When organisations set out to hire senior leaders, the spotlight often shines brightest on CVs, metrics, and accomplishments. Has this person scaled a business before? Do they have the industry experience? Have they driven growth in tough markets? These are important questions—but they miss a deeper, often more decisive factor: culture fit.
In today’s volatile business environment, where strategy may pivot quarterly and industries are reshaped overnight, what endures is culture—the shared values, behaviours, and norms that guide how people work together. And no one influences culture more profoundly than those at the top.
Leaders Don’t Just Join a Culture, They Shape It
When a new leader enters an organisation, they are not stepping into a passive system. They immediately begin amplifying, interpreting, and at times challenging the culture. Their words carry disproportionate weight. Their behaviours are mirrored. Their decisions set precedents.
If a leader embodies values that resonate with the company’s DNA, be it customer obsession, innovation, transparency, or accountability, they strengthen alignment and trust. But if their style or values diverge too far, even unintentionally, the ripple effects can be destabilising: turnover rises, silos harden, morale slips.
In short, a leader who doesn’t fit the culture can achieve impressive results in the short term, but at the expense of the organisation’s long-term cohesion and health.
Why Misalignment is So Costly
Cultural misalignment at the leadership level shows up in subtle but destructive ways:
- Decision-making friction: A leader who prizes speed in a consensus-driven culture, or vice versa, frustrates colleagues and slows progress.
- Erosion of trust: If employees feel a leader doesn’t “get” what makes the organisation unique, they disengage.
- Values drift: Even a single misaligned leader can shift the tone of the company, sending mixed signals about what is rewarded and what isn’t.
Replacing a mis-hire at the senior level is not just expensive—it can stall momentum, weaken the employer brand, and take years to repair.
Fit Is Not Sameness
One misconception about hiring for culture fit is that it means finding leaders who think and act just like the existing team. That is not only unrealistic, but dangerous. What organisations actually need is cultural alignment with constructive diversity.
The best leaders share the organisation’s core values but bring fresh perspectives, skills, and lived experiences that challenge “the way it’s always been done.” They are able to evolve culture without breaking it, stretching the organisation toward growth while still honouring its roots.
How to Hire for Culture Fit Without Compromise
Hiring for culture fit requires intentionality. Here are a few practices that set leading organisations apart:
- Define culture clearly. Values should be more than words on a wall. What behaviours truly define how people succeed here? How do decisions actually get made?
- Assess through stories, not hypotheticals. Ask candidates to share real examples of how they led through conflict, failure, or change. The how matters as much as the what.
- Involve a cross-section of voices. Culture is lived at every level. Incorporating perspectives beyond the executive team helps ensure a holistic assessment of alignment.
- Prioritise adaptability. The best cultural fits are those who both align with today’s values and have the agility to grow with tomorrow’s.
Culture Fit as a Strategic Advantage
In the end, strategy and execution will always matter. But without leaders who embody and enhance culture, those strategies often collapse under the weight of misalignment.
Hiring for culture fit isn’t about finding “nice people who get along.” It’s about protecting the organisation’s identity while equipping it for growth. It’s about ensuring that when leaders set direction, their teams willingly follow, not out of obligation, but out of belief.
As business landscapes shift, culture remains the bedrock. And leaders who fit and enrich that culture are the ones who will secure not just quarterly results, but enduring success.
At Sherrington Associates, to maximise cultural alignment, we also use intelligent tools and analytics from Barrett Values Centre, such as their Personal Values Assessment (PVA™) chosen by some of the largest corporates on the planet for assessing values in relation to the shared values and culture of the organisation. Achieving values alignment is paramount to the success of the appointment and our expertise in this area has been the reason why many clients have partnered Sherrington over many years.
