Culture may be a far less effective leadership tool than previously thought. In a 2016 paper, Professors Stephen Vaisey and Omar Lizardo found that the values that people hold later in life are mostly shaped by the values acquired in their early life.
What does this mean for leaders?
Well, this research suggests that leaders may have very little power to change people’s values through corporate rituals and other ways of managing corporate culture. If people’s values are difficult to change, then leaders need to pay far more attention to the role of values in the hiring process. Leaders have to chose, rather than develop people with values and beliefs that match their company’s culture.