Organizational change starts at the top.

As this is being written, the BP oil blowout in the golf is approaching 78 million gallons and former BP CEO Tony Hayward has his life back. He was off yacht racing over the weekend.

Meanwhile, we are learning that the failsafe “shear ram” function used by BP on this well was failing around 45% of the time in tests dating back to the year 2000. Add to this the revelation that BP has cut corners on its maintenance programs for many years, according to its own internal documents, including a 2007 internal report showing the same problems that had been documented in a 2001 internal report.

Which leads to the question, why? And which leads to the obvious answer, it was all in the name of stockholders. That is, unless you look further into the power of a corporate culture, and the fact that every organization emulates the people at the top – whether those people are managers of money or leaders of people.

It’s a distinction that matters, because leaders will always seek to employ and cultivate people who are motivated by excellence, who dare to ask questions, love dialogue and the exploration of better ideas and ways of doing things.

It’s a difference that begins with the presence or absence of intellectual honesty and separates from there. Like oil and water.

jb