Estefania Angel noticed that while her company helped other enterprises set up AI, it did not use those systems internally. She began using AI apps in Slack, Outlook, and Google to track assignments, which garnered attention from her superiors.
The leader who hasn't examined their own fears, assumptions, and blind spots will inevitably project those shadows onto their teams. Inner work enables outer connection. This ancient wisdom has never been more urgent. Here's an irony worth sitting with: the more AI dominates our workplaces, the more desperately we crave authentic human connection.
Imagine a world where everyone in your team feels valued, heard, and empowered to contribute. Imagine that world where people aren't afraid to challenge the status quo and great ideas emerge from unexpected places. Now imagine that world where toxic behaviors don't just go unchecked, they don't even have room to rise. Wouldn't that be a great world? What happens when leadership tolerates the wrong behaviors? What happens when decision-making is shaped by exclusion, fear, and insecurity?
Most organizations still hire for culture fit-even those that loudly champion diversity and inclusion. The phrase sounds benign, even wise: who wouldn't want colleagues who "fit in"? But behind this feel-good notion lies one of the biggest obstacles to innovation and progress in modern workplaces. Culture fit has become a euphemism for cultural cloning: selecting people who already look, think, and behave like the incumbents.
