Premise:
Have you ever wondered why there are more and more re-orgs all around us. As a leader, you yourself might have restructured the org. You have updated the strategy. You hired better people. And yet — the same behaviors persist. The same challenges continue to plague the organization.
Have you ever slowed down enough to think deeply about why this is the case? And how can we change this?
Genetics and Epigenetics
It is in this context that I think there is a lot that we can learn from the field of genetics and epigenetics.
For decades, people assumed that genes determined our physical, emotional and psychological attributes. You inherit genes. Genes determine traits. End of story. No possibility or control over this.
But that model was incomplete.
What we now know is this:
- Genes store information.
- Epigenetics determines whether that information is expressed.
Epigenetics studies how factors like diet, stress, or toxins affect gene activity through chemical tags on DNA or associated proteins. Unlike mutations, these changes don’t modify DNA letters but control whether genes turn on or off.
Every cell in our body contains the same DNA. Yet a liver cell behaves nothing like a neuron. The difference is not the code. It is which parts of the code are activated, silenced, amplified, or suppressed.
Every organization is like an organism, with its own genes that they come with and Epigenetics (or culture) determines which parts of these genes are activated, silenced, amplified or suppressed. Epigenetics is as relevant to an organization as it is to any organism.
Of course, organizations are not organisms. People have agency in ways genes do not. But the analogy highlights a useful truth – behavior often emerges from environmental signals rather than structural intent.
We are social beings that are continuously influenced by the environment in which we are operating in and by the behavior of the people we are surrounded by.
The Two-Layer Model
Let’s look at how this Two-Layer Model that plays out in any organism (or organization):
Layer 1: Information (Genetics)
Genes are all about potential and possibilities. In organizations, it is in the form of Defined Strategy, formal organizational structure, stated values, etc.
Layer 2: Expression (Epigenetics)
Epigenetics is all about realizing the potential by designing the environmental signals that decide which parts of the potential and possibilities are realized.
In organizations, it is enabled through the incentive structures, norms, signals, metrics, stories, leadership behaviors or in short culture.
Most leaders obsess over rewriting the DNA through re-orgs and updated strategy. Few understand expression control.
And expression control is where behavior actually lives, behavior that helps us realize the potential.
Leaders can rarely change people or their capabilities overnight. They can change what is accessible, rewarded, visible, and safe to express. By doing this, they are able to enable specific kinds of behaviors from the people they lead.
Why This Matters for Leaders
Every organization already contains enormous potential.
The question is not:
“Do we have the right people or right org structure or strategy?”
While these are important questions, the deeper question is:
“What behaviors are we enabling?”
- If risk-taking is punished subtly, innovation genes are silenced.
- If collaboration is rewarded symbolically but promotions go to individual heroes, the cooperation genes stay wrapped in chromatin.
- If psychological safety exists only in speeches, not in meeting dynamics, the candor program remains methylated.
Leaders worth following understand that in order to get the behaviors we want, we do not need structural changes in your org chart or a new strategy but we do need to redesign the environment such that we get the desired behaviors.
Case Study — Microsoft Under Satya Nadella
When Satya Nadella became CEO in 2014, Microsoft’s genetic layer did not change overnight.
The company already had:
- World-class engineers
- Strong balance sheet
- Massive distribution
- Deep technical capability
The “DNA” was strong.
But expression had become rigid:
- Internal competition
- Know-it-all culture
- Defensive silos
- Performance evaluation stack ranking
Nadella did not start by restructuring the org chart dramatically.
He changed expression controls.
- Growth mindset language (inspired by Carol Dweck)
- Removal of stack ranking
- Cross-team collaboration incentives
- Shift from “know-it-all” to “learn-it-all”
- Rewarding cloud experimentation
The underlying talent pool did not change immediately.
What changed was accessibility of behaviors. Innovation was no longer silenced. Cloud initiatives were no longer career suicide and within years, it led to
- Azure became dominant
- Market cap exploded
- Cultural energy shifted
This was not genetic rewriting. This was epigenetic intervention.
In conclusion:
In conclusion, I would say that while the genetics matter as they define the potential of the organism, the epigenetics matter too. While there is not much control we have with regards to the genetic makeup of our organization, we do have much more control over the epigenetic expression of the potential that already exists within the organization.
Just as epigenetic markers can persist across generations in biology, cultural signals can endure long after the leaders who created them have left – both good and bad.
So, if we want to become leaders worth following, we need to ensure that we create the environment where all the great potential has the opportunity to turn into performance.
As Microsoft’s case study shows, the power of epigenetic intervention has the potential to unleash innovation and growth that can be unparalleled.
