If Culture’s Broken, Your Strategy Is Already Dead

Years ago, I walked into a government office in West Africa where a multimillion-dollar reform project was underway. The strategy documents were flawless—glossy binders filled with carefully worded policies, international best practices, and colorful Gantt charts. Donors had invested heavily. Consultants had flown in from abroad. Yet when I spoke with the staff, their eyes told another story. They whispered about feeling invisible, excluded from decision-making, and undervalued in the very system they were expected to reform. The result was predictable: the project stalled, the systems decayed, and the grand vision crumbled before it even had a chance to breathe.

That experience taught me a lesson I have never forgotten: organizations don’t fail because of poor strategies; they fail because of poor cultures.

We often define organizations by their external performance—strategies, policies, programs, or partnerships. But beneath these outward symbols lies something more powerful, yet less visible: culture. Culture is the imagery—the way employees see their workplace and whether they would recommend it as a place worth joining. Culture is the story—what people tell about their daily experiences, whether they feel safe, respected, and human. Culture is also the commitment—the willingness of people to go the extra mile not because they are forced to, but because they feel valued as vital contributors.

This is why culture is not just a “soft” factor; it is the bloodstream of every institution. A broken culture will sabotage even the most carefully crafted vision. It will swallow systems whole. And it will quietly strangle productivity. As the management guru Peter Drucker famously quipped, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” What he didn’t add—but what organizations around the world are discovering—is that culture also eats systems for lunch, productivity for dinner, and your KPIs for dessert.

Consider two contrasting examples. In 2008, the global financial crisis exposed how toxic cultures—defined by greed, opacity, and reckless short-termism—could bring down institutions that had once been hailed as too big to fail. The problem wasn’t that these banks lacked strategies; it was that their internal culture normalized risk, silenced dissent, and rewarded the wrong behaviors.

On the other hand, look at Toyota during its rise in the late 20th century. Its celebrated Toyota Way was not just a production system—it was a culture. Workers at every level were empowered to stop the assembly line if they spotted a flaw. That cultural choice to value human judgment and continuous improvement became the backbone of Toyota’s global success. The strategy was important, yes, but it was the culture that made the strategy sustainable.

Policymakers and leaders often miss this point because culture cannot be quantified as easily as financial returns or project milestones. Yet ignoring it is costly. A recent Gallup survey revealed that disengaged employees cost the global economy over $8 trillion in lost productivity annually. That’s not a strategy problem—it’s a culture problem.

So what should leaders do? First, they must listen—not just to the loudest voices in the boardroom but to the quiet conversations in hallways and cafeterias. Culture lives in the whispers, not the press releases. Second, they must make respect non-negotiable. An employee who feels valued will contribute more than a dozen who feel disposable. Third, leaders must align rewards with values. If integrity is prized, reward integrity. If collaboration is encouraged, recognize collaboration. Culture is not what you write on posters; it is what you celebrate and what you tolerate.

The truth is, every organization is already shaping culture—either by design or by neglect. The question is not whether culture matters, but whether leaders are brave enough to confront the culture they already have.

In the end, strategies are replaceable, but culture is not. A failed strategy can be rewritten; a broken culture requires rebuilding trust brick by brick. As one African proverb wisely puts it: “A house built with saliva will collapse in the first rain.” In the same way, a strategy built on a fractured culture will crumble at the first test.

So the next time we speak of reform, transformation, or innovation, let us begin not with binders and bullet points, but with people. For when the culture is right, strategies take root. But when the culture is wrong, no amount of strategy will save you.

Because if culture is broken, your strategy is already dead.

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