𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥-𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐨𝐱𝐢𝐜 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬? It’s not because they’re inherently bad people. Toxic behaviors often emerge from something deeper—an invisible weight they carry every day. Research by Massachusetts Institute of Technology from Charlie Sull reveals that toxic cultures stem from toxic leadership. But what fuels this toxicity? - A lack of self-awareness - A lack of self-management - And something I call the "𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝." This “load” is the weight of suppressed emotions—anger, fear, frustration—accumulated over years. Like an invisible magnetic field, it distorts how we see the world and interact with others. At their best, these leaders may seem charming, even inspiring. You’d never expect them to cause harm. But when the pressure is on—when deadlines loom, crises strike, or plans unravel—that emotional load is triggered. 𝐓𝐨𝐱𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧; 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝. And in our hyper-connected world of constant demands, fast change, and unending screentime, we’re living in a pressure cooker. Few of us have moments to recover, and the emotional load builds higher. More leaders crack under pressure, more people snap, and aggression spills over into workplaces and society at large. So, what’s the solution? It’s simple, yet profound: 𝐖𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲. We need to rediscover our emotions, not suppress them. Self-awareness and emotional resilience aren’t luxuries; they’re survival tools for today’s world. This is one of the key ideas I’m exploring in my upcoming book, 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞. The book dives into how we can build workplaces where people thrive—not just survive—by adopting regenerative practices like energy management, self-awareness, and purposeful leadership. It’s time to pause, reflect, and lighten the load. Only then can we create workplaces—and lives—where kindness, understanding, and strength thrive. Let’s lead the way back to being human. Thank you Charlie for this very insightful research!
Co-Founder @ CultureX | Culture Research @ MIT | Research featured in NYT, WSJ, BBC, TIME, CNBC, HBR, SMR
My co-founder and I have been researching toxic culture for more than 3 years now at MIT. This chart captures one of the most basic but important truths. Leadership and culture are always entangled in some kind of quantum phenomenon, and nowhere is this more apparent than toxicity. Unfortunately, this entanglement makes toxicity very difficult to improve in practice. Why? Because if leaders are toxic: - They will tend to not care about toxic culture. Fishes do not care if stuff is wet. Toxic people usually do not care if stuff is toxic. They won’t care enough to change anything. They won’t hire consultants in the first place, or launch any kinds of initiatives, or anything. The situation will not change. - Because a big part of fixing toxic culture is addressing their toxic leadership, they will tend to get defensive when called out for their behavior. When they feel personally attacked, they will be less likely to buy in to the culture change process. Managing this dynamic is a tricky balancing act (“No one is saying *you* are toxic, of course, Mr. CEO, but… on the other hand, you do have to yell at people quite so loudly?”). If anyone watches Succession, imagine if a consultant tried to tell Logan Roy that he was a toxic leader. Imagine how he would react. That gives you some idea of the difficulty. - Because they are toxic, they will not be naturally well suited to making stuff less toxic. And the only way the company will become less toxic is if they set the example. Is it possible to fix a toxic culture? Yes, if you have top leadership commitment. If the CEO sets the tone and establishes new social norms, distributed leaders will tend to follow suit. There is evidence that toxicity can sometimes be coached away, and other mechanisms like promotions, compensation, and dismissals can further ensure leadership is culturally healthy. Tweaks to levers like work design can also help (cultures tend to be less toxic when they everyone gets a good night’s sleep). With top team buy-in, toxic culture is a solvable problem. You do need the CEO and a critical mass of key leaders to be nontoxic, though. In toxic cultures these key positions often are toxic. This is why probably the best opportunity to fix a toxic culture comes with a change in leadership, preferably with an external hire from a culturally healthy company.
