The Culture of Simulation in Companies

Some companies talk about transformation, agility, people at the center, listening to all voices, sustainability, or purpose-driven leadership. And yet, in practice, they do exactly the same as always. They dress it better, communicate it better—even believe it themselves. But real change never happens.

What actually happens is performance: a culture of simulation.

It’s an organizational phenomenon where people play learned roles without genuine conviction, just to fit into the dominant culture. This can include pretending to agree with decisions you don’t support, withholding disruptive ideas so as not to "stand out," or signaling inclusion while only accepting a certain type of profile.

This culture doesn’t always come from bad intentions, but from the pressure to fit in, survive, or climb the ladder in environments where questioning, failing, or being different isn’t allowed.

Unfortunately, it’s more common than we’d like to admit. Executives attend innovation conferences but don’t let their teams speak. Organizations fill their discourse with buzzwords—collaboration, inclusion, feedback, flat structures—while maintaining rigid hierarchies where managers still confuse leadership with control. Employees say what they’re “supposed to” say just to look good, but inside, they feel drained, disconnected, or frustrated.

Everything seems like it's changing—or should be—but everything stays the same.

How the “Looks Like Change, But Isn’t” Culture Takes Hold

This culture doesn’t settle in overnight. It’s built over time, starting with small inconsistencies no one calls out: meetings where opinions are asked for but decisions are already made; recruitment processes that “value diversity” but end up hiring the same kind of people over and over; sustainability campaigns while short-term profit behaviors are still being rewarded.

It’s a game of appearances: saying without doing, showing without changing. It’s corporate posturing.

In this environment, people learn to survive. They learn that what matters is not doing, but looking like you're doing. That what gets rewarded isn’t impact, but the presentation of impact. Visibility is valued over depth, creating an environment where teams perform rather than work. They mimic expected behaviors, repeat official narratives, but stop taking real risks, stop challenging, and stop truly innovating.

The Silent Consequences of Corporate Theatre: What Research Shows

The Harvard Business Review article “The Real Reason People Won’t Change” (Kegan & Lahey) explains how even well-meaning employees maintain hidden commitments to the status quo, blocking real change (read article). Deloitte’s The Corporate Lattice (Benko & Anderson) warns about cultures that reward the appearance of effectiveness over actual contribution. Anthropologist David Graeber, in Bullshit Jobs, documents how many jobs are meaningless and encourage performative behaviors. Researcher Amy Edmondson shows, in her studies on psychological safety, that without safe spaces to disagree or fail, people hide ideas and emotions (more here). Lastly, Edgar Schein, in Organizational Culture and Leadership, explains that when stated values don’t match lived experiences, distrust and corporate theatre take root. They all agree on one thing:

Without authenticity, transformation is impossible.

Pretending to Listen Hurts More Than Not Listening at All

Simulating that you're listening, valuing talent, or pushing for change is more damaging than doing nothing—because it creates a promise that goes unfulfilled. People get hopeful... until they realize it was all just a façade. The result is organizational cynicism, loss of trust, higher turnover of the most valuable talent, and a growing disconnect between what is said and what is actually experienced.

In some companies, this is so normalized that it becomes part of their cultural DNA. It’s what newcomers learn, what’s expected in meetings—the dominant leadership style.

A culture of simulation so refined that even leaders believe they are transforming the business, when in fact they’re just polishing their script.

How to Break the Simulation Dynamic

Changing a simulation culture must start at the top. Leaders need to model authenticity—showing vulnerability, admitting mistakes, and making clear that not everything is rewarded just for appearances. Creating psychological safety, as Amy Edmondson suggests, allows people to speak up without fear of retaliation. It’s critical to align declared values with real practices: if you say innovation is valued, then reward risk-takers, not just those who follow the script.

Practical tools include reverse feedback loops (from team to leader), meetings without rigid hierarchies, and spaces for difficult conversations. These steps help dismantle the culture of performance.

True change begins when no one has to pretend to belong.