Your Culture Is Not Perfect – And It Never Will Be

Moving beyond good or bad

Marusya Wrobel/Stocksy

Stop pursuing the perfect culture.

Every time people use the terms “bad culture” versus “good culture,” I cringe. This binary approach oversimplifies reality by forcing us to choose between good or bad.

I recently wrote about how culture and strategy should work together (instead of culture eating strategy for breakfast). Culture amplifies strategy: We don’t need one or the other – we need both.

The response on LinkedIn was overwhelming, sparking intense reactions. Many jumped to declare that “bad cultures” kill strategy. Others advocated for culture’s magical power, as if a business could thrive without a proper strategy.

This reminds me of how often we fall into the binary thinking trap:

• Why do we try to force companies into one of two boxes?

• What exactly do we mean by a “good” or “bad” culture?

Binary thinking makes us see things in black or white terms. But reality is full of grays. Most organizations have both good and bad things.

Your Culture Is Messy – and That’s…