Culture Blooming

This book, the first to treat workplace culture like a garden instead of a construction project, offers a proven framework that transforms toxic environments into thriving ecosystems where all talent flourishes.

Organizations fail when they treat culture like a construction project. They thrive when they treat it like a garden, cultivating conditions for growth rather than engineering behavior through rigid blueprints.

Award-winning consultant Abi Adamson introduces the SERN™ framework (Soil, Exposure, Roots, Nutrients) to guide sustainable cultural transformation. Drawing from her experience working with international clients, including Spotify, Sony Music, and Match Group, Abi shows how to do the following:

• Identify and detoxify the soil poisoning organizational foundations
• Expose who's hoarding the light while others wither in shadows
• Strengthen the root networks where real culture actually lives
• Distribute the nutrients people actually need to thrive (hint: it's not pizza Fridays)

Unlike traditional culture initiatives, focused on compliance and conformity, this framework reveals why expensive transformation efforts keep failing and how to spot "nutrient vampires" draining your best people.

For C-suite leaders, executives, people managers, and anyone who has ever felt invisible at work, this guide offers a sustainable alternative: treating culture as a living ecosystem requiring ongoing cultivation, not a one-time fix.

Because as Abi says, "We bloom together or we wilt alone."™“Leveraging extensive organizational experience, author Abi Adamson uses the garden as a metaphor to develop a compelling and practical framework for growing the culture your organization needs to succeed in our increasingly challenging environment. The result is a handbook for action, full of stories and insights.”
—Amy C. Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management, Harvard Business School, and author of Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well

“Culture Blooming offers a grounded and hopeful framework for leaders who want to cultivate organizations where people can truly thrive. The result is stronger performance and a more resilient, human-centered organization where people bring their best selves to work.”
—Hubert Joly, Harvard Business School; former CEO, Best Buy; and bestselling author of The Heart of Business

“What makes this book especially compelling is how relatable it is. Through clear, practical examples and honest storytelling, it shows how culture shows up in everyday behaviors, decisions, and leadership moments and how even small intentional shifts can lead to meaningful, positive change.”
—Kimberly Marcus, Vice President, Access, Impact & Inclusion, Monumental Sports & Entertainment

“Adamson’s work is a timely and pragmatic guide for leaders. The SERN model brings clarity to complex culture challenges by focusing on foundational issues that unlock productive, lasting change.”
—D. V. Williams, Chief People Officer, Match GroupAbi Adamson is the award-winning founder of The Culture Partnership and creator of the SERN Framework. Recognized as one of the UK's top workplace culture experts (Favikon, #6) and named a thought leader on LinkedIn by The New York Times, she delivered her 2025 TEDx Talk “Who Owns Culture?” challenging how organizations think about cultural ownership. Adamson has built global culture strategies for hundreds of organizations, including Spotify, Sony Music, and Match Group, equipping leaders with practical tools to navigate the conversations that drive real change. Her work has been featured in Forbes, Raconteur, and People Management. London raised, she now lives in America, bringing a unique global perspective to workplace culture transformation.