When Good Cultures Go Bad: Stanford's Charles O'Reilly

Stanford University professor Charles O’Reilly has spent over 50 years studying organizational behavior. In his research on why companies fail, he’s observed that the same strong cultures that drive success can kill companies when markets shift. Adaptation is key.

O’Reilly breaks down culture change into five specific levers: harnessing senior leaders’ commitment and modeling behaviors, getting employees involved, using recognition and promotion as rewards, aligning stories and symbols, and fixing HR systems that undermine change by rewarding the wrong things.

When the patterns defining an organization’s culture become toxic, the symptoms are predictable and damaging. O’Reilly shares and analyzes a real-world example of escaping these toxic patterns.

People want to contribute and feel good about their work, O’Reilly asserts, and leaders who are willing to do the unglamorous, daily work of reinforcing the right behaviors can reap the rewards.