The UpLevel Podcast, we sit down with Sydney Gerbracht, transformational coach, leadership consultant, and visionary founder of Syd Speaks.
From her days as an elite NCAA Division 1 athlete to her extraordinary impact at lululemon (where she helped drive over $75 million in results), Sydney has always been a catalyst for change.
Sydney doesn’t just talk about leadership; she lives it. She’s unflinchingly honest about her wins and failures, her blind spots, and her breakthroughs. Listen now!
In this episode, we'll explore:
How right relationship shapes high-performing teams
Why feedback is the new frontier of conscious leadership
The art of self-trust and courageous communication
What happens when you challenge outdated leadership paradigms
The intersection of sports, business, and personal growth
Why conflict is not the enemy
Culture is created by what you tolerate
Leadership stories from lululemon
Building psychological safety on teams
The above/below-the-line model
Order of Topics:
The Foundation of Right Relationship
Right Relationship at Work: Culture, Integrity, and Safety
Building Psychological Safety and Managing Conflict
Story in Practice: Transforming Team Culture
Feedback, Listening, and Addressing Unmet Needs
Leadership Lessons from Sport
Above the Line/Below the Line: Operating with Integrity
Developing and Delivering Leadership Content
Feedback as a Relational Skill
The Challenge of Feedback in Personal Relationships
The Leadership Infinity Loop: Continual Recovery and Repair
Conversation as Radical Change
Action Items:
Start With Self-Reflection
Daily Check-In: Ask yourself, “What is my inner dialogue today?” Notice how your self-talk shapes interactions.
Define Fulfillment: Take responsibility for identifying what well-being means to you, don’t wait for others to define it.
Build a Strong Social Contract at Work
Model Integrity: Do what you say, own your mistakes (intentional or not), and clean up any messes quickly.
Establish Psychological Safety: Foster an environment where people feel safe sharing ideas, taking risks, and giving/receiving feedback.
Address Unwritten Norms: Regularly discuss expectations about how team members treat each other, not just formal policies.
Navigate Conflict Proactively
Don’t Avoid Difficult Conversations: See conflict as inevitable; focus on managing rather than eliminating it.
Lead in Vulnerability: Be the first to apologize or admit fault when needed—model radical responsibility.
Set Boundaries Clearly: Kindness doesn’t mean tolerating harmful behavior; uphold standards while remaining empathetic.
Focus Energy Where You Have Control (Inner Circle)
Spend energy nurturing relationships, behaviors, and agreements within your direct sphere of influence (“inner circle”).
Prepare teams for external challenges (“outer circle”) but don’t let uncontrollables distract from internal alignment.
Repair Relationships Persistently
When facing ongoing friction with someone:
Reflect honestly on your role in the dynamic.
Shift perspective: replace contempt/resistance with curiosity/kindness.
Stay committed to repair—even if progress takes months instead of days.
Listen Beneath Complaints
Treat complaints/conflict as signals of unmet needs, not personal attacks or problems to eliminate.
Use Feedback as a Relational Tool: Feedback lands best when there’s relational trust:
Before Giving Feedback:
Assess the “relational bank account”—have you invested enough positive connection?
State intentions clearly: “I want us both to leave this conversation stronger.”
During Feedback:
Hold space for growth AND acknowledge past patterns without blame.
Afterward:
Prioritize repairing any ruptures promptly—don’t let issues fester!
Apply ‘Above The Line’ Leadership Daily: Check whether actions are aligned with stated values.
Above the Line: Acts in integrity, Repairs quickly, Models vulnerability
Below the Line: Makes excuses, Delays/Fails to repair, Stays defensive
Treat Culture As What You Tolerate
Regularly reflect: Am I allowing behaviors that undermine our shared values? Raise standards gently but firmly, even if uncomfortable in the moment.
About Syd:
Syd Gerbracht is a transformational coach, leadership consultant, and visionary founder of SYD SPEAKS™ — a movement rewriting the rules of leadership, one conversation at a time.
A former elite competitor as a Division 1 athlete, an analyst for NCAA sports, a visionary business leader, trainer, and learning expert driving $75M in results for lululemon - Syd leads high performing & inclusive teams with high integrity & performance cultures. Syd has developed her voice - and her strengths - to be a catalyst for change and build a leadership movement focused on courageous feedback, conscious communication, and self-trust.
With her signature frameworks, Syd helps leaders build trust-based cultures that are as magnetic as they are high-performing. Rooted in self-compassion, emotional intelligence, and conscious communication, Syd’s work blends soul and strategy, teaching leaders how to hold powerful containers for growth, feedback, and relational transformation.
Through her dynamic keynotes, workshops, and coaching programs, she challenges the outdated leadership paradigm and replaces it with something far more potent: clarity, courage, and connection.
Whether she’s on stage, coaching, or guiding a room of rising leaders, Syd doesn’t just speak. She activates. She empowers. And she’s just getting started.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syd.speaks/
🎉 The UpLevel Podcast was listed as one of the Top 10 Best Coaching Culture Podcasts!!! https://podcasts.feedspot.com/coaching_culture_podcasts
🎉 It was also ranked #4 among the top 50 Best Workplace Mental Health Podcasts!
About UpLevel Productions: Founded by Christie Mann, MA, CPCC, PCC, and Rachel Baldi, CPCC, PCC, UpLevel creates, produces, and delivers Transformative Experiences, Workshops, Training, Events + Media that develop leaders who make our world a healthier, more alive, and connected place to be. As Associate CTI Faculty Partners, UpLevel is licensed to sell, produce, and deliver Co-Active coach training and leadership development programs around the world to support the transformational growth of individuals and culture inside the workplace and organization. www.uplevelproductions.com Instagram @uplevelproductions Facebook & LinkedIn @uplevelproductionscompany
Comments