By Rohit Ohri, Founder, Ohriginal
Organisations love to design culture decks, run engagement surveys, and host values workshops. But the true colours of your culture only show in pressure moments—in failure, farewells, crisis, and when the truth becomes inconvenient.
If you really want to understand your culture, look at how your company behaves when it’s most exposed. Because culture isn’t the sunshine in your success story. It’s the fireproofing in your failure.
Nothing reveals culture faster than a scandal. A financial misconduct. A #MeToo allegation. A data breach. A whistleblower speaks up. These aren’t operational glitches—they are cultural CT scans. When crisis hits, every choice—every delay, every press release—is magnified. Crisis strips away the curated image, exposing what you protect, what you ignore, and what you sacrifice to survive.
In these moments, leaders must choose between protecting the institution and protecting individuals. Between spin and truth, reputation and responsibility.
At Ohriginal, I’ve seen both sides play out. One company, facing financial misconduct, chose transparency. The CEO owned the mistake, communicated openly, and brought in independent oversight. It was messy. But trust survived and even deepened. Employees felt the company was willing to be honest when it mattered most.
Contrast that with another organisation that retreated behind lawyers. They deflected blame, withheld information, and quietly dismissed the whistle-blowers who raised concerns. The headlines faded, but the damage endured. Years later, employees still described the culture as “fearful” and “performative”. Externally, the brand never fully recovered.
We saw a different kind of tension when the Air India AI171 tragedy unfolded. Tata Group was widely praised for its rapid support—swift compensation for victims’ kin and safety checks. But behind the scenes, when operational control was reportedly pulled from the CEO and assumed by the chairman, it sent a quieter, more unsettling message. Was it decisive stewardship? Or a sign that when things go wrong, trust evaporates, and control reverts to the top?
When you strip your CEO of authority in the darkest hour, you don’t just manage a crisis. You broadcast to every employee that leadership support is conditional, and that blame is easier to reassign than share.
If crisis shows whether your culture can handle the heat, whistle-blowing shows whether it can handle the truth. We talk a lot about psychological safety. But nothing exposes the reality of a culture faster than what happens when someone dares to speak up. When an insider risks everything to say, “Something here isn’t right,” every leadership instinct is tested. Because whistle-blowing isn’t just about facts—it’s about power, trust, and whether integrity matters more than convenience.
In a culture of fear, whistle-blowers are branded disloyal. They’re quietly marginalised, their careers stalled, their credibility questioned. Leaders close ranks. Legal departments take over. The message is unmistakable: Silence is safer than truth.
In a culture of accountability, whistle-blowers are protected, even when what they share is uncomfortable. Leaders thank them. Independent investigations are launched. Employees see that values aren’t just slogans. How you respond to a whistle-blower sets the tone for everyone watching. It tells people: Is it safe to speak up here? Or will you pay a price for honesty? Because when the truth costs someone their career, everyone else learns whether courage is worth it. Over time, that shapes whether you have a culture of transparency or self-preservation.
I often tell leaders: your first instinct in a crisis—whether to hide, fight, or confess—is your cultural muscle memory. You don’t rise to the occasion. You fall back on your values—these are what you defend when your back is to the wall. Do you prioritise accountability over convenience? Do you protect the vulnerable or protect the powerful?
Crisis moments are forks in the road. Handle them with clarity and integrity, and your culture emerges stronger—battle-tested, more human, more resilient. Mishandle them, and the cracks widen. Whispers grow louder. People disengage.
In the end, the most lasting legacy of any crisis isn’t the headlines or the financial cost. It’s the story your employees tell afterwards about what kind of company they work for. Because when everything else is stripped away, culture is simply how you behave when you have the most to lose.