On Culture: Coherence & Intelligent Work

Myste Wylde
6 days ago
5 min read

Dear Culturati Insider,

Coherence is the organizing principle of intelligent work. It’s the stabilizing condition that aligns purpose, systems, and behavior so organizations can adapt without losing clarity or trust. It works by linking meaning to method—connecting how people understand the mission with how they make decisions—so the organization moves together, despite external disruption and internal differences.

This is especially critical as the old 9-to-5 gives way to a new social contract built on autonomy and accountability. Many professionals now structure their days around energy and natural productivity rhythms: short sprints for deep focus, brief collaboration windows, and flexible breaks in between. The emphasis has shifted from hours to outcomes, but invisible overload is the risk to guard against.

Cultural fragmentation compounds that risk. Employees and executives often take in different signals from increasingly polarized information streams that shape how people view work and leadership. Culture must serve as the connective infrastructure that anchors shared values, clear communication, and a genuine understanding of how people experience life. Coherence strengthens when leaders listen with empathy and align words with reality.

AI has made coherence both harder and more essential. As automation reshapes how decisions are made and who makes them, leaders are being asked to redesign identity and how judgment, creativity, and trust operate inside complex systems. Technology may accelerate output, but coherence sustains the meaning-making needed to thrive. As Edmund Phelps observed, flourishing comes from the creative act—the human capacity to imagine and build together. The future of intelligent work depends on preserving the connection between purpose and creation, keeping our evolution both human and whole.

Holding the throughline,

Myste Wylde, COO

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