Yes, You Can Be Fired for Bad Cultural Fit AND It's Usually Up to You to Figure Out The Culture

"Provided the decision is not motivated by illegal discriminatory bias., employers can and do indeed fire people who aren't a cultural fit. Employers, in many cases, rank workplace culture right next to technical competency." - Yahoo Finance, September 26, 2023

Frequently, though, the process isn't that obvious. More often, it's a situation of a thousand signals pointing you to the door. For example, you are not invited to meetings. You are treated without respect during meetings. Or actually humiliated. Plum assignments go to others. Co-workers maintain a distance. Thrown off your game, you search for another job. 

So, sure, you should want to do handstands and cartwheels to ensure you are a fit. But the really tough part is to figure out what the culture is. The blurb on the website and in the employee handbook aren't granular. The burden is on you to discern what the rules are, which count the most and which, ironically, will get you ahead if you break them. Then you connect all those dots and develop your internal personal branding.

That's not easy. Professional anonymous networks such as Blind, Reddit and Fishbowl are jam-packed with posts asking for input on 1) what the culture of a certain organization is about and 2) specific issues such as would this or that behavior or the lack of behavior be a mistake. Fortunately, the responses are on-point and candid. 

For instance, on Reddit Big Law and Fishbowl Big Law there is no ambiguity. Large law firms such as Kirkland & Ellis, Paul Weiss and Cravath have hard-charging pragmatic cultures. Those demand, at the very least, an always-on ethos and an accumulation of a certain number of billable hours. 

There is more, though. The firm's values might harden around pedigrees such as the right schools and family backgrounds. Or they could be celebrate being a scrapper. There are also the nerd cultures which shun frat-boy antics.

Your insight into the culture will be on short time. Few organizations aren't in flux given the global slowdown, inflation, high interest rates and generative AI. Of course, abrupt cultural shifts aren't new. Back in the early 1990s Microsoft and Apple were eating IBM's lunch, dinner and breakfast, along with the branding for technological leadership. In parachuted outsider Lou Gerstner. IBM's revered culture went poof. 

If you are working at Citigroup, Disney, Paul Weiss, yes, IBM (again) and more be alert to how the culture could be mutating. I tutor those I coach to interpret the changes and then how to put together the most effective response, including a persona. The price of entry is to "look" the part. 

Data or the gut for your careers and communications? Both of course. Complimentary consultation with intuitive coach, content-creator, and Tarot reader Jane Genova (text 203-468-8579, janegenova374@gmail.com).