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One of the first things I noticed when I visited Japan earlier this summer was how incredibly clean everything is. Streets are spotless. Public spaces are pristine. Train stations are immaculate.
Then I noticed something else.
There are almost no trash cans.
At first, it was frustrating.
I'd finish a coke, a snack, or a bottle of water and find myself carrying the trash for what felt like hours. I kept thinking, "Surely there's a trash can around the next corner."
There usually wasn't.
As an American, my instinct was simple: if people have trash, give them more places to throw it away.
In other words, fix the system.
But Japan took a different approach.
Rather than creating more opportunities for people to dispose of trash, they created a culture where people take responsibility for it. The expectation is simple: if you bring it, you carry it until you can properly dispose of it.
The result?
Fewer trash cans. Cleaner streets.
That got me thinking about leadership.
When something isn't working in our organizations, our first instinct is often to add another rule.
Create another policy. Build another process. Add another layer of oversight. Add another approval step. Require another report. Schedule another meeting.
Sometimes those things are necessary. Systems matter.
But too often we try to solve cultural problems with procedural solutions.
The Leadership Trap
Imagine an organization struggling with poor customer service.
The typical response is to create a new checklist…then another training..then another script…then another accountability process.
None of those are inherently bad. But what if the real issue isn't that employees don't know what to do?
What if they simply don't care enough to do it?
No amount of scripting can replace genuine ownership.
Or consider a company where people consistently miss deadlines.
The solution often becomes more status meetings, more project management software, and more reporting requirements.
But what if the issue isn't visibility? What if the issue is commitment?
A culture of ownership will outperform a culture of oversight almost every time.
More Trash Cans Aren't Always the Answer
Many organizations are filled with the equivalent of extra trash cans.
A company lacks innovation, so they create an innovation committee.
Communication is poor, so they add meetings.
Employees aren't engaged, so they launch another survey.
Trust is low, so they implement more controls.
Performance slips, so they add more layers of management.
Again, systems matter. The answer isn't to eliminate structure. The question is whether we're treating symptoms or solving root causes.
Because every system communicates something.
More approvals communicate, "We don't trust you."
More rules communicate, "We don't think you'll make good decisions."
More oversight communicates, "Someone else owns the outcome."
Eventually people stop taking responsibility because the system has taken responsibility for them.
The best organizations I've encountered operate differently.
They don't have fewer expectations. They have stronger cultural expectations.
People answer emails because they respect one another. They serve customers because they genuinely care. They prepare for meetings because excellence matters. They help teammates because that's simply what people do here.
The behavior isn't driven by enforcement. It's driven by identity.
That's the magic of culture. Culture answers the question:
"Who are we when no one is watching?"
When culture is strong, people make the right decisions without needing another policy manual.
When culture is weak, leaders spend their lives creating new rules.
The Harder Path
This is why culture work is so difficult.
You can't roll it out in a meeting. You can't install it with software. You can't mandate it with a memo.
Culture is built through thousands of moments.
The behaviors leaders tolerate. The actions leaders celebrate. The stories organizations tell. The standards teams refuse to compromise. The commitments people repeatedly keep.
It takes longer than creating a rule.
But it lasts longer too.
Anyone can add another trash can.
The harder challenge is creating a culture where people don't need one.
The same is true in business.
You can build systems that force people to do the right thing.
Or you can build a culture where people choose to do the right thing.
The first creates compliance.
The second creates commitment.
And commitment is what separates organizations that merely function from organizations that flourish.
