Episode 234

234. Andrew Horn on Using Relational Leadership to Strengthen Your Culture

High-performing cultures aren’t built by rules—they’re built by leaders who take full responsibility.

In this episode of World’s Greatest Boss, I’m joined by Andrew Horn, executive coach to CEOs at companies like TOMS and Hinge, and the founder of Tribute.co. After scaling his startup to 120 employees and overseeing a successful exit, Andrew now dedicates his work to helping founders, CEOs, and leadership teams master relational leadership—a framework that fosters trust, accountability, and real cultural change.

We dive deep into Andrew’s 5-step framework for moving from reactivity to conscious leadership. You’ll learn how to identify your own unmet needs, how to respond to conflict without judgment, and how to create small rituals that lead to big cultural impact.

Whether you lead a small team or a growing company, this conversation will challenge you to lead with intention—and give you tangible tools to help your team thrive.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

  • [04:00] Why Andrew chose to focus on people after exiting his company
  • [08:00] What is relational leadership?
  • [09:45] The 5 core skills of relational leadership
  • [13:00] Why unmet needs create most workplace tension
  • [14:00] The “5 A’s” framework for resolving tension and unmet needs
  • [17:00] Using nonviolent communication to provide feedback
  • [25:30] Rituals and tools for building a culture of growth

Resources Mentioned:

  • Book: The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership
  • Book: Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg
  • Tool: Bonusly – peer recognition platform

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About your host

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Jackie Koch

Hey, I’m Jackie Koch. I have over 15 years of experience prospecting talent and building teams for Fortune 500 companies, startups and small businesses in all types of industries.  Technically, I have an MBA from Concordia University, although I’d argue I learned more about growing and scaling a modern business over the last 5 years in the LA tech start up scene. There I built out recruiting and People Operations teams for high growth tech start ups. I love entrepreneurs and being one at heart, I started my own business during the pandemic. I’m the founder and CEO of People Principles where I help founders scale through fractional recruiting and people operations services.