On Culture: Effort ≠ Impact

Myste Wylde
Aug 28
5 min read

Dear Culturati Insider,

One of the hardest truths for leaders to face is that effort doesn’t equal impact. We’ve built layers of activity—culture campaigns, AI pilots, performance decks—but without rethinking systems, norms, and incentives, nothing is actually changing.

The problem isn’t always a lack of intention. It's easy to mistake motion for progress. Culture moves when systems change, when leaders assume personal risk, and when values are not merely declared but consistently demonstrated. Branding culture without backing it up with action renders it hollow. Successful cultural transformation requires reshaping underlying organizational structures—such as incentives, workflows, decision frameworks, and oversight—so that desired behaviors become the default. This helps embed new norms into the day‑to‑day fabric of how work gets done, not just the messaging around it.

A recent MIT study found that while AI tools like ChatGPT improve individual productivity, most pilots fail to drive real business outcomes. Why? Because AI is revealing how much of modern work isn’t necessary in the first place. We’ve optimized for optics over outcomes, process over purpose. Without a redesign, AI risks accelerating inefficiency, making low-value work faster, not better. The opportunity for leaders is to rethink workflows, eliminate performative tasks, re-skill managers for human leadership, and measure contribution by impact rather than presence.

We’ve been talking a lot about the value of purpose as a component of courageous leadership and as critical to building trust, connection, and engagement. Effectively employed purpose is connected to daily work and paired with autonomy and relationship equity. Similarly, connection can be treated, not as a campaign, but as a daily practice of small, consistent acts. Adaptive leadership and organizational relevancy also means recognizing that employees, like customers, now expect clarity, personalization, and agency.

In short, there is no substitute for transparency, ownership, and work that's designed to matter. Every system tells the truth. If we want to change culture, we have to change what we measure, what we reward, and what we model.

To making work work,

Myste Wylde, COO

To Change Company Culture, Focus on Systems—Not Communication

Harvard Business Review

By Benjamin Laker, Chidiebere Ogbonnaya, Yasin Rofcanin, Tomasz Gorny and Marcello Mariani

Summary: Some executives still treat culture like a messaging exercise, but research based on 164 senior leaders across North America, Europe, and Asia shows it only shifts when systems and power structures change. Among organizations that launched branded culture initiatives, 72% saw no gains in trust or retention. By contrast, those where leaders changed how they led—shifting decision-making, feedback, and meeting norms—saw trust scores rise 26% even without campaigns. Values only gain credibility when they involve trade-offs; tying bonuses to leadership behaviors improved retention by 18%. Perks without operational fixes backfire, and nearly 70% of employees withhold feedback when they fear backlash. Culture fails when actions contradict messaging, and lasting change comes from rethinking incentives, redistributing power, modeling values through visible trade-offs, and fixing the systems where trust is built or lost.

READ ARTICLE IN FULL

The Missing Link Between Purpose and Performance

MIT Sloan Management Review

By Rodolphe Durand, Pauline Asmar, and Jean-Marc Laouchez

Summary: A study of 57,000 employees across 469 companies found that teams with regular dialogue about corporate purpose saw a 10% increase in commitment. That impact rose another 7–9% when leaders treated team members equitably and gave them autonomy. But when relationship quality varied across the team, commitment dropped by 3%, and the effect of purpose dialogue weakened by another 2%. Leaders who embed purpose into daily conversations, model fairness, and grant autonomy create stronger alignment, engagement, and execution. Without that, purpose risks becoming noise.

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Fast Company

By Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Alexis Fink

Summary: AI is exposing how much of modern work adds little real value. An MIT study found that while AI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot improve individual productivity, few pilots translate into measurable business performance, revealing that much of what gets produced isn’t needed in the first place. Automated pitch decks, reports, and meeting summaries highlight how many roles reward process over purpose and optics over outcomes. Without redesign, AI risks entrenching inefficiency by making low-value work faster. The opportunity for leaders is to rethink workflows, eliminate performative tasks, re-skill managers for human leadership, and measure contribution by impact rather than presence. AI can accelerate productivity, but only leaders can decide what work matters and create space for creativity, strategy, and judgment where humans deliver the most value.

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The How of Human Connection

Psychology Today

By Marianna Pogosyan Ph.D.

Summary: A study analyzing over 20,000 data points on social connection shows that people respond far more positively to outreach than we expect, yet leaders and employees often underestimate this and miss opportunities to build trust. University of Chicago psychologist Nick Epley’s research finds that connection thrives on reciprocity and small, frequent positive interactions rather than rare, intense ones. Misjudging how others will respond (known as the “liking gap”) creates unnecessary hesitation, limiting collaboration and innovation. Leaders can foster connection and trust through consistent, genuine engagement using dialogue, space for mutual responsiveness, and daily practice.

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Solving Problems for Customers Isn't Enough Anymore—Here's the Shift That's Defining the Next Era of Business

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By Majeed Javdani

Summary: A structural shift is redefining how organizations create value, both in markets and inside the workplace. Just as customers now expect clarity, customization, and capability instead of dependency on institutions, employees are demanding the same from employers. Access to data, learning platforms, and AI-driven tools gives people the ability to direct their own growth, health, and career paths without waiting for top-down programs. Companies that succeed will stop managing employees as passive recipients of policies and start empowering them as active owners of outcomes. Generic perks and opaque systems are losing credibility, while personalization, transparency, and agency are becoming the true differentiators. For leaders, the work is to design roles, incentives, and cultures that enable autonomy, build confidence, and unlock potential, measuring success not by control but by how well people are equipped to thrive.

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