Corporate America has daddy issues

Toxic masculinity in the workforce won’t be solved by diagnosing men, but by redesigning work so that care and empathy aren’t something they have to unlearn to succeed.

[Photos: Maskot/Getty Images; Amixstudio/Adobe Stock]

I have what I consider a healthy skepticism toward authority. I’ve always considered leaders—despite what titles they hold—as fallible people who don’t necessarily deserve blind adulation or deference. That skepticism has made it hard for me to adopt the “company man persona,” which might explain how little of the proverbial corporate ladder I’ve climbed. 

And rather than take responsibility for that, I’m going to “blame” my dad: The instinct to question rather than comply, to think critically instead of playing yes-man, came from him. We never had a formal conversation about it. I just watched how he moved through the world—confident, grounded, with little to prove—and absorbed it. Even though I now interrogate masculinity professionally as a writer, the version of “being a man” I internalized first came from my father.

The idea of masculinity is broad, contested, and constantly evolving. And in corporate America, it still matters. 

Research shows that sons often emulate their fathers’ version of masculinity, and because men continue to dominate leadership positions in the U.S., those inherited models don’t stop at the home. They show up in how work gets done, who gets promoted, and what kinds of behaviors are rewarded. 

In practice, that inheritance can look like an executive who demands deference but bristles at accountability. Or a leader who establishes a culture where men bond through exclusion or bigotry. Or an environment that rewards bravado over substance, and conflates emotional intelligence with weak, “beta” behavior. 

It can show up when men label assertive women “aggressive,” when they police what version of masculinity makes a leader, or when they constantly need to prove their worth. Think of Succession’s Kendall Roy, or your own pick of privileged white men whose familial connections thrust them into headlines more than their merit.  

In short: Corporate America has what’s colloquially known as “daddy issues.” 

Corporate culture reflects the versions of manhood its leaders were taught to perform. In speaking with several psychologists and professors who specialize in families and masculinity, I’ve come to understand that changing this culture won’t come from diagnosing men.

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Pat Brothwell is a marketing professional and writer who covers work culture, masculinity, identity, technology, power structures, personal branding, and ideally, how they all intersect. He’s written for Fast Company, GQ, Men’s Journal, and Slate More

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