What a California Wildfire Can Teach Us About Organizational Culture

6,837 structures destroyed. 24,448 acres burned. Estimated total damage and economic loss of $250 billion. And most importantly, 29 lives lost. This is the fallout from the recent Palisades fire in Los Angeles, California that started on January 7, 2025. Lost family and friends. Lost jobs. Lost homes. Lost pets. In short, loss and devastation.

There are similarities between wildfires such as this and a different type of wildfire – those that take place in the culture of many organizations. For example, a toxic or incompetent team member who is allowed to continue. Or a lack of planning for the loss or retirement of a key leader or owner. And while the fallout from organizational wildfires seldom involves physical damage and death, they can be devastating, destructive, and costly in other ways. Here are seven lessons from these wildfires that can be applied to our own organizations.

1. The fuel that feeds culture fires accumulates over time.

One expert said the fire in California was “decades in the making.” Fires require fuel to feed the flames. The same is true with the fires that emerge within the culture of a team or organization. Unresolved conflict. Manipulative behavior. Shading the truth. Subversive or undermining behavior.  Failure to own mistakes. These are just a few examples of the fuel that can accumulate over time. If these issues are left untended, they can contribute to a culture wildfire.

2. Sometimes it only takes a few small sparks to start a major culture fire.

Years ago, an organization hired a new leader who looked great on his resume, was smart, and had many talents. However, he immediately made several decisions that did not have support from other leaders on his team, and he was dismissive of the opinions of others, often speaking in demeaning ways to them. The Bible says a spark can set off a forest fire and a careless word can ruin the world. Some of the sparks from this leader were overlooked, but it only took one to serve as a flashpoint. The results were devastating for his career and the organization.

3. When a fire breaks out, there will be a lot of blaming and finger-pointing.

With the Palisades fire in California, it only took a few hours for the blame-shifting to begin… The fire chief was not doing her job. Budgets had been cut. Water was not available. Equipment was not deployed correctly. The state did not manage preventive work adequately. The list is almost endless. And the same is true with organizational culture fires – there is often blame-shifting and finger-pointing, but seldom is anyone courageous enough to say, “I own it. I made a mistake.”

4. Prevention is easier and cheaper than addressing it later.

In reading about the fires in California, experts often talked about preventive steps that could have been taken, steps that would likely have been far cheaper than the $250 billion that will now be spent in recovery. Our consultants have multiple examples of this regarding organizational culture fires as well. Early intervention and guidance can sometimes prevent a major organizational culture fire, but they will often reduce the destructive nature of it.

5. There is a price to pay when postponing hard decisions.

Some have expressed that the wildfires in California were made worse due to continual delays in making improvements to reduce the risk of such fires as well as the reduction of funding and manpower. We can always find a reason to delay making the hard decisions that make the future safer and better. I remember our team working with an organization that saw warning signs regarding a particular staff member. Sometimes the warning signs can be a bit vague, and we justify them away or “cut them some slack.” In this case, multiple team members within that organization were concerned, but the boss delayed making the hard decision of firing this staff member. And the leader and the organization ended up with bruised credibility and damaged trust. I have seldom seen good things come from postponing hard decisions.

6. Fires can be very hard to stop once they start.

Watching videos of the wildfires was stunning. It is almost beyond belief how fast a fire can go from a small flame in a dry bush to a fire that is moving so fast you could never outrun it. Some fires can move as fast as 14 miles per hour making them hard to contain. This is also true of organizational culture fires. Once they get started, they can spread rapidly, from person to person, department to department, and to social media and customers or clients.

7. The expense of such fires can be far greater than imagined.

Just like wildfires, organizational culture fires are costly and destructive. We have seen that – even in small businesses, churches, and nonprofits – the transition of a dysfunctional leader can end up costing the organization $250,000 to $400,000. And this does not take into account the loss of momentum, damaged reputation, and missed opportunities due to the amount of time the leaders were distracted with fighting the fire. Think about what could have been accomplished with 200-300 hours of staff time and $400,000 for new opportunities.

8. The damage can last long after the fire is extinguished.

For many survivors of these wildfires, the impact will be long-lasting – loss of family members, friends, and pets; destroyed homes; devastated communities; loss of employment. While these communities will be rebuilt, the memories and reminders will be deeply embedded in those communities for years to come. This is also true for organizational culture fires. Fortunately, there is seldom loss of life, but the damage can be rooted in the hearts and minds of the team for many years. And it can impact the attraction and retention of both talented staff as well as customers.

Many organizational culture fires are preventable, and for those that are not, the damage can at least be contained. One of the actions every leader can and should do regularly is an assessment of where their organization is at greatest risk for such culture fires and what they should do now to harden the preventions, address the risks, and make improvements and corrections before a spark turns into a wildfire and destroys trust.

To learn more about how our coaches and consultants can assist you in creating a healthy organizational culture, contact us.

Jay Desko is the President & CEO of The Center Consulting Group and brings experience in the areas of organizational assessment, leadership coaching, decision-making, and strategic questioning. Jay’s degrees include an M.Ed. in Instructional Systems Design from Pennsylvania State University and a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and Leadership from The Union Institute.