In Creativity, Inc: Ed Catmull talks about the role of culture in the making of a company that works (emphasis mine):

Improvement didn’t happen overnight. But by the time we finished A Bug’s Life, the production managers were no longer seen as impediments to creative progress but as peers—as first-class citizens. We had become better.

This was a success in itself, but it came with an added and unexpected benefit: the act of thinking about the problem and responding to it was invigorating and rewarding. We realized that our purpose was not merely to build a studio that made hit films but also to foster a creative culture that would continually ask questions.

Conversation is a tool we can use to encourage thinking together. When used this way, it leads groups to a new awareness, affecting culture in a meaningful way.