🤐 Why Great Ideas Die in Silence: How to Spot & Stop HIPPO Culture

HIPPO culture isn’t just frustrating—it’s toxic. It kills debate, drives away smart people, and leads to bad calls that no one truly believes in. The good news? You can fix it. Whether you’re a leader

If we want every job to be a climate job, we need better decision-making in every industry. But too often, great ideas get shut down because of HIPPO culture.

---

I once sat in a meeting where a great idea surfaced—only to be ignored because the wrong person spoke first. The highest-paid person in the room dismissed it, offered their own idea, and just like that, the discussion shifted from exploring possibilities to validating their opinion.

The result? A direction nobody truly believed in, half-hearted execution, confusing priorities, and eventually, the project was scrapped.

That’s the power of HIPPO (Highest Paid Person’s Opinion) culture—and it’s more dangerous than you think.

HIPPO is when rank wins over reason. It’s not just a leadership flaw—it’s a cultural problem that crushes innovation, kills engagement, and leads to poor decision-making. Fixing it requires more than slapping on a framework like RAPID—it requires a shift in how teams operate and communicate.

How to Spot HIPPO Culture

Meetings feel like a waste of time.

• If the highest-paid person speaks first, everyone else just falls in line.

People nod along but don’t really agree.

• If employees hesitate to challenge a leader’s opinion, decisions happen in fake agreement.

Decisions rely on gut feel over data.

• When data exists but isn’t used, or worse—when it’s cherry-picked to fit the leader’s view—you know HIPPO is running the show.

Past success becomes a crutch.

• The team defaults to “We’ve always done it this way”, killing innovation.

Smart people stop speaking up.

• If your best employees stop arguing, they’ve either checked out or are planning their exit.

How to Fix HIPPO Culture

For Leaders: Don’t Be the Problem

• Speak last. Let your team talk first.

• Ask for data, not just opinions. (If you’re making a gut decision, at least admit it.)

• Reward people who challenge you. (If your team agrees with you 100% of the time, you’ve got a problem.)

• Don’t pretend it’s a democracy if it’s not. (Fake collaboration kills trust.)

For Employees: How to Push Back (Safely)

• “Can we walk through how we got to this decision?” (Makes people rethink their assumptions.)

• “What other options did we consider?” (Forces broader thinking.)

• “The data suggests something else—want to take a look?” (Objective, not personal.)

• Find allies. (It’s harder to ignore five people than one.)

Final Thought: Try This in Your Next Meeting

HIPPO culture kills good ideas, wastes smart people’s time, and leads to bad decisions. But it’s not inevitable. Try just one of these strategies in your next meeting and see what happens.

Have you ever been in a meeting where HIPPO culture took over? What happened?

If you found this useful, subscribe to get more posts like this straight to your inbox.