Day 21 · Act IV — Lead the Organisation
Organisational Culture
Stated vs lived values · Cultural artefacts
~30 minutes
Culture is what people do when the leader leaves the room.
The Core Idea
Every organisation has two cultures: the one on the wall and the one in the corridors. Employees learn the real one by watching who gets promoted, praised and pardoned.
Edgar Schein described culture in three layers: visible artefacts, espoused values and basic underlying assumptions. Change that ignores assumptions rarely sticks.
The Mental Model
Schein's Three Levels of Culture
Artefacts (what you see), espoused values (what is said), basic assumptions (what is taken for granted).
At work: An 'innovation' value (espoused) contradicted by an approval process requiring six signatures (artefact) reveals an assumption: risk is dangerous.
The Case Study
Boeing and the 737 MAX
DocumentedTwo 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 led to a worldwide grounding and multiple investigations, including a US House committee report in 2020.
Interpretation: the House report criticised a culture that prioritised production pressure — a stated safety value overridden by lived incentives.
Cinema & Story
Spotlight (2015)
Institutional cultures can protect wrongdoing until someone insists on the truth.
The Reading Room
Organizational Culture and Leadership
Edgar H. Schein
The foundational academic work on how culture forms and changes.
Further reading: The Culture Code — Daniel Coyle
The Journal · Portfolio output: Culture gap analysis
The Field Experiment · within 24 hours
Publicly recognise one behaviour that embodies a value you want more of.
The Evening Review
Culture is the shadow of what leaders tolerate.