A Leadership & Culture Book by David Stewart

CORPORATE
STUPIDITY

The Dumb Things We Do to Staff in the Workplace
Why organisations keep making the same mistakes, and what leaders can do to stop them.
By David Stewart — Leadership Coach / Author / Speaker / Advisor / Founder, RYP International
"A brutally honest look at the stupid things organisations do, and the leadership behaviours that allow them to happen."
Corporate Stupidity book cover
This book is not about stupid people. It is about —
STUPID
SYSTEMS
STUPID
DECISIONS
STUPID
HABITS
STUPID
LEADERSHIP
As you read the book, you will recognise your organisation.
After you read the book, you will recognise yourself.
The Problem

Somewhere in your organisation, right now…

Someone is sitting in a meeting, failing to speak up or question something stupid.
Someone is following an agreed process that makes no sense.
Someone has been over-promoted to incompetence.
Someone is turning a blind eye to a toxic manager.
Someone is continually losing staff, and wondering why.
Let's be honest: corporate stupidity is everywhere.
— They create policies nobody understands or follows.
— They promote people who have never managed.
— They tolerate behaviours they'd never accept from customers.
— They hold way too many ineffective meetings.
— They make the simple complex, believing complexity is superior.
— They enforce HR policies that treat adults as children.
"
The real question is not… does your organisation have corporate stupidity? Of course it does. The real question is… what are YOU doing about it?
Discover the Book
About the Book

Not a book about stupid people. A book about stupid systems, stupid decisions, and stupid leadership mindsets.

People
Why organisations frustrate, disengage, and ultimately lose good people.
Leadership
Why leaders tolerate behaviour, and fail to challenge systems and decisions that make no sense.
Common Sense
How organisations can eliminate unnecessary complexity and act on the bleeding obvious.
"The truth is confronting. Are you solving culture problems or creating them? The biggest threat to an organisation isn't their competition — it's itself."
"Awareness without action is useless. It's pointless highlighting a problem and not offering a solution." — David Stewart
The Author

He's seen the good. He's seen the bad. He's seen the absolute nonsense.

"
I've spent four decades working with leaders, businesses, teams and communities from around the world. Along the way I've seen some extraordinary leadership. I've also seen some extraordinary stupidity.
David Stewart is the Founder & Principal of RYP International, a leadership coaching and advisory practice. With qualifications spanning education, sports science, and business leadership, David has built his career around helping leaders, teams and organisations perform better. But Corporate Stupidity didn't come from a textbook — it came from experience.
David Stewart
40 years of leadership & culture experience
B.Ed · Grad. Dip. Sports Science · M. Business Leadership
Founder, RYP International
1981
Graduates B.Ed, Physical Education
1985
Launches Corporate Fitness Services
1990
Founds RYP International
2002
Master of Business Leadership
2000–Now
Coach · Advisor · Speaker · Author
The Big Idea

Corporate stupidity isn't the problem.
Leaders tolerating and presiding over it is.

If not you, who? The easiest thing to do is highlight the problem, blame others, or justify why. Credible leaders don't just solve problems — they remove the conditions that allowed the problem in the first place.
Why do we do this?
Why does nobody challenge this?
Why are our best people leaving?
Why are we tolerating this?
What's Inside the Book

Three parts. Ten dumb things. One myth to bust.

PART A
Corporate Stupidity Defined
PART B
The Ten Dumb Things Organisations Do
PART C
The Myth of Communication
01
The theatre of culture — the gap between what's said and what's done
02
HR madness — who actually runs the show
03
Tolerating incompetent managers
04
Senior leadership hypocrisy
05
The saga of the annual engagement survey
06
Poor team cadence
07
The insanity of alphabet-soup training
08
Policy over principle-driven thinking
09
Hiring practices that treat people badly
10
Fad surfing — the best-selling-book syndrome
Speaking

Corporate Stupidity is bigger than a book. It's a conversation.

Invite David to Speak
It requires leadership accountability. It starts with just one question — "There must be a better way." Face-to-face or online.
Keynote Address
Provocative, entertaining, and practical — targets leaders to identify and act on stupidity on their watch.
Leadership Programs
A deeper exploration of leadership behaviours, accountability, culture and performance.
Team Workshops
The Corporate Stupidity Audit — find out what you're guilty of, and shine a light on it.
Executive Sessions
A challenging conversation for leadership teams on what impacts their credibility.
See it
Call it out
Challenge it
Change it
The leadership challenge, in four steps.
Media & Resources

A two-minute explainer for every chapter

What Readers Are Saying
"[Testimonial placeholder — pull a quote once early reader feedback comes in.]"
Reader Resources

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