Culture is About Systems, Not Communication

In a recent Harvard Business Review article, Benjamin Laker (University of Reading), Chidiebere Ogbonnaya and Tomasz Gorny (King’s College London), Yasin Rofcanin (University of Bath), and Marcello Mariani (Henley Business School) argue that while leaders often assume a change in their internal communications strategy alone can shift culture, in reality it is internal systems and everyday behaviors that drive and sustain culture change.

"[C]ulture doesn't shift because a new narrative is introduced. It shifts when systems change," they write. Their cross-national study of 164 senior leaders reveals that 72 percent of formal culture initiatives since 2022 produced "no meaningful improvement in employee trust, engagement, or retention." Symbolic gestures such as revised mission statements, perks, or values campaigns often feel performative when not matched by leadership behavior. Employees notice the gap, with 59% reporting that "senior leadership actions contradict stated values at least weekly."