Summary: From Uber to Nike to CBS, recent exposés have revealed seemingly dysfunctional workplaces rife with misconduct, bullying, and s-xual harassment. Why do companies get caught up in illegal behavior, harassment, and toxic leadership? Researchers identify an underlying cause: a Masculinity Contest Culture. This kind of culture endorses winner-take-all competition, where winners demonstrate masculine traits such as emotional toughness, physical stamina, and ruthlessness. Surveys of thousands of workers in the U.S. and Canada, from different organizations, revealed four masculine norms that together define masculinity contest culture are are highly correlated with organizational dysfunction: 1) show no weakness, 2) strength and stamina, 3) put work first, and 4) dog eat dog. But these norms lead people to focus on burnishing their personal image and status at the expense of others, even their organizations. Leaders need to perform deeper, more committed work to examine their cultures, and take action where it’s needed.
Link here to the whole article: https://hbr.org/2018/11/how-masculinity-contests-undermine-organizations-and-what-to-do-about-it
TLDR; it’s not you; the culture is sick and rewards the wrong things making everyone else sick. THIS is why we’re not innovating right now. I wish leaders would get it together and look in the mirror.