The Danger of a “Too Strong” Culture: How Over-weighting a Single Virtue Creates Toxicity
- Introduction: The Paradox of “Good” Values
- The Core Thesis: It’s Not Culture, It’s Character
- Diagnosing Cultural Imbalance: The “Character Culture Check” Model
- From Diagnosis to Action: How to Systematically Develop Character
- Conclusion: The Pursuit of the “Golden Mean”
Introduction: The Paradox of “Good” Values
Why do companies that fiercely promote the value of “Drive” so often suffer from burnout? Why do teams obsessed with “Collaboration” drown in indecision? This paradox is familiar to many leaders: they implement seemingly positive values, only to end up with a dysfunctional work environment.
The problem isn’t the values themselves, but their imbalance. New research shows that any virtue, when taken to an extreme, becomes a vice that corrodes a culture from within.
The Core Thesis: It’s Not Culture, It’s Character
In a recent article in Leader to Leader, Mary Crossan and her colleagues at the Ivey Business School ask a critical question: If “culture eats strategy for breakfast,” then what’s eating culture? Their unequivocal answer is character. They argue that weaknesses and imbalances in the character of leaders are the root cause of the gap between a company’s stated values and actual behaviors.
The core idea of their research is that any dimension of character—and by extension, culture—can exist in three states:
- Under-weighted: The quality is deficient, leading to problems.
- Strong character: The quality is in a healthy balance with others.
- Over-weighted: There is too much of the quality, and it becomes a vice, creating equally serious problems.
When an organization subconsciously begins to reward one quality above all others, it creates a dangerous imbalance that is the primary source of toxicity.
Diagnosing Cultural Imbalance: The “Character Culture Check” Model
To help leaders accurately diagnose their teams, the researchers developed a detailed model presented in the table below. It includes 11 dimensions of character and describes how their deficiency or excess manifests in team behavior.
Table: Diagnosing Character Culture (Character Culture Check)
| Dimension | Under-weighted | Strong character | Over-weighted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accountability | Failure to deliver results; blaming culture; low ownership of issues. | Ownership of problems; commitment to decisions; acting in organizational interest. | Difficulty delegating; obsessive and controlling; little room for learning from failures. |
| Courage | People don’t speak up; fear prevails; giving up; little innovation. | Determination and perseverance; high resilience; “truth to power.” | Reckless, stubborn, and arrogant risk-taking. |
| Transcendence | Narrow goals; failure to acknowledge and appreciate; not inspired. | Commitment to excellence; clarity & focus; inspiration motivates innovation. | Always thinking things will get better but with no tangible sense of how to get there. |
| Drive | Lethargy & low productivity; lack of initiative; apathy. | Sustained momentum around focused priorities; high productivity. | Tunnel vision; perfectionism inhibiting productivity. |
| Collaboration | “Every man for themselves” mentality; lack of information sharing; silos. | Effective teamwork; diversity and inclusion driving success. | Conflict avoiders; people-pleasing; too many people clouding decision-making. |
| Humanity | Lack of empathy, compassion, and consideration. | Deep understanding of what is important; people feel they are seen and heard. | People feel overwhelmed and suffer “compassion fatigue.” |
| Humility | Arrogance and overconfidence; complacency; lack of learning and development. | Willingness to identify & discuss mistakes; supportive of learning and development. | Overwhelmed ruminating about mistakes; pushover; lacking focused learning. |
| Integrity | People operate from self-interest and mistrust; lack of transparency. | Trust, transparency, and effective communication; aligned principles and values. | Uncompromising, rigid, and dogmatic interactions; exclusionary practices. |
| Temperance | Impatience and agitation; prevalent stress and anxiety; emotional outbursts. | Effective risk management; thoughtful consideration; calm even under duress. | Risk-averse inaction; lacking urgency; indifferent about outcomes. |
| Justice | Inequities, favoritism, and nepotism. | Fairness fostering trust; clear understanding and action around systemic inequalities. | Rigid, rule-based procedures that do not take into account individual differences. |
| Judgment | Indecision; lack of insight, rigor, and understanding; resistance to change. | Insightful and adaptable; situationally aware; solid decision-making. | Analysis paralysis; over-complicating decision-making; no clear sense of priorities. |
From Diagnosis to Action: How to Systematically Develop Character
As the authors themselves note, awareness is only the first step. Real change requires daily practice, which they call a “character gym.” But how can you create such a system at a company-wide scale to intentionally correct identified imbalances?
Traditional HR processes, like annual reviews, are too slow to influence daily behavior. This is where modern digital tools come in, allowing you to turn diagnostics into action. For example, a platform like AlbiCoins allows you to intentionally highlight and encourage the character dimensions that are deficient in your culture.
If your diagnosis revealed a lack of Courage, you could create a reward system for constructive criticism and new initiatives. If you are short on Collaboration, you could recognize employees for helping colleagues in other departments. This transforms the abstract goal of “strengthening” certain qualities into a transparent and manageable process that engages all employees.
Conclusion: The Pursuit of the “Golden Mean”
The research from Mary Crossan and her colleagues provides leaders with a powerful and science-based tool. It proves that a healthy culture is not about maximizing a few “good” values, but about the constant and conscious pursuit of balance across all dimensions of character.
Instead of once again updating the list of values on your wall, conduct an honest diagnosis of your team using this table. Answering where you really stand—in a state of deficiency, excess, or the “golden mean”—can be the starting point for real, not just declarative, changes in your culture.
References:
- Diagnosing and Strategically Implementing a Character-Based Culture
- The Lived Experience of Exercising and Developing Leader Character
- The Humble Leader: A Review and A Model for Future Research
- Ethical Leadership and Employee pro-environmental behavior: The role of organizational-level factors
- Organizational culture, leadership, and performance: a review of the literature
