Creating a Culture of Courage: Storyblok’s Marisa Pereira On How to Create a Culture Where People Feel Safe to be Authentic & Why That Helps the Bottom Line
An Interview With Vanessa Ogle
…Practice Active Listening. Listening to understand, rather than to respond, is vital in validating employees’ feelings and perspectives. Active listening demonstrates respect and appreciation for diverse viewpoints, encouraging more open and honest communication.
In today’s fast-paced world, authenticity in the workplace and in our personal lives has become more crucial than ever. Yet, fostering an environment where individuals feel secure enough to express their true selves remains a challenge. The importance of authenticity cannot be overstated — it is the foundation of trust, innovation, and strong relationships. However, creating such a culture requires intention, understanding, and actionable strategies. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Marisa Pereira.
Marisa Pereira is VP of People at Storyblok. She is on a mission to create a truly unique employee experience and culture in remote environments, a journey that will be as exciting as it is rewarding for all while successfully scaling your business. She has a proven track record in crafting high-productivity, results-focused remote and hybrid work cultures.
Current Storyblok team members can expect a company that values a healthy culture, offers abundant growth opportunities, and embraces inclusivity, making each feel valued and hopeful. Prospective employees will find a compelling reason to join Storyblok, especially those eager to add value and grow in a unique, inclusive culture in a remote setup. For customers and investors, Marisa presents a sustainable company backed by incredible talent and a compelling value proposition.
Her diverse international background, including teaching, journalism, and politics, equips her to bring fresh perspectives and innovative solutions to HR leadership challenges. She is ready to leverage her empathetic leadership style and collaborative global mindset to provide knowledge to companies on how to establish the right processes, culture, and organizational setup for efficient and healthy scaling.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?
I have a diverse academic background. First, I studied to become a high-school teacher, then did a post-graduation in journalism and a master’s in economics and politics. During my early career I was able to put the teaching and journalism into practice but, while studying my Masters, I started working for a recruitment agency in Prague. I immediately connected with the importance of having the right talent to help organizations succeed and enjoyed partnering with my clients to define the talent needs, the skills and experiences needed. I have never left HR since then — it has now been over 15 years.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
It is hard to pick a particular interesting story, luckily, I have many! I have been lucky enough to travel the world for work and have many learnings and interesting stories related to it. However, I will pick one which ties a few things together. I worked for a higher education company — where education and learning are at the center of what we did. Hence, when it came to decide how to develop our talent internally, in particular how to develop our executives and help them learn what it means to run a university in the CEO role (and all its connected pieces), we decided to become pioneers in the field. We partnered with a Canadian immersive reality learning company and built a business simulation in the form of an iPad app and game. Participants had to run the university for 3 years (equivalent to approximately 20 hours time investment total) and turnaround the business to profitability — that includes financial, operational, people and customer decisions. It took 2 years to build, many trips and conversations with leaders in the business and academic side, but it was the most rewarding project I have been lucky enough to lead in my career.
You are a successful individual. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
- Curiosity — I am a lifelong learner, I have several degrees and part of my daily routine is to make sure I have learned something new that day. This helps me be solution driven, innovative and think out of the box.
- Comfortable with ambiguity — in all companies I worked for and in our macro environment, change is a constant. This helped me not only navigate change, but also drive change in the various transformations I have been part of.
- Empathy — working in many regional and global roles and with people across 100+ countries, being empathetic to differences and to the people around the table has been critical to being successful in global environments.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Can you share a pivotal moment in your career or personal life when being authentic made a significant impact on your success or well-being?
Yes, it is happening at the moment actually. My mother is very sick, and I was very transparent with the team and my employer about my personal situation. Everyone has been super supportive, and I have flexibility to work in the city where my mother lives when needed. Hence this allows me to be with my family, have a good balance to ensure personal wellbeing, and also be successful in my role.
What strategies have you found most effective in fostering an environment where employees or team members feel safe to express their true selves, including their ideas, concerns, and aspirations?
What I have seen work best when it comes to fostering an environment where everyone feels safe to express their true self, ideas, concerns and aspirations is when leaders role model authenticity, when leaders give trust to their people, when leaders create a safe space for everyone to be heard and share their ideas without fear of being judged. In addition, creating a culture where if we let people try new things and fail, we just see it as a learning opportunity and move forward and strive to do better instead of having punitive actions for failure.
How do you navigate the challenges that come with encouraging authenticity in a diverse workplace, where different backgrounds and perspectives may sometimes lead to conflict?
I believe that active listening is a key ingredient. Many of us come to a discussion table with preconceived ideas on how others should think or tackle a situation. Being open to different perspectives, being curious to explore the differences, actively listening to understand where someone is coming from is key to leveraging each other’s diverse backgrounds and experiences. During my career, I have had to mitigate conflicts which many times result from differences in communication styles of people from different parts of the world. It is very powerful to see that if we try to understand each other’s communication and work style preferences, it goes a long way to avoid conflict and resolve differences in a healthy way.
Based on your experience and research, can you please share “5 Ways to Create a Culture Where People Feel Safe to be Authentic?”
1. Role Model Authenticity
When leaders are transparent about their thoughts, feelings, and vulnerabilities, it signals to employees that authenticity is valued. For example, a tech company CEO who holds monthly open forums where they share not only business updates but also personal challenges and learnings from failures encourages employees at all levels to share their own experiences and ideas without fear of judgment, leading to a more connected and transparent workplace culture.
2. Build Trust through Empowerment
Trust is earned when employees feel their contributions are valued and they have autonomy over their work. Empowering employees to make decisions fosters a sense of ownership and authenticity. For example, if a business that implements a policy allowing team members to lead client projects based on their interests and expertise, rather than seniority alone, it empowers younger team members and encourages them to express their unique perspectives. This also demonstrates trust in their abilities, resulting in innovative campaigns and increased job satisfaction.
3. Create Safe Spaces for Sharing
Establishing forums where employees can share ideas, concerns, and aspirations without fear of negative consequences is crucial. These spaces can be physical or virtual, formal or informal. For instance, some companies have introduced ‘Failure Fridays’ where team members discuss recent setbacks or failures in a supportive environment. These sessions are framed as opportunities for learning rather than criticism, encouraging everyone to contribute and foster a culture of continuous improvement.
4. Encourage and Celebrate Diverse Perspectives
Actively seeking out and valuing different viewpoints not only enriches the workplace but also helps mitigate conflicts that may arise from diversity. Celebrating diversity in thoughts and backgrounds promotes a sense of belonging. It also helps to reduce misunderstandings and conflicts by promoting mutual respect and understanding.
5. Practice Active Listening
Listening to understand, rather than to respond, is vital in validating employees’ feelings and perspectives. Active listening demonstrates respect and appreciation for diverse viewpoints, encouraging more open and honest communication.
In your opinion, how does authenticity within an organization influence its relationship with customers, clients, or the broader community?
Trust, honesty, transparency and authenticity are part of our DNA at Storyblok. Our founders and leaders have done a great job in hiring people whose values are aligned with these fundamental pillars. This reflects on how we lead, how we work with each other, how we do business with our customers, and how we work with investors and the broader community. We had customers tell us that the differentiator on making their purchase decision was the people they came in contact with — that the team members at Storyblok were authentic, genuine, customer focused and passionate about what they do, the product they are selling and their company. This permeates across our processes and ways of doing business.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Great question, I have always said the following: if everyone in the world would spend 6–12 months in a different country, learning a new culture and ways of life, learning that there are more ways to see the world than the one we were taught — we would have healthier synergies across the globe and less conflict. We would have more understanding towards and acceptance towards differences and leverage those differences towards joint benefits and successes. Sort of an “exchange program” for every citizen between their 18–25 years of life. 🙂
How can our readers further follow you online?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/malvespereira/
Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!
About The Interviewer: Vanessa Ogle is a mom, entrepreneur, inventor, writer, and singer/songwriter. Vanessa’s talent in building world-class leadership teams focused on diversity, a culture of service, and innovation through inclusion allowed her to be one of the most acclaimed Latina CEO’s in the last 30 years. She collaborated with the world’s leading technology and content companies such as Netflix, Amazon, HBO, and Broadcom to bring innovative solutions to travelers and hotels around the world. Vanessa is the lead inventor on 120+ U.S. Patents. Accolades include: FAST 100, Entrepreneur 360 Best Companies, Inc. 500 and then another six times on the Inc. 5000. Vanessa was personally honored with Inc. 100 Female Founder’s Award, Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and Enterprising Women of the Year among others. Vanessa now spends her time sharing stories to inspire and give hope through articles, speaking engagements and music. In her spare time she writes and plays music in the Amazon best selling new band HigherHill, teaches surfing clinics, trains dogs, and cheers on her children.
Please connect with Vanessa here on linkedin and subscribe to her newsletter Unplugged as well as follow her on Substack, Instagram, Facebook, and X and of course on her website VanessaOgle.
Creating a Culture of Courage: Storyblok’s Marisa Pereira On How to Create a Culture Where People… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.