Success Leaves Clues: Ep288 - Why Culture Is Your Only Real Competitive Advantage with Ashlea Desroches, People & Culture Leader at Elastic Path

What if employee experience isn’t an HR initiative… but the system your entire business runs on? In this episode of Success Leaves Clues, Robin and Al sit down with Ashlea Desroches, People & Culture Leader at Elastic Path, to unpack a powerful shift in how organizations think about culture, performance, and leadership. Ashlea challenges the idea that employee experience is a “nice to have,” and reframes it as the true competitive advantage driving engagement, retention, customer experience, and ultimately, business results. From psychological safety and leadership behavior to pay transparency and growth-driven management, this conversation goes deep into what actually creates high-performing teams… and why most organizations are still getting it wrong. If you’re leading a team, scaling a company, or trying to build a culture people don’t want to leave, this episode will change how you think about performance, trust, and what it really takes to win. You’ll hear about: Why employee experience is the operating system of your business  The link between culture, customer experience, and profitability  Why high performance does not always equal high engagement  How employee referrals reveal your true internal culture  The role of psychological safety in innovation and team performance  Why great cultures are built on clarity, safety, and recognition  The difference between comfort and true psychological safety  How avoiding difficult conversations destroys team trust  Why growth conversations outperform performance reviews  The one question every leader should be asking their team  How leaders create conditions where performance becomes inevitable  Why pay transparency is becoming a leadership imperative  The hidden trust gap created by compensation secrecy  How to implement pay transparency without exposing salaries  Why compliance is the floor, not the strategy  The long-term impact of developing first-time leaders We talk about: 00:00 Introduction to Ashlea Desroches and her approach to people & culture 02:00 Why employee experience is a true competitive advantage 04:30 The connection between employee satisfaction and business performance 06:00 How culture shows up in customer interactions and reputation 08:00 Why retention is built when hiring is easy, not hard 10:00 What actually shapes the employee experience end-to-end 12:00 Common traits of high-performing cultures across industries 14:00 Psychological safety vs comfort, and why it matters 17:00 The danger of avoiding difficult conversations as a leader 19:00 How to create safe, open dialogue within teams 21:00 The leadership shift from performance to growth conversation 23:00 The question that transforms employee development 25:00 Where growth conversations should actually happen 27:00 The biggest people-related challenge leaders face today 29:00 Pay transparency, trust, and the future of compensation 32:00 Why most organizations misunderstand transparency 34:00 Building trust through clarity, not secrecy 36:00 Leadership legacy and developing future leaders Connect with Ashlea LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleadesroches/  Website: https://www.elasticpath.com/   Connect with Us LinkedIn: Robin Bailey and Al McDonald   Website: Aria Benefits and Life & Legacy Advisory Group