How Toxic Cultures Persist: Leonardo Freixas on Tolerance vs. Policy

In a recent LinkedIn post, Leonardo Freixas explores the subtle, yet pervasive, mechanisms that allow toxic workplace cultures to not only exist but thrive. Rather than attributing the survival of such environments to a single disruptive individual, Freixas argues that the true culprit is the collective inaction and enabling behavior of those within the organization.

Freixas challenges a common misconception, stating:

The biggest lie about toxic culture isn’t that it exists. It’s that it “just happened.”

This assertion sets the stage for his analysis, which posits that toxic cultures are not accidental but are actively maintained through a series of conscious and unconscious decisions by team members. According to Freixas, these cultures rarely persist due to the actions of one difficult person alone.

The Role of Enabling Behavior

Freixas highlights that the longevity of toxic environments is often a result of colleagues learning to accommodate or work around problematic behavior. He points out several ways this enabling occurs:

• Someone explains it away.
• Someone calls it “just their style.”
• Someone protects the results, overlooking the method.
• Someone stays quiet to avoid taking responsibility or creating conflict.

As Leonardo Freixas notes, “That’s when behavior becomes culture.” This transition, in his view, is a critical point where individual actions, or inactions, solidify into an organizational norm.

Permission and Tolerance: The True Drivers of Culture

A central theme in Freixas’s post is the distinction between formal policies and the informal permissions that truly shape workplace culture. He argues that written rules are insufficient to combat toxicity if underlying attitudes permit it to persist. Freixas states:

Policies don’t define culture. Permission does.

This perspective suggests that leadership and peer acceptance of certain behaviors, even if unstated, hold more sway than official guidelines. The emphasis shifts from merely having rules to enforcing a standard of acceptable conduct and addressing violations, regardless of the perpetrator’s status or perceived value.

Tolerance as the Proliferator of Toxicity

Furthermore, Freixas draws a direct line between tolerance and the spread of negative behaviors. He contends that it is not the presence of toxic individuals that causes widespread issues, but rather the organization’s willingness to accept or overlook their conduct.

Toxic people don’t spread. Tolerance does.

In Freixas’s analysis, this tolerance can manifest as a reluctance to address conflicts, a fear of confronting difficult individuals, or a prioritization of short-term gains over long-term well-being. By not actively challenging toxic behaviors, organizations inadvertently grant them legitimacy and encourage their proliferation. Freixas’s insights serve as a critical reminder for leaders and employees alike to examine the subtle ways in which they may be contributing to or enabling unhealthy workplace dynamics, emphasizing that a truly healthy culture requires active cultivation and a refusal to tolerate behavior that undermines it.