The Compass
Reflections, strategies, and real leadership insights to help you navigate change, challenge, and growth.
Stop Calling It a Culture Problem. It’s Usually a Leadership Problem
We love to talk about culture. We celebrate it in slide decks, measure it in quarterly engagement surveys, and market it with filtered photos of team events and branded T-shirts.
And when things go wrong, when trust erodes, high performers leave, or a team slips into apathy, the diagnosis is almost always the same: “We’ve got a culture problem.”
Why Protecting a Toxic Performer Is the Fastest Way to Erode Your Culture
Every leader has encountered that person.
They hit every target, dominate client meetings, bring in new business, and consistently “deliver results.” On the surface, they’re a dream hire. But look more closely, and you’ll see the signs: junior staffers avoiding eye contact, nervous laughter in meetings, high turnover in their team, and a growing sense of emotional tension that no KPI dashboard can measure.
The Unseen Cost of Leadership: Emotional Labour
In leadership, we measure performance by the numbers. Revenue targets. Productivity. Efficiency. But what about the emotional labour leaders shoulder daily—the invisible work that keeps teams together, but rarely gets acknowledged?
Emotional labour isn’t just about being “nice” or “empathetic.” It’s about strategic communication, conflict management, and the capacity to foster psychological safety in the workplace. It’s the glue holding teams together. And yet, it remains invisible.
Imagine a workplace where emotional labour was as valued as revenue targets. Where leaders were recognised not just for what they deliver but for how they show up for their people.
Rewarding Toxic Behaviour: The Silent Killer of Workplace Culture
It’s one of the most destructive dynamics in workplaces across the globe: toxic behaviour being rewarded and even celebrated. Whether it’s a high-performing sales director in North America who steamrolls their team but hits targets, a manager in Europe who leads with ego but still gets promoted, or an executive in Asia who drains the culture but brings in revenue; the pattern is disturbingly similar.
But every time we excuse it, we endorse it. Every time we reward it, we replicate it. And every time we stay silent, we make it harder for the good people to stay.