What Social Work Taught Me
About Corporate Culture
WRITTEN BY SAM HOSEIN, DIRECTOR, EQUITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
My first job out of college was as a case worker in New Jersey, helping children and families in crisis navigate fractured systems. It taught me timeless leadership skills I carry to this day. One of the most powerful frameworks I encountered was the wraparound model in social work.
The wraparound approach is holistic, collaborative, and strength-based, designed to support people with complex needs. Rather than forcing families to fit into existing services, the system wraps around them, leveraging their strengths and preferences to create a personalized plan. Years later, as Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at Instrument, I’ve found these same principles can transform workplaces.
Social work skills rooted in empathy, systems thinking, and advocacy offer a powerful framework for creating healthier, more effective corporate cultures.
Here are my kernels of advice:
- Center employees: Involve them in setting goals, workflows, and definitions of success.
- Break silos: Blend departments and perspectives to solve challenges together.
- Work your way: Flexible work, transparent growth, and resources built around people.
- Play to strengths: Recognize unique skills and cast accordingly.
- Measure what matters: Include well-being and culture alongside output.
- Lead by listening: Sometimes the most powerful response is to hear, not fix.
These all sound nice, but what do they really mean in practice?
At Instrument, we strive to put these principles into action, not always getting it perfect, but the attempt and the shared understanding of why they matter is there.
Last year, our leadership implemented a return-to-office mandate for employees at our headquarters. Like many organizations, it seemed like a sound business decision at first. It quickly became clear that morale and trust suffered. Our Annual Employee Engagement Survey confirmed what employees told us: the workforce did not support the mandate. And we listened. In a commendable display of adaptability, our C-suite reversed course, shifting from a blanket in-office requirement to a more intentional approach.
Rather than measuring success by days spent in the office, the new focus became making in-person time truly meaningful, reserving it for business-critical moments such as client workshops, purposeful community-building activities, and opportunities for new business, learning, and growth. By listening, responding, and evolving, leadership transformed a point of contention into a stronger, more trust-based way of working.
One of my greatest growth areas in the corporate world has been learning how to bridge the gap between human-centered values and business-driven language — translating empathy, trust, and connection into metrics that resonate in boardrooms.
The truth is, human-centered leadership isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s a competitive advantage. It can boost revenue per employee, reduce turnover and inefficiencies, improve margins, and accelerate value creation.
Social work taught me that systems change when people feel safe, heard, and valued. The setting may change, but the principles don’t. Your background is your advantage—bring it to the table. It’s an ongoing journey, constantly adapting our systems to the changing landscapes (economic, social, political, etc) that we find ourselves in. It’s about knowing when to be iterative and when to be disruptive while keeping your core values at the heart of every decision.
My social work value systems anchor me in my work and help me feel grounded when I’m navigating uncertain territories. While I still see myself as a corporate newbie with more learning opportunities to come, I also recognize the universality of working with human beings and believe these experiences make me a better people leader.
I’m honored to be nominated for ADCOLOR’s Innovator of the Year award, and to have been selected as part of the 2025 ADCOLOR’s Leaders Program. Under the 2025 theme CTRL + ALT + LIFT, I see “lift” not as a single act, but as an ongoing practice: lifting people by creating the conditions for them to thrive, and lifting organizations by unlocking the full potential of their teams.
