Toxicity Without Villains with Craig Wahl

From The Empowered Leader Podcast · 53:03

Show by Margaret Williams, MS, ACC

Craig Wahl: BioCraig Wahl is a Leadership Architect, CEO Advisor, and Speaker, and the founder and director of Njorth (since 2019), based in Ontario, Canada. He advises founders and executive teams “when growth begins to strain leadership, execution, and trust,” helping them align, decide clearly, and move forward together. [1]He brings 25+ years of executive experience in SaaS and technology companies, including scaling a team from 8 to 300 people. He has worked as a fractional COO, a growth coach at Communitech, and a customer success coach with Catalyst. He has led through lawsuits, a bankruptcy, and rapid scale-ups, and early in life he survived a near-fatal car accident that reshaped how he handles pressure and setbacks. [1][2]Craig is the author of The Walk, a leadership book now on preorder, written for leaders who “need what actually works, not polished hero myths.” His guiding line: “My goal isn’t to be indispensable. It’s to build leaders who no longer need me.” [1][2]Social MediaWebsite: njorth.ai · Free Leadership Toolkit: njorth.ai/leadership-toolkit · LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/craigawahlCraig’s Recent Interviews * The Elisha Show: “The Leadership Mistake That Holds Most People Back” (leadership as a journey, trust, “inspect what you expect”). Listen* Gurmeet Judge podcast: “The Importance of Understanding Unique Business Situations,” Oct 1, 2026 (CEO leadership, curiosity, a changing workforce). Listen* The Business Transformation Journey with Ondrej Papanek, Sept 2026: where his “Help me understand” idea took off. Shared on his LinkedIn. [2]* Fractional Pros Canada, Episode 77, Sept 4, 2026: moving from full-time executive to fractional leader. Shared on his LinkedIn. [2]Key Statistics * Culture drives people out. Toxic culture is 10.4 times more powerful than compensation in predicting a company’s attrition rate. The top drivers: failure to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion; workers feeling disrespected; and unethical behavior. [3]* It’s common. 19% of U.S. workers describe their workplace as very or somewhat toxic. [4]* It harms people. Workers in toxic workplaces are more than three times as likely to report harm to their mental health at work (52% vs. 15%). [4]* It’s expensive. Nearly one in five Americans left a job because of culture over five years, at a cost of up to $223 billion in turnover. [5]* Managers set the tone. 76% of Americans say their manager sets the culture. [5] Managers account for at least 70% of the variance in employee engagement. [6]* The manager squeeze. Global engagement fell to 21% in 2024, driven by manager engagement dropping from 30% to 27%, costing an estimated $438 billion in lost productivity. [7]* The big idea: not every toxic workplace has a villain. Often it’s systems, unclear expectations, and leaders doing things to people instead of with them.1. Toxicity Without Villains. How do misalignment and unclear expectations create toxic behavior in good people?2. Doing it with people, not to them. What does it look like during a reorganization or a big change? Why does explaining the why, and inviting feedback, change how people respond?3. Curiosity: “Help me understand.” Craig says three words change how people respond: “Help me understand.” Why does that work better than “why”? [2]4. Public sector and private sector. My lens as a retired Army civilian with 39 years of service, and Craig’s from fast-growing tech companies: where does bureaucracy create toxicity, and where does speed create it?5. The long middle and scale.* “Scale doesn’t create new problems. It magnifies the ones you tolerated.” [2]* Who is taking care of the managers?ClosingA boundary is a decision, not a debate. So is a healthy culture.References* Craig Wahl, Njorth website (Home and About). https://njorth.ai/* Craig Wahl, LinkedIn profile and posts (Aug to Oct 2026). https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigawahl/* Sull, D., Sull, C., & Zweig, B. (2022, January 11). Toxic culture is driving the Great Resignation. MIT Sloan Management Review. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/toxic-culture-is-driving-the-great-resignation/* American Psychological Association. (2023, July 13). 2023 Work in America Survey: Workplaces as engines of psychological health and well-being (n = 2,515 U.S. workers). https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2023/07/work-mental-health-challenges* Society for Human Resource Management. (2019, September 25). The high cost of a toxic workplace culture. https://www.shrm.org/about/press-room/shrm-reports-toxic-workplace-cultures-cost-billions* Gallup. (2015). State of the American manager: Analytics and advice for leaders. Washington, DC: Gallup, Inc.* Gallup. (2025, April 23). State of the global workplace: 2025 report. https://www.gallup.com/file/workplace/660197/State-of-the-Global-Workplace-Global-Press-Release-2025.pdfThank you The Secret Ingredient, Ms.Yuse, SammyD, RLM, Phil Toro, and many others for tuning into my live video with Craig Wahl! Join me for my next…

More episodes of The Empowered Leader Podcast

More episodes

PodSearch is a free, independent podcast search engine. Read about PodSearch, the privacy policy or contact us.