How to Fix a Toxic Culture

To address toxicity in the workplace, research shows there are three critical drivers companies should focus on: leadership, social norms, and work design.

Donald Sull and Charles Sull

September 28, 2022

More than 90% of North American CEOs and CFOs believe that improving their corporate culture would boost financial performance.¹ Most of these executives ranked a healthy culture as one of the top three among all factors — including strategy, innovation, brand, patents, and others — in terms of its impact on results. More than 80% also acknowledged that their organization’s culture was not as healthy as it should be.

If leaders view culture as crucial and needing improvement, you might expect them to focus ...