Stop tiptoeing around toxicity
It’s time to name what’s been quietly breaking your culture
Years ago, back when I was a systems administrator, I was part of an early morning code deployment. It was just me and a developer, no documentation, no checklist… just someone sitting beside me, walking me through the release step-by-step.
We shipped the code.
We high-fived.
And then… a couple of hours later, everything crashed.
The entire eCommerce platform went down.
The company lost millions.
And the CTO called a meeting.
I stood there in the work area by my desk, surrounded by the dev team, the systems team, my manager, and the CTO himself.
And when the question came, “What happened?” the developer didn’t flinch.
He pointed straight at me and said,
“It was Antoni’s fault.”
No pause. No context. No accountability.
Just a name-drop and a thrown-under-the-bus moment I’ll never forget.
My heart sank into my stomach.
And not one person stepped in to back me up.
I was mortified.
And I never touched another early morning deployment again.
The Human Truth (Why It Hurts & Why It Matters)
That wasn’t just a mistake, it was a culture breakdown.
A place where fear ruled over trust.
Where blame replaced accountability.
And where silence from the team said more than the accusation itself.
The worst part?
This kind of thing happens all the time.
Maybe not in boardrooms, but in Slack threads. In backchannel convos. In passive-aggressive performance reviews.
It’s not always explosive. But it’s always corrosive.
And it doesn’t go away with time.
It festers when no one names it.
The Fix (How We Turn It Around)
That’s why I created Fix the Friction.
It’s not just a workshop, it’s a system for stopping culture rot before it spreads.
Built for HR and people leaders who are done playing cleanup crew and ready to teach managers how to:
Spot early signs of dysfunction
Address toxic behaviours without escalation
Build emotional safety and accountability in real-time
Because when you give your team tools, language, and support, they stop blaming and start owning.
This isn’t about one heroic leader.
It’s about equipping everyone to lead well, especially when the stakes are high.
Connection Cue
That moment could’ve broken me.
But instead, it shaped the way I lead, coach, and teach today.
Culture isn’t about ping pong tables or pizza Fridays.
It’s about what happens when things go wrong.
And if you’re ready to fix what’s quietly breaking your team?
Fix the Friction is open for early interest with matching introductory pricing, for now.
If this sounds like something your team needs, reply to this email.
Early access is open, and I’d love to show you what’s possible when we stop avoiding and start leading.
Let's stop tiptoeing around toxicity.
And start leading with backbone and heart.
Smiling, shifting, and always speaking up.
Bowtie and all.
Antoni