To Change Company Culture, Focus on Systems—Not Communication

Culture is one of the most talked-about priorities in leadership, yet one of the least consistently understood. Executives routinely declare it is a strategic imperative. They launch values campaigns, unveil wellbeing programs, revise mission statements, and deliver impassioned talks about trust and purpose. But for all this activity, something isn’t working: in many organizations, we’ve seen that the louder leaders talk about culture, the more performative it feels—especially when actions don’t align with the message.