Toxic leadership is driving your best people out the door.

Every leader wants to build a high-performing organization. You focus on hiring strategies, competitive salaries, growth projections, and performance metrics.

But here’s the truth no one in the C-suite wants to admit:

Your biggest risk isn’t your budget. It’s not your market position. It’s not even your talent strategy.
It’s your culture.

And if you don’t deal with it now, you’ll keep losing your best people—and your credibility.

Let’s talk about Jennifer

Jennifer was the kind of CHRO every executive team prays for—loyal, sharp, and strategic.

For nearly a decade, she cleaned up messes behind the scenes. Covered for toxic directors. Smoothed over complaints before they turned into lawsuits. Kept the wheels moving while trying to build a better, more ethical workplace.

But now? She’s burned out.
Her best team members are walking away.
Her rising stars are disengaged.
And every time she tries to talk about toxic leadership, the response is the same:

“We can’t afford to shake things up right now.”

Here’s what I told her:

You can’t afford not to.

What’s really happening inside your organization?

You may not have a Jennifer on your team, but you probably have her story playing out somewhere in your company.

• Your employee survey results are trending in the wrong direction.
  
• Your Glassdoor reviews are painting a picture you don’t want to admit.
  
• Your managers are disengaged, and your talent pipeline is drying up.
  

And still, no one wants to say the quiet part out loud:

The culture is toxic—and it’s leadership’s fault.

The uncomfortable truth no one wants to say

Here’s what I’ve learned after 25 years working with leaders from the White House to Fortune 500 companies:

• Bad culture is a leadership problem. If your managers are disengaged, defensive, or disempowered, that’s not a training issue. It’s a leadership failure.
  
• Toxicity is protected when high-performers go unchecked. That director who brings in revenue but leaves trauma behind? They’re costing you in legal risk, lost productivity, and high turnover.
  
• DEI without accountability is just PR. If your diversity statement lives on the website—but not in your leadership pipeline—your culture isn’t inclusive. It’s performative.
  
• Silence is complicity. If you’re not actively fixing the problem, you’re co-signing it.
  

What does a broken culture actually cost?

You might not see it on your balance sheet—yet. But it’s there.

• Turnover of your best people—the ones with institutional knowledge and future potential.
  
• Reputation loss. The kind that gets shared on LinkedIn, at conferences, and in your competitor’s recruiting pipeline.
  
• Burnout. Systemic, widespread burnout that doesn’t just affect individuals—it takes down entire teams.
  
• Missed goals. You can’t build a high-performance team on a foundation of fear, frustration, and mistrust.
  

This is the real impact of workplace injustice—and it’s costing U.S. companies $914.7 billion a year in turnover and disengagement.

So, how do you fix it?

The answer isn’t another training program or another “employee appreciation week.”
You need a full-on culture transformation.
And it starts with courageous leadership.

Here are four steps to get started:

1. Audit your leadership team

Start at the top. Who’s building trust—and who’s breaking it? Use 360 reviews and employee feedback to identify where your leadership culture is thriving—and where it’s toxic.

2. Move from performative to powerful Diversity

If your diversity strategy isn’t embedded in leadership evaluations, promotions, and development plans, it’s not a strategy—it’s a statement. Start building inclusive systems that drive real accountability and representation.

3. Make employee voice a permanent priority

Employee feedback isn’t optional—it’s your best diagnostic tool. Act on it. Share the results. Close the loop. If people feel heard and nothing changes, they’ll stop talking—and then they’ll start leaving.

4. Lead with justice

The best leaders don’t just avoid harm; they actively make things right. That means addressing wrongdoing, empowering those who’ve been overlooked, and building a culture rooted in fairness, dignity, and trust.

Final Thought: Your culture is either your biggest asset or your biggest liability

Jennifer tried to hold the line, but she didn’t have the power to fix what the C-suite refused to admit. That’s where you come in.

The culture you tolerate is the culture you create.

The question is:
Will you be the leader who looks the other way…
Or the one who finally decides to make it right?

🎁 Free Resource: Culture Check Diagnostic

Want to know if your leadership is creating culture risk?
Download the [Culture Check Diagnostic] and assess the five most common cultural failures in executive teams.

Let’s Talk About It

If you’re ready to stop pretending your culture is “fine” and start fixing what’s broken, then let’s work.

✔️ Want to assess how leadership behaviors are affecting your culture?
✔️ Need help aligning your executive team on what good leadership looks like?
✔️ Ready to make a shift before your top talent walks out?

Let’s talk.
Visit AntonGunn.com to book a Culture Assessment or Executive Strategy Session today.