For a culture shift to be successful, the leader must be the protagonist of the initial stories. They must personally take actions that break with the past and model the new desired behaviors. The research showed zero examples of successful, large-scale culture change that started from the bottom up.
Successful culture change doesn't start with an announcement or a new mission statement. It begins when a leader takes a decisive action that is inconsistent with the old culture. These actions organically generate authentic stories that employees share, which in turn shifts the organization's narrative and values.
Leaders can dramatically amplify the impact of their culture-changing actions by incorporating theatricality. Staging a memorable, dramatic event—like Hyperion's CEO serving only bread and water at a fancy hotel to signal austerity—makes the story emotionally resonant and ensures it spreads widely and is never forgotten.
Initiating culture change based solely on improving values is an "ego trip" destined to fail. A successful shift must start with a compelling business case ("heads") that ties the new culture to a specific strategic necessity. Only after establishing this logical need should leaders appeal to emotion and purpose ("hearts").
According to leaders, fully remote work is damaging corporate culture because it inhibits the two key ingredients of cultural reinforcement: creating new stories and sharing them effectively. New stories arise from shared challenges, and virtual communication struggles to convey the emotional weight necessary for those stories to resonate.
Contrary to common consulting practice, successful culture change efforts don't begin with a lengthy study of the existing culture. This analysis is often a form of procrastination. The most effective leaders bypass this step and immediately start taking actions that create stories aligned with the desired new culture.