What a Beehive Can Teach Us About Building Culture

This week on the podcast I sat down with Latoya Johnson, a beekeeper who got into beekeeping because of her own struggle with eczema and some research on raw honey. It started as a personal fix, grew into a passion, and then became a leadership workshop at Temple University. As we talked, I kept seeing the five culture builders show up in her hive. Here's how.

Status

Latoya learned early that every bee has a role to play, and the hive needs all of them. She brings that same lens to her work with leaders by looking past job titles to the person underneath. Status is about making sure every contribution gets seen and named — it isn't about who has the greatest and best title. When people know their role matters, they own it.

Certainty

Latoya didn't jump straight into keeping bees. She did the research first, then volunteered with an experienced beekeeper and learned by helping install hives. She built her confidence step by step, with someone showing her the way, and now manages a hive of around 60,000 bees. That's what certainty looks like on a team. People do their best work when they can see the path ahead. Share the plan, share the timeline, and tell people early when something changes.

Autonomy

Latoya's journey is an autonomy story. Nobody handed her a plan to become a beekeeper. She followed her own curiosity from a skin care question all the way to a beehive and a workshop at Temple. That kind of ownership only grows when people have room to explore. Give your team that same room. Offer choices in how the work gets done, then trust them to do it.

Relatedness

Latoya's workshop includes an activity called "cross pollination," designed to help leaders connect as people instead of as job titles. In her words: "Titles are important. But underneath those people, it's an actual person." The activity showed how much richness comes from the different perspectives everyone brings to the table. Bees cross-pollinate to keep the whole ecosystem healthy, and teams do the same when people share who they are. That's the heart of relatedness. Create the space for it, and go first by showing a little vulnerability yourself.

Fairness

"They only thrive working together. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it." Latoya said it plainly, and it applies to every team I've led. A hive runs on the same rules for every bee, and working together only works when everyone feels heard. Latoya and I both came back to this throughout our conversation: listen to understand, not to respond. Fair leadership means transparent decisions, consistent rules, and a team that knows its voice was heard before the call was made.

Bring the Hive Mentality Home

Latoya reminded me that some of the best leadership lessons aren't in a book. They're out in nature, walking in the grass, or standing next to a hive. Pick one of these five this week and look at your team through the hive's eyes. Where is someone's contribution going unnoticed? Where could a little more clarity, trust, connection, or listening change the energy?

Listen to the full episode with Latoya Johnson for the whole conversation. It's a fun mix of inspiration, humor, and practical advice you can put to work right away. Also available on Apple Podcasts.