Leadership Unfiltered: Meet the Founder Turning Employees Into an Organization’s Best Asset

Emilia Feltner
Apr 22
6 min read

Meet Ethan.

Ethan McCarty founded Integral based on the belief that employees are an organization’s first public, a principle that guides the firm’s work in employee engagement, internal communications, digital transformation, and culture-building initiatives. His executive leadership roles at Bloomberg and IBM shaped his expertise in large-scale communications strategy and innovation. He currently serves on several industry boards, including as a trustee of the Institute for Public Relations, and teaches at Columbia University, where he created the first graduate course on employee activation.

When I asked Ethan how he would explain employee activation, the core of his company, Integral, at a dinner party, he said he needs to butter people up first. He’d start by talking about future vacations and what TV shows people are watching, compliment the host, wait until people have had a couple of drinks and are feeling good. Then he’d ruin the vibe and start mansplaining.

He then went on to mansplain employee activation for 73 minutes and 42 seconds. That is not a joke; our recorded conversation was 1 hour, 13 minutes, and 42 seconds long.

If any readers have met Ethan McCarty, you know I loved all 73 minutes. I don’t know if it’s the eyes, the crooked smile, or the earrings, but I felt charmed.

Though we only got through 2 out of 8 of my questions, I didn’t care. His passion, his expertise, and those googly eyes, really just captivate you.

No wonder he’s a favorite professor at Columbia University.

Dinner party quote about employee activation:

“The reputation of the company, the company’s brand, whether or not the company is innovative, whether the company is known for integrity, whether the company is known as a bunch of lying liars who are lying all the time, like, all of that comes down to the actions employees take, the behavior, the things people do every day.”

Another part of Ethan’s mansplaining was, of course, criticism and opinions. One thing

Ethan has a strong opinion on, and after hearing it, I agree, is the term “internal communication.” He said, “Maybe at one point in my life, right out of college, when I first started working in 1863, there were clear differences between internal and external communication”. But since then, the “firewall” between the two has become quite permeable. Like Ethan emphasized multiple times in those 73 minutes, recognizing how important employees are affects not only an organization’s reputation, but also its market value.

After an extensive and wonderful conversation on employee activation and communicating with employees both internally and externally, I asked if he had seen Severance. I had just watched the Season 2 finale. It was at the top of my mind, and I’m still recovering from it.

Though he’s an expert on work-life culture, Ethan admitted he doesn’t have Apple TV. He said that although he owns every Apple product under the sun, when the first season of Severance came out back in 2022, he had just bought an Apple product. If you didn’t know, the gods of Apple gift you a three-month free subscription when you buy one. So, what Ethan admitted is that he only watches Apple TV when he buys a new Apple product for a trillion dollars and takes advantage of the free trial. So if anyone sees Ethan on the street, I highly encourage you to take his phone and throw it in the nearest body of water, so I can finally talk to him about Severance!!!

Ethan credited Ben Stiller not only for directing numerous culturally important films like Zoolander, Dodgeball, There’s Something About Mary, and Reality Bites, but also for creating an entire series that tackles the idea of “leave your beliefs at the door.” That concept contradicts today’s hottest trend: bringing your whole self to work. Ethan emphasizes that it’s so important. When you leave your religion, political beliefs, cover your tattoos, hide your sexual identity, your veganism, and so on, when you suppress those things, bad behaviors emerge. Let me tell you, if I had to hide my love for Lady Gaga, yes, I would eventually become a crappy person.

Ethan also touched on the pre- and post-pandemic workplace shift, saying there weren’t many CEOs or leaders who were forthcoming about their personal lives. If they were, they were more of an outlier. When everything moved to Zoom, things were revealed. You’d see a cat walk by and realize someone’s a cat person. You’d see a man walk past a studio apartment and realize someone has a partner. You’d see a prayer rug, a rainbow flag, sports memorabilia, things that wouldn’t be in your cubicle but existed in your home. So, since the pandemic, the corporate world has seen people reveal more about themselves than ever before.

What was Ethan’s lightbulb moment? He gave credit to a scientific journal written in 1968 by Melvin Conway titled “How Do Committees Invent?”. When a team works on a project, the way they communicate is reflected in the system itself. For example, if four teams build a software product, chances are the product will end up having four distinct parts. In conclusion, Conway’s Law states that the communication structure of an organization mirrors itself in the design of whatever it’s building. Because everything we do, if we set up a smart system, collaborative teams, and high-integrity values, those values will permeate the system. That means it’ll show up in our products, policies, and the societies in which we operate. All of this is what gets Ethan revved up about the work he does, and the work Integral does.

Another defining moment? While working at Bloomberg, he moderated a spring seminar. After the event, three executives approached him and asked, “Have you ever thought about being a CEO or starting an agency?” At the time, Ethan was renovating his apartment without a staircase, and he said his first priority was getting stairs. Then he’d think about it. A year later, he mulled over what they had said and decided to go for it. Those same executives coached and mentored him through the process.

Constitutive communication theory: What makes up an organization is the communication itself. It’s not the products, the structure, the cars people own, the building they work in, or the industry they’re in. It’s communication. Why? Because decisions, like what products you take to market, how you present policies, and which building you choose for your office, all communicate something. And that communication can be interpreted clearly or poorly. Ethan stressed that communication is not something that goes into a vessel. It is the organization. Yep. Those are facts, folks. Not a Keanu Reeves Matrix monologue. That is why, when I asked Ethan what the Internal comms theme song would be, he said “Stayin' Alive”. Because for an organization to stay alive, you have to prioritize your employees.

Lastly, we talked about trust. In this economy, isn’t that what we all need? Ethan cited his friends at Edelman and their top-tier research: the Edelman Trust Barometer. People trust a TripAdvisor review more than the CEO of Marriott. People trust employees of a company more than what’s said on the company website.

Especially Gen Z, who are more likely to not buy a product or service if they hear it’s a bad place to work, even if the product is identical. Take water. H₂O. If one water brand treats its employees well and another has no known reputation, people are more likely to choose the brand with a positive track record. #Truth.

Ethan’s company, Integral, just released its 2025 Index. It covers everything from employee activation and the generational gap to authenticity and remote work. I highly recommend checking it out, if you care about your employees. And after reading this, you should. Thank you to Ethan and Integral for doing all the great work out there.

Quick-Fire Round:

Workplace buzzword he can’t stand: “Leverage”
App he can’t live without: Calendar and podcast app
Walk-up song: His own version of “Spanish Flea” by Herb Alpert (If you would like to hear, it email him directly at Ethan@teamintegral.com)

Workplace snack: Chocolate
Biggest pet peeve: People not being honest about their intentions
Dream company to work with: Fidelity

If you’ve made it this far, whether you skimmed, read with your heart, or landed here by accident, thank you. Let me know your thoughts and/or feedback. I’m currently partaking in rejection therapy, so this counts.

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To follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanmccarty/

To email him: Ethan@teamintegral.com