Member Spotlight, Josh Levine

Josh Levine

Founder & Principal, Great Mondays

Fun Fact

I trained as an improviser in high school and kept it up through my thirties. I credit that experience with giving me most of my facilitation skills. I also have twin daughters currently terrorizing opponents in roller derby here in Portland, which feels like a fitting sequel to their dad’s own history of throwing himself at things he never technically trained for.

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Background

I trace the start of my career back to what I studied in college—Engineering Psychology. It's probably what people now would call UX. In the mid-90s, the field was shifting from designing physical objects like chairs and tools to developing digital interfaces. That exposure to design led me to San Francisco, where I studied graphic design at the Academy of Art University. I started my career in earnest as a brand strategist, working with all manner of start-ups and technical companies.

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My Biggest Obstacle is How I Came to Change Management

In 2008, I lined up a few offers at other agencies when I decided it was time to move on. And then the global economy fell apart. Every one of those offers was rescinded. With an 18-month-old at home, I needed to figure out what I could do and to whom I could sell it.

During that time, I realized what I actually loved most was helping employees understand what a company was trying to do and helping executives find the words for it. Nobody had a name for that in 2008. I called it employer brand, then internal brand, before landing on the term that fit: culture. That’s the year I started Great Mondays.

Six years later, I wrote a book, Great Mondays: How to Design a Company Culture Employees Love. These days, my focus has shifted again, toward culture change for AI transformation. Organizations are pouring money into the machines and forgetting the humans who have to work alongside them.

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Biggest Reward from this Career

I’m a creative at heart. I like imagining what doesn’t exist yet, then finding the language and the aesthetic that make it real enough for a room full of skeptical executives to buy in. Helping a team articulate what they’re actually moving toward, and watching that clarity change how they work, is the job.

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Bucket List Yet to Accomplish

I’ve spent my entire career in agencies or running my own consultancy. Part of me would like to work at a large enterprise. I know the grass is always greener, but I’d like to try it just once.