A Turkish proverb says, “a fish rots from the head”. While often used to blame leaders for corporate failures, evidence shows that decay usually begins within an organisation’s culture. The Australian Banking Royal Commission highlighted this, where systemic issues—not just individual fraud—led to $4.7 billion in compensation payouts. These small unchecked behaviours within culture can accumulate, damaging organisations from the inside.
For today’s CEOs, metrics and dashboards can reveal operational performance, but culture remains far harder to measure. Employee engagement scores, for instance, may rise even as deeper cultural issues go unnoticed. No checklist or system can prevent misconduct if values and behaviours are misaligned. That responsibility rests with CEOs.
Effective leaders don’t just manage teams; they create leaders. Culture must be cultivated like a garden—planted with shared values, nurtured daily, and reinforced through trust and purpose. Leaders who neglect this allow weeds of misalignment to grow. At the core of sustainable culture lies empathy. Beyond surveys and numbers, empathy enables leaders to connect with people, understand intent, and foster trust.
CEOs must embody the culture they want to build. That means listening deeply, encouraging uncomfortable questions, and creating genuine feedback loops across all levels of the business. While consultants may draft mission statements and HR may run surveys, culture thrives only when CEOs take ownership, role-model values, and lead with curiosity and connection.
As Daniel Murray, author of The Empathy Gap, emphasizes—culture isn’t what’s written on walls but what people live when no one is watching. To scale successfully, CEOs must nurture leaders who inspire trust, build resilience, and grow organisations from strong cultural roots.
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Source: Ceoworld.Biz
