Why Strategy Fails Without the Right Culture – Exclusive Interview with Egbert Schram
- Brainz Magazine
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Egbert Schram is the Group CEO of the Culture Factor Group and a global authority on cultural analytics. With a background in forest management and environmental psychology, he approaches organizations as living systems: you cannot force growth, but you can design the conditions that make it possible.
Growing up in Almere, a city built from reclaimed land, and becoming the first in his family to attend university, Egbert developed a fascination with how systems are constructed, whether social, ecological, or organizational. That systems lens became the foundation of his leadership philosophy: culture is not a soft topic; it is the operating system that determines whether strategy succeeds or stalls.
Since becoming CEO in 2012, he has scaled the Culture Factor Group into a global advisory network operating in more than 60 countries, supporting multinational corporations, scale-ups, and governmental institutions through complex transformation, international expansion, and post-merger integration. To date, the firm has supported over 5,000 organizations worldwide. Its public Country Comparison tool attracts more than four million visitors per year, while over 300,000 new respondents are added annually to its global cultural database, making it one of the largest applied datasets in the field.
Egbert’s work focuses on making culture measurable, translating abstract values into observable practices that align executive ambition with the lived experience of the workforce. By combining large-scale data with pragmatic behavioral design, he helps leaders move beyond intuition and treat culture as a strategic performance variable, one that directly shapes decision-making speed, collaboration, and long-term competitiveness.
Egbert Schram, Group CEO
Who is Egbert Schram, and what led you to focus your work on culture and leadership?
I often describe myself as a “forester by training and a CEO by practice.” My early background in forestry taught me a fundamental lesson that applies perfectly to business: you cannot force a tree to grow; you can only manage the environment, the soil, the light, and the spacing that allows it to reach its potential.
When I moved into the corporate world and eventually became Group CEO of the Culture Factor Group in 2012, I saw that many leaders were trying to “force” growth without examining the “soil”, the culture. I became, and remain, focused on making culture measurable. I wanted to take something that felt vague and “fluffy” and turn it into a legitimate, data-backed part of executive decision-making, to make assumptions visible, reduce ambiguity, and ensure greater consistency in how people experience work life.
This was also the motivation behind my first book, Navigating Foreignerness. One of the largest challenges for CEOs is ensuring that leadership teams are genuinely aligned and that all members feel part of the group. Accepting that we are all foreigners in one way or another, by nationality, function, education, or generation, encourages leaders to test assumptions before acting on them.
What core problem do organizations come to you for help with most often?
The most frequent challenge is what I call “Strategic Sabotage.” Leaders often have a brilliant strategy on paper, but their Actual Culture, the way work really gets done, is actively working against it. In some cases, the organization’s way of working runs counter to the emotional preferences of a specific location.
For example, a CEO may want to shift toward high-speed innovation, but the internal culture remains strictly means-oriented and risk-averse. Or the national culture favors thoughtful reflection over rapid improvisation. Companies usually call us when they hit a wall: they’ve tried changing the strategy, the staff, and the technology, but results are not moving because the underlying culture has not been addressed.
How do you define a healthy, high-performing organizational culture?
In the executive world, we often mistake “healthy” for “happy.” While happiness is valuable, a high-performing culture is defined by alignment. It is an environment where the Actual Culture matches the Optimal Culture required to execute the strategy, while also respecting emotional preferences shaped by national context.
A healthy culture is one where management philosophy supports desired outcomes without creating unnecessary friction. If your strategy requires speed, a healthy culture balances strict work discipline with goal orientation and makes deliberate decisions about how authority and consensus are structured. It is about being fit for purpose.
What makes your approach to culture transformation different from traditional models?
Traditional models often focus on perceived culture, how people feel, or on aspirational values displayed on walls. We treat culture as a dynamic set of practices, or as one of our clients describes our work, we provide the “econometrics of emotion”. We unlock data with deep, profound cultural insights.
Using the Multi-Focus Model™, we provide a diagnostic scan that is as objective as a financial audit. We measure six specific dimensions, such as Internally Driven versus Externally Driven, or Local versus Professional. This allows leaders to move away from opinions and toward actionable metrics, identifying exactly which levers influence organizational outcomes.
We connect measurable practices with emotional preferences through our 6D™ Model of national culture. And where market positioning is involved, our Consumer Culture Intelligence (CCI™) model helps align internal culture with external audience expectations.
How do leaders unintentionally damage culture without realizing it?
Leaders often damage culture through symbolic misalignment. Employees are expert “boss-watchers.” If you speak about collaboration but reward only individual performance, you signal that collaboration is not truly valued.
Another silent risk is the “one-size-fits-all” approach. Imposing a uniform global culture without considering national differences often creates resistance. What motivates a team in Helsinki may not work for a team in São Paulo. The same principle applies to product-market fit.
What early signs tell a company that its culture needs urgent attention?
The clearest sign is a persistent gap between strategy and execution. If initiatives consistently stall or are “reinterpreted” by middle management, there is likely a cultural misalignment.
Other warning signs include silo behavior, internal politics overriding customer focus, or the departure of top talent who no longer feel supported by leadership philosophy.
How do you help leaders turn values into daily behaviors, not just statements?
We focus on practices rather than values. Values describe what people believe; practices determine what people do. You cannot easily change deep-seated values, nor would you want to, but you can redesign the rules of the game.
We help leaders translate values into concrete rituals, meeting structures, reporting lines, and incentive systems. For example, if integrity is a value, it must be embedded into performance metrics and reward structures just as rigorously as sales targets.
What impact does a strong culture have on performance, engagement, and results?
Culture is the operating system of an organization. Without a fitting Culture as Operating System (CaOS), you get chaos.
When culture aligns with strategy, internal friction decreases. Decision-making accelerates. Work feels coherent. Engagement rises because effort connects meaningfully to outcomes. Financial performance improves as execution becomes smoother and more consistent. Products and technology can be copied. The way people work together cannot.
Can you explain how the Culture Factor Group supports organizations through change?
We provide a clear three-step bridge for transformation. First, we diagnose the current state using the Organizational Culture Scan. Second, we align by defining what the Optimal Culture must look like to support strategic goals. Finally, we close the gap through executive coaching and consulting, embedding new practices that are fit for purpose within the broader emotional and national context.
What types of leaders or organizations benefit most from working with you?
We resonate most with evidence-based leaders, CEOs, and board members who want to see ROI on culture initiatives. We specialize in organizations operating in complex, multicultural environments where misalignment carries high financial and operational risk and where talent is hard to find or replace.
What first step should leaders take if they want to improve their culture today?
Stop guessing. The first step is to measure your starting point. Leaders often rely on intuition, but those perceptions are filtered through power and position. Only by obtaining objective, data-driven insight into current practices can you deliberately design the culture required for future success.
Culture will either accelerate your strategy or quietly undermine it. The difference lies in whether leaders treat it as opinion, or as measurable infrastructure.
For executives navigating growth, integration, investment, or transformation, the first step is not another workshop. It is clarity. Measure what is actually happening. Understand the gap. Then decide deliberately how you want your organization to work.
Strategy deserves the right operating system, and it is crucial for CEO’s to act accordingly, to ensure Cultural Executive Ownership.
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