Culture isn’t a branding exercise; it’s about fixing what’s broken. For strategy to work, leaders need to focus on the structures and behaviours that need to change. When senior managers treat culture as a communications exercise, the chances of long-term organisational damage and low staff morale increase significantly.
Last week, a brand very publicly damaged its reputation on live TV in front of more than 11 million people. Through words and actions, its leader clearly demonstrated the organisation’s real culture when he doubled down on the initial error. Less than 48 hours later, he was forced to backtrack and apologise. Who might this be?
On its website, this organisation promotes a culture guided by shared values and behaviours including:
– Having each other’s back: collaborating, listening to diverse perspectives, and offering support.
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– Starting with clarity: Asking “why?”, checking assumptions, and communicating decisions effectively. Practicing gratitude: celebrating wins, expressing thanks and creating a respectful environment. Getting better every day: pursuing excellence, developing each other and maintaining accountability.
Their organisational strategy centres on growth and diversity with a vision to serve as the world’s leading association for professionals by elevating their skills and promoting it to new audiences.
[ ‘Throw out the Irish trash’: I’ve been to 15 Ryder Cups but this was a new lowOpens in new window ]
Based on this statement how would you expect employees there to act? The president and CEO? If the company itself were a person, how would it behave? How would they make you feel when you’re with them?
“Our shared values are intended to drive peak performance for a culturally rich team that showcases a deep commitment to embracing and practicing inclusion, equity and diversity. These shared values and behavioural statements outline how we show up for each other daily in pursuit of the [*drumroll please*] PGA of America’s mission, purpose and strategic priorities.”
Well, the people who showed up at Bethpage Black for the Ryder Cup, which is owned and operated by the PGA of America, obviously didn’t get the strategy memo. Verbal abuse against the Europeans was a constant, including from a female MC, and Rory McIlroy’s wife Erica was hit by a beer can.
The racist, xenophobic, nationalistic tirades shouted out mainly at the Irish golfers – “throw out the Irish trash!” and references to potatoes, cabbage, pigs and leprechauns – is hardly in keeping with “a culturally rich team that showcases a deep commitment to embracing and practicing inclusion, equity and diversity.”
The American players didn’t have their European counterparts’ backs, offer support or insist on a respectful environment from spectators and organisers. Nobody publicly asked “why?” the abusive behaviour towards the European players – McIlroy and Shane Lowry in particular – was tolerated. And there’s no way things were getting better every day in terms of the Ryder Cup organisers and US team pursuing cultural and behavioural excellence, developing each other and maintaining accountability.
Anyone witnessing the competition knows the PGA of America’s strategy document, list of values and behaviours are laughable compared with their lived experience. It’s a case study in how “culture eats strategy for breakfast”, a phrase coined by management guru Peter Drucker, and has many lessons for us all.
Lead by structure
Company culture is how we behave towards our clients, colleagues and community. A mismatch between those behaviours and the desired strategy damages the company’s brand, direction and staff motivation faster than any one-off crisis. How do you think PGA of America employees, golf fans and followers think about the organisation now? Do they feel highly motivated and inspired by its leaders? In theory, culture is demonstrated by our agreed collective values and behaviours but in reality it’s set by the worst behaviours we allow.
The 2025 Ryder Cup was a spectacular own goal for organisers from a brand reputation, financial and global expansion point of view. In repairing the damage before the next Ryder Cup in 2027 in Ireland – a land of pigs and leprechauns apparently – the PGA of America will need to pay attention to what behaviour (from executives, players, staff, and spectators) really does get rewarded, versus what’s written in the strategy document.
How are the executives living and demonstrating the culture? Who gets promoted? How do people work, what are their attitudes, how do they interact with others, what guiding principles are they following? Are these aligned with the values the PGA of America’s really wants to follow? If not, what needs to be done about that now to set the right example?
Brand and reputational damage
The Team USA brand experience was triumphalist, arrogant and rude. Host countries will be rightly concerned about future events and the likelihood of American spectators’ aggressive chants of “USA! USA!” punctuated by verbal abuse and intimidation of their players on their own shores. How many European spectators will pay to attend the event now if they think it might be unsafe? Is the Ryder Cup still considered a family event? Did kids learn important lessons about life – such as discipline, respect and being a good sport – watching the Ryder Cup?
If the only goal is to make money for the benefit of players and executives in the US, then the values and behaviours the PGA chooses will differ from ones that involve expanding the franchise beyond American borders. International growth requires showing respect for other cultures and building bridges with diverse communities. Actions, not words, will matter here.
Financial damage
Allowing bad behaviour was an extraordinarily foolish oversight by the PGA. How many sponsors outside of the US will want to be associated with a brand now tainted by abuse of players, the propagation of damaging stereotypes and violence? Will the Ryder Cup be forced to discount its advertising rates? The security bill for the event is sure to rise along with insurance premiums too. Who will pay for that? In 2027, will Irish hotels ask for additional security deposits from American guests? The optics are terrible.
Fix the problems
A recent cross-national study, part of the Elgar Encyclopedia of Leadership, explored what happens when company culture doesn’t align with the message. Academic Benjamin Laker of Henley Business School in the UK and his team found “culture doesn’t shift because a new narrative is introduced. It shifts when systems change. When leaders take personal risks. When norms are not just declared but demonstrated.”
“In companies where senior leaders changed how they led – how they ran meetings, gave feedback, made decisions, and responded to challenge – trust scores rose by an average of 26 per cent, even in the absence of a branded campaign. As one executive told us, “We didn’t write our values – we reverse-engineered them from how we wanted to behave.” Another senior leader put it simply: “We didn’t announce a culture shift. We just started acting like it mattered.”
The European organisers will have to pick up the Americans’ mess. McIlroy spoke after the team’s win about behaviours and standards: “I think golf should be held to a higher standard than what was seen out there this week. Golf has the ability to unite people. Golf teaches you very good life lessons. It teaches you etiquette. It teaches you how to play by the rules. It teaches you how to respect people.” This is a winning combination for every business: leadership aligned with culture.
Margaret E Ward is chief executive of Clear Eye, a leadership consultancy. margaret@cleareye.ie
