Noticing what sits beneath in Shadow Cultures
Some aspects of organisational life are visible and explicit. Others operate quietly in the background, shaping behaviour without ever being named. Shadow Cultures by Rachel Bennett is a thoughtful exploration of that hidden terrain.
The book focuses on the informal norms, unspoken rules and inherited habits that sit alongside official culture. Reading it, I found myself nodding often. These are the things people learn quickly when they join an organisation, what is safe to say, who really makes decisions, and which values matter in practice.
What Bennett does particularly well is surface how shadow cultures emerge. Often unintentionally. Often as a response to pressure, history or leadership behaviour. Once established, they can persist long after the conditions that created them have changed.
As I worked through the chapters, I reflected on how frequently organisations try to change culture through announcements and initiatives, while leaving these underlying dynamics untouched. The result is frustration rather than progress.
The tone of the book is calm and curious rather than accusatory. It invites leaders to look honestly at the gap between espoused values and lived experience, and to recognise that shadow cultures are not failures, but signals.
Shadow Cultures is a valuable reminder that real cultural work begins not with what we say, but with what we notice, and are willing to address.
