Virginia Mansell, Founding Partner and Executive Coach
“Does CEO courage really shift organisational culture and system change?”
I’ve heard this question time and again over the past 25 years. My answer remains the same – change only happens when the CEO and Board show the courage to lead it.
Coaching is often the catalyst to raise awareness, reset leadership habits, and introduce new mindsets. But coaching only shifts culture when leaders reinforce it through structure and visible sponsorship from the top.
Shifting culture requires more than individual development. It demands authentic leadership from the top to reshape both mindset and behaviour across the organisation. That includes system changes, policies, accountability mechanisms, and reward structures to reinforce collaboration and high performance.
While individual leaders can influence change within their immediate teams, meaningful, company-wide transformation only occurs when the CEO and Board lead, sponsor, and stay with it.
Organisations are complex. Change is hard for individuals and even harder across senior teams, navigating competing priorities, economic uncertainty, and differing personal motivations.
CEO courage and capability: the CEO’s shadow on culture
The CEO’s leadership style sets the tone for the entire organisation. Their behaviour flows directly into the executive team, and from there, it cascades through every level of the business.
Capability alone is not enough. Even the most skilled and insightful leaders will struggle to create lasting change if the environment around them doesn’t support it. That’s why courage is the critical differentiator, particularly for CEOs. Courage to reflect. Courage to be challenged. And the courage to shift their patterns of behaviour to lead by example.
CEOs must have the courage to reflect on their leadership style and its impact, not just on their direct reports but also on the teams those reports lead. Without that self-awareness, they are out of control of the culture and leadership tone.
I’ve seen it time and again:
- When a CEO is directive and controlling, the executive team may execute well in the short term but will stop short of challenging the status quo. Compliance replaces debate. Constructive conversations fade for fear of recrimination. Innovation stalls, diversity of thought is lost, and psychological safety erodes. Risk-taking disappears. This dependence on instruction is mirrored in the levels below. The result is often a passive-aggressive culture: polite and cohesive on the surface but defensive, political, and resistant to growth.
- When a CEO is overly consensual and avoids conflict, the team may lack clarity, direction, and decisiveness. Factions can form, and individuals compete for influence in the leadership vacuum.
The variations differ, but the common thread is often the same: a lack of courage, influence, and self-awareness. These dynamics don’t resolve themselves. I’ve seen them play out repeatedly in my CEO coaching and mentoring work.
The board’s role in enabling leadership and culture
That’s why the board’s role is so critical. Boards must hold the CEO accountable for performance and remain alert to how the CEO is leading and the culture they are creating.
The most effective boards support their CEOs in seeking feedback, reflecting on their style, and building the capabilities that matter most: influence, communication, self-awareness, trust-building, and forming strong, respectful relationships with their executive team. SMG’s Leadership Capability Framework outlines these core leadership skills and how they shape organisational outcomes.
Selecting a CEO is one of the board’s most important decisions. At this level, technical expertise is merely the ‘entry ticket’. It’s the advanced leadership capabilities that make the real difference.
Boards that truly enable cultural leadership invest in it.
Creating the conditions for CEO courage and culture to thrive
Once the CEO understands their leadership style, the next step is to shape the environment in which others lead. Culture cannot thrive in an environment that stifles challenge, limits collaboration, or reinforces fear.
If you want to shift culture, you must create the right environment: psychologically, structurally, and physically.
Culture flourishes when leaders build environments that actively support well-being, enable productivity, and make space for both challenge and support. It thrives when leaders value diverse thinking and give multidisciplinary teams the room to collaborate and contribute.
Culture is the multiplier that keeps organisations healthy. But it’s fragile. It needs constant attention. Leaders must stay alert to tone, patterns, and ensure the organisation’s culture aligns with its goals.
One of the most pressing questions for Boards, CEOs, and senior executives is this: How do you create the language and safety needed for tough conversations?
Leaders often avoid or mishandle these conversations whether they relate to performance, leadership style, or accountability. Most leaders don’t lack intent. They lack the skill, confidence, and a clear plan for delivering feedback that lands without offending.
They delay the conversation until frustration builds, and when they finally speak, the message often lands poorly. Even well-meaning feedback can create distance when it lacks care and context.
In my experience, having clear, respectful, and constructive conversations is one of the most underdeveloped skills in senior leadership teams.
These are the fundamentals:
- Be clear on what needs to change and why – know the shift you’re asking for. Prepare by identifying the behaviour that needs to change, the leadership gap it reflects, the strengths that could be better leveraged, and the mindset shift the person needs to make
- Set an open mindset – stay objective, be curious, calm, empathetic, and non-judgmental
- Prepare the message – what behaviour have you observed, and what is the impact?
- Listen first, then question – hear their view and understand their context
- Use the language of observation, not judgement
- Be clear about expectations and goals
- Focus on strengths, not just gaps – what’s working, what’s not, and where they can grow
Most gaps in performance don’t stem from capability. They stem from a lack of communication and a lack of clarity. The goal of any performance conversation should be to raise a person’s self-awareness in a safe and trusting way.
The courage to lead culture starts at the top
Shaping culture is the responsibility of the Board, the CEO, and the executive team. They can’t outsource it, and they can’t delegate it.
It requires a clear understanding of vision, purpose, and strategy, along with the discipline to stay focused on execution.
But more than that, it takes real conviction. This includes holding a long-term view, rather than being distracted by short-term noise. To lead well, leaders must begin with self-reflection and a willingness to change their own behaviour. They must also stay open to challenge, hold others to account, and have the discipline to lead as a team.
Because without leadership from the top, culture doesn’t evolve with purpose. Instead, it defaults to the loudest voices, the safest choices, or the path of least resistance.
Boards, CEOs and the executive teams are responsible for shaping culture and for owning the consequences.
