#689: Building a culture of agility with Eugenie Lamprecht, Reka

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström® – Episode #689: Building a Culture of Agility with Eugenie Lamprecht, Reka

Release Date: June 12, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode #689 of The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®, host Greg Kihlström delves into the pivotal role of organizational culture in fostering agility within companies. The episode features Eugenie Lamprecht, Chief of Staff at Reka, who engages in a compelling conversation with Danny Yogatama, CEO of Reka. Together, they explore how a lean team can cultivate a culture of agility, efficiency, and innovation, especially in the fast-evolving landscape of marketing technology and artificial intelligence (AI).

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Building a Culture of Agility

The conversation kicks off with a deep dive into the foundational aspects of Reka's culture. Danny Yogatama emphasizes that beyond technical prowess, building a meaningful presence in the AI era requires a team of talented individuals united by shared goals and strong character.

Danny Yogatama [03:24]: "At Reka, we believe that doing something truly meaningful in this new era of AI takes more than just great tech skills. It takes a group of really talented and world-class individuals that are aligned and work together towards the same goal."

Key cultural pillars at Reka include curiosity, ownership, and a willingness to experiment. The team prioritizes psychological safety, ensuring that members feel comfortable taking initiative and embracing new challenges without fear of failure.

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Team Alignment and Communication

Maintaining alignment within a growing team, especially a fully remote one, is crucial. Danny outlines Reka's strategies to balance structure with flexibility, ensuring that the team remains cohesive and informed.

Danny Yogatama [05:17]: "As we scale, we try to be intentional about finding the right balance between having some structure but also still keeping things flexible."

Reka employs regular standups, weekly company-wide syncs, and asynchronous updates to keep communication clear and efficient. These practices are designed to share real context rather than merely ticking off tasks, fostering a sense of shared purpose.

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Preventing Burnout in a Lean Team

With a lean team of approximately 50 members, preventing burnout is a top priority. Danny shares Reka's approach to maintaining focus and intentionality to ensure that team members are not overextended.

Danny Yogatama [06:44]: "We prioritize clarity over chaos. Everyone is very clear on what matters most, and we're not afraid to say no to things that don't line up with our goals."

By maintaining transparency and minimizing unnecessary meetings, Reka ensures that employees can concentrate on meaningful work without the distraction of bureaucratic hurdles.

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Prioritization in Agile Environments

Effective prioritization is a cornerstone of Reka's agile culture. Danny highlights the importance of regular check-ins and the willingness to adjust priorities based on what truly moves the needle forward.

Danny Yogatama [09:54]: "We make time to check in regularly, zoom out, and ask ourselves, like, is this still the right thing to work on?"

This dynamic prioritization ensures that the team remains adaptable, capable of shifting focus as new information and challenges arise, which is essential in the rapidly changing field of AI.

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Fostering an Experimental Mindset

Encouraging an experimentation mindset is pivotal for innovation. Danny advises leaders to create spaces for team members to try new things without the pressure of perfection.

Danny Yogatama [11:36]: "It's all about creating the space to actually try new things. You can start small, like carving out a few hours a week for an internal team to try an AI tool."

By promoting small-scale experiments and reducing friction, Reka empowers its employees to innovate continuously, fostering a culture where learning and adaptability are integral.

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Real-Life Example of Agile Culture at Reka

A standout moment illustrating Reka's agile culture occurred shortly after Danny joined in 2023. When tasked with a project outside the tech team's usual scope, the team responded with remarkable speed and focus.

Danny Yogatama [13:23]: "Our tech team jumped on a call, figured out what needed to happen, and had an MVP ready within 24 to 48 hours."

This example underscores the team's ability to rally around a common goal, demonstrating both their agility and cohesive spirit.

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Strategies for Leaders to Build an Agile Culture

When asked for advice on cultivating an agile culture, Danny emphasizes the importance of encouraging experimentation and removing barriers to innovation.

Danny Yogatama [11:36]: "Creating a safe space to experiment without the pressure of it having to be perfect is where innovation really happens."

Eugenie Lamprecht adds that leaders should shift their mindset to view experiments as learning opportunities rather than measures of success or failure.

Eugenie Lamprecht [13:00]: "If learning is the objective, then you don't really mess up or fail. When perfection is the only possible outcome, everyone's going to be afraid to innovate."

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Conclusion

Episode #689 of The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström® offers invaluable insights into building a culture of agility within a growing organization. Through the experiences shared by Eugenie Lamprecht and Danny Yogatama, listeners gain a deep understanding of how clarity, psychological safety, and an experimental mindset can drive efficiency and innovation in a lean team environment. This episode serves as a compelling guide for leaders aiming to foster an agile, resilient, and forward-thinking culture in their own organizations.

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For more episodes and insights on marketing technology, AI, and customer experience, visit theagilebrand.com.

Transcript

[Greg Kilstrom]

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[Eugenie Lamprecht]

Multimodal AI models that enable individuals and organizations to develop generative AI applications. In the previous episode sponsored by Reka, we spoke with Danny Yogatama, CEO. Today we're going to talk about how culture powers agility and Reka's approach to building AI with a lean, high impact team. My guest is Eugenie Lamprecht, Chief of Staff of Reka and she's going to be sharing how they foster a culture of agility, efficiency and innovation, all while operating as a lean team empowered by the very AI tools they build Eugenie, welcome to the show.

[Danny Yogatama]

Hi, Greg. Hi everyone. Great to be here.

[Eugenie Lamprecht]

Yeah. Looking forward to talking about this topic with you. And as chief of staff at Reca, we want to learn from you what it takes for Reka to not only develop cutting edge tools, but also use them internally to work smarter, faster and leaner. So let's talk about culture first. How would you describe the culture at Reka and what are some of the core values that guide how the team works together?

[Danny Yogatama]

Yeah, sure. So at Reka, we believe that doing something truly meaningful in this new era of AI, it takes more than just great tech skills. It takes a group of really talented and world class individuals that are aligned and work together towards the same goal. And of course, technical excellence matters a lot, but just as important as character, especially in a startup, things move fast and there are lots of highs and lots of lows. So you definitely need to be resilient and you need grit, and our team definitely has that. One thing that we also really care about is diversity, not just in backgrounds, but also just the way that people think. Everyone brings something unique to the table and that's where the magic happens. And our culture is all about curiosity, ownership and the willingness to experiment. So we want people to take initiative, try new things and learn by doing. And to make that possible, we focus a lot on creating psychological safety and then maybe more than anything else is just keeping things simple like clarity over processes and then trust over bureaucracy and micromanagement. And that's what helps us stay focused, keeps us agile and like keep us focused towards the direction that we're moving in.

[Eugenie Lamprecht]

Yeah, yeah. And definitely as a, as a startup, I mean, really as an organization of any size, but you know, particularly as a startup, that's so key to, you know, be able to have clarity and everybody kind of marching in the same direction, so to speak. Because there can be a lot of priorities and there can be a lot of different, even misalignment, if you don't do things properly. So from your lens as chief of staff, how do you support that alignment as well as the momentum of a startup across the team as the company continues to grow?

[Danny Yogatama]

Yeah, so right now we're a team of about 50 and we're growing and we're also fully remote. So staying aligned is super important for us. As we scale, we try to be intentional about finding the right balance between having some structure but also still keeping things flexible. So we've got a few internal rituals that help us stay connected and so that everyone knows what's going on things like regular standups, weekly company wide syncs, asynchronous updates. But we try to keep those light so that it's not just about checking off boxes, but it's about sharing real context so that people know what is going on and where we're going. And we're very thoughtful about the tools we use. So for us, it really comes down to just keeping the communication very clear and have people on the same page.

[Eugenie Lamprecht]

Yeah, yeah. And so, you know, 50 people, that's a good size. You're continuing to grow, but even, you know, even 50, it's a relatively lean team to do all of the work and accomplish all of the things that you're doing. With the growth that Reka has achieved and, you know, thinking ahead and continually thinking ahead, how does the team avoid burnout? I mean, I'm sure there's a lot of people that are motivated, you know, they want to do great things and do the, you know, the next best thing. But, you know, how do you help them avoid burnout? And, you know, what's the secret to making that work?

[Danny Yogatama]

Yeah, yeah. That is definitely something that we pay close attention to. Being a lean team means that we have to stay focused and intentional. We don't have the luxury to spread ourselves too thin. One of the ways that we do that is just prioritizing clarity over chaos. So everyone is very clear on what matters most and we're not afraid to say no to things that doesn't line up with our goals. Burnout often feels like you're sprinting in the dark. So we try to keep things transparent and human. We also try and keep the processes light. So the asynchronous updates and the handoffs, we don't want to burn unnecessary energy on meetings.

[Eugenie Lamprecht]

Yeah, yeah. And what's the, what's the culture aspect of this? You know, in addition, obviously you need the right processes, you need the right tools in place, but you know, the people part of that people process platform kind of equation, you know, how do you, how do you look at the culture aspect?

[Danny Yogatama]

Yeah, definitely. I think what is important is just creating a real sense of psychological safety and trust being people at Reka feel comfortable speaking up when they stretch too thin or something, if something isn't clear. And then we're very intentional about the people that we bring onto the team. People at Reka aren't just super talented, they're incredibly kind and supportive and thoughtful. So when someone is going through a tough time or they need to just take a step back, the team will naturally Step up, no questions asked. So this kind of empathy is something that we actively look for when we're hiring.

[Greg Kilstrom]

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[Eugenie Lamprecht]

And so I want to, I want to get back to a point we touched on briefly a few minutes ago. But, you know, as thinking about agility in, you know, in an organization, again, regardless of the size of the organization, but, you know, working with a relatively lean team, there can be a lot of priorities. And, you know, as a startup, there's all kinds of stakeholders and, you know, from customers to investors and all those kinds of things. How do you look at prioritization when everything, you know what I mean, there's a saying, you know, when everything's a priority, nothing's a priority. But, you know, how do you, how do you actually prioritize when everything feels important?

[Danny Yogatama]

Yeah, yeah, that, that's a, that's a tough one. In a startup, everything can feel important, especially when you're trying to move product forward, you're trying to build a team, you're trying to grow the business. But for us, it really comes down to alignment and clarity. Um, we're always asking ourselves what is actually moving the needle forward? Not just what's urgent, but actually like, genuinely meaningful. It's very easy to slip into this reactive mode, especially in AI where things are shifting and there are updates daily. So we make time to check in regularly, zoom out, and ask ourselves, like, is this still the right thing to work on? And if the answer is no, that's fine. We are okay with making that decision and just tell ourselves this might be important, but just not right now. So we'll move the priorities around. And I think prioritization isn't static, so that's something that we definitely do quite often. And then being a lean team, I think that is actually our strength. We can't do everything, so that really forces us to keep focused on what really matters.

[Eugenie Lamprecht]

Yeah, I love that you said that prioritization isn't static because I strongly believe that. I think it's a false way to kind of fall back on what we should be doing when we don't rethink priority and rethink objectives and stuff like that in a meaningful way. So that's great. From an advice standpoint, what's one low lift thing that an enterprise leader or other leaders can do to build a more agile empowered culture like you have at Rekka?

[Danny Yogatama]

Yeah. I really believe that it comes down to the experimentation mindset. It's all about creating the space to actually try new things. And it doesn't have to be this big top down initiative. You can start small. It's just something as simple as carving out a few hours a week for an internal team to try AI tool or just creating like a simple automation for some manual task.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Yeah.

[Danny Yogatama]

And it's about creating a safe space to experiment without the pressure of it having to be perfect. And that's where the innovation really happens, is where people can learn fast but they don't have the pressure to deliver this polished result. And I think maybe also just something as simple as just removing friction so that a small team can move faster. And when that kind of mindset takes root, it starts spreading naturally and it will spread to other teams.

[Eugenie Lamprecht]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think it's so powerful for leaders to really understand that when they expect an experiment cannot always end perfectly. So in other words, like learning is. If learning is the objective, then you don't really mess up ever or you don't fail. Right. It's, you know, when, when perfection is the only possible outcome, everyone's going to be afraid to innovate, right?

[Danny Yogatama]

Yeah, definitely.

[Eugenie Lamprecht]

Yeah. So looking ahead a little bit and just kind of thinking about how others can build an agile culture, really that's kind of what we're talking about, is building an agile culture and one that's able to innovate. What's a moment at Reca that made you go, this is what Agile culture looks like?

[Danny Yogatama]

Yeah. One moment that really stood out for me was just after I joined in 2023, Danny, our CEO, had a request for our tech team and it was a bit, it wasn't unusual, but it was outside of their day to day scope. But without hesitation the team jumped on a call. They figured out what needed to happen and they had like an MVP ready within 24, 24 to 48 hours. And what was impressive to me wasn't just that it was fast, it was so focused and full of energy and Everyone rallied around this one goal and just got it done. But honestly, the mindset kind of shows up every day. For example, like during our company syncs, different teams will share updates or wins or context. And you'll often see people jumping in to help with a project that's not even in line with their day to day responsibilities or scope. And then when things feel unclear or misaligned, someone will always spin up a quick call and get everyone on the same page to keep things moving.

[Eugenie Lamprecht]

Yeah, so there's, yeah, so there's accountability. But also it sounds like curiosity to help maybe in, in ways that are not necessarily, you know, if there's strict job descriptions, you know, sometimes those things fall outside of those lines. Right?

[Danny Yogatama]

Yeah, definitely.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Yeah.

[Eugenie Lamprecht]

That's great. Well, Eugenie, thanks so much for joining today. One last question before we wrap up here. I'd like to ask this to everybody. What do you do to stay agile in your role and how do you find a way to do it consistently?

[Danny Yogatama]

Yeah, so in my role where I come across a lot of the operational details, it's very easy to get pulled into the weeds. And although those details matters, matters, I've learned that I need to take a step back and deliberately zoom out and look at the bigger picture. That really helps me to prioritize or focus on the right things. And then to stay agile, I try to build some structure to prioritize things without being too rigid. So on days where I don't, where I can control my schedule, I'll start off by just quickly scanning. So not actually reading, but scanning my emails and my slack messages for anything urgent. If there are no fires to put out, I'll start with smaller tasks and check ins. And I know that seems counterintuitive, but for me, I found that once I get those things out of the way, then I can spend my afternoons more with deep work and bigger, longer, longer term projects. And then before the day wraps up, I'll clear out my inbox so that I don't carry extra clutter into the next day. But I would say beyond the logistics, I think staying agile is also a mindset. It's about being okay with plan shifting and just creating enough process to support that chaos without slowing things down. So for me, it's a constant dance between planning and improvising and being intentional about both.

[Eugenie Lamprecht]

Yeah, I love that. I love that. That's great. Well, again, I'd like to thank Eugenie Lamprecht, chief of staff of Reca, for joining the show. And thanks to our sponsor, Wrecka, A developer of industry leading multimodal AI models that enable individuals and organizations to deploy generative AI applications. You can learn more about Eugenie and Rekka by following the links in the show. Notes.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Thanks again for listening to the Agile brand brought to you by Tech Systems. If you enjoyed the show, please take a minute to subscribe and leave us a rating so that others can find the show as well.

[Eugenie Lamprecht]

You can access more episodes of the.

[Greg Kilstrom]

[e-mail] that's the theagile brand.com and contact me if you're interested in consulting or advisory services or are looking for a speaker for your next event, go to www.gregkilstrom.com that's G R E G K I H L S t r o m.com the Agile brand is produced by Missing Link, a Latina owned, strategy driven, creatively fueled production co op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. Until next time, stay curious and stay agile. The Agile Brand Ever heard of Farm to table? How about Farm to Home? That's how Costa Farms plant business works with over 1500 plant varieties grown over 5200 acres. They're not just a company, they're your plant partners who've been perfecting their craft for 60 years. They deliver beautiful, high quality, easy to care for plants. They even offer virtual plant consultations and an insider club for rare plant access. Check out www.costafarms.com today and enter code worthknowing Costa Farms 15 for a 15% discount on your first purchase. You can also purchase this unique plant brand at Lowe's, Walmart, Amazon and Home depot. Go to www.costacostafarms.com today. Attention Scrum Masters and Agile enthusiasts. Are you ready to level up your skills and connect with the best in the industry? The online Scrum Master Summit is your chance to hear from world class agile experts, gain real world insights and explore the latest trends shaping the future of Agile. Best of all, it's 100% free and completely online. Happening from June 17 through 19, this event brings together thousands of like minded professionals for engaging talks, interactive sessions and hands on workshops. Don't miss this opportunity to sharpen your skills and expand your network. Sign up [e-mail] that's online scrummaster summit com.