Breathing Oxygen into Your Culture

Summary

Just because an organization’s workplace environment was thriving yesterday does not guarantee its health tomorrow. On this episode of The Thermostat Podcast, leadership expert Jason V. Barger breaks down why corporate culture is inherently dynamic—constantly shaped moment by moment by how team members think, act, and interact. To avoid cultural stagnation, leaders cannot simply “set it and forget it”. Instead, they must actively steward their workplace ecosystem by breathing fresh oxygen into their teams.

This article explores the fundamental difference between “oxygen givers” and “oxygen takers,” examines the cognitive science behind mental clutter, and outlines six practical strategies for leadership in teams to continuously fuel long-term organizational success.

Culture is Dynamic: Why You Can’t “Set It and Forget It”

A common mistake in corporate leadership is viewing organizational identity as a static achievement—something codified in a employee handbook or mounted on a lobby poster and then left on autopilot.

In reality, culture is dynamic. It shifts continuously, shaped in real-time by every conversation, decision, and behavioral response across your ecosystem. Every employee—from entry-level hires to C-suite executives—acts as a thermostat setting the daily tone of the workplace.

Because culture is constantly evolving, high-performing organizations recognize that yesterday’s momentum will not sustain tomorrow’s execution. Keeping an organization healthy requires ongoing intentionality and consistent energy—or what Barger terms “breathing oxygen into your culture”.

Oxygen Givers vs. Oxygen Takers

To understand the energy driving a workspace, leaders must evaluate whether their team members act as oxygen givers or oxygen takers.

The brain consumes approximately 25% of the oxygen entering the body to support basic cognitive functions. When oxygen supply is restricted, decision-making, movement, and critical reasoning immediately suffer. The exact same dynamic occurs culturally: toxic behaviors starve teams of psychological safety, while positive leadership provides the mental fuel required for high performance.

       OXYGEN GIVERS                          OXYGEN TAKERS
┌───────────────────────────┐          ┌───────────────────────────┐
│ • Focus on possibilities  │          │ • Gossip and blame        │
│ • Express gratitude       │   VS.    │ • Finger-pointing         │
│ • Driven by mission       │          │ • Triangulation           │
│ • Direct communication    │          │ • Cynicism & negativity   │
└───────────────────────────┘          └───────────────────────────┘

The National Science Foundation estimates that humans process between 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. Of those daily thoughts, roughly 80% lean negative and 95% are repetitive. Left unmanaged, default human thinking naturally drifts toward skepticism, gossip, and blame.

Oxygen-giving leaders do not blindly ignore harsh realities or mandate superficial positivity. Instead, they directly address operational obstacles while maintaining focus on shared solutions, mutual accountability, and a clear future vision.

6 Strategies to Fuel Leadership in Teams

Building an oxygen-rich environment requires deliberate operational habits. Here are six foundational strategies high-performing organizations use to keep their culture energized:

1. Articulate the Culture

You cannot breathe fuel into a vision that lacks clarity. Leaders must establish explicit, shared language that defines the precise organizational temperature they aim to set.

2. Identify Actions and Behaviors

Move beyond generic values. Involve employees directly in co-creating a list of specific, observable behaviors that generate cultural oxygen—as well as toxic behaviors that deplete it. Shared definition builds collective ownership.

3. Culture-Driven Hiring and Onboarding

A team member’s first 90 days set their trajectory. Onboarding should emphasize cultural contribution alongside job mechanics, teaching new hires how their specific role feeds into the wider ecosystem.

4. Proactively Develop Emerging Leaders

Top talent rarely leaves an organization solely over compensation; they leave when their growth stalls. Investing directly in the skill-building and personal development of emerging leaders transforms them into influential culture stewards.

5. Harness the Power of Congregation

Whether through quarterly town halls, offsite retreats, or regional culture summits, there is immense value in gathering teams together. Congregating allows organizations to realign priorities, celebrate wins, and reconnect daily tasks to the broader mission.

6. Commit to Ongoing Leadership Development

Leadership can be an isolating experience, and without ongoing support, even veteran managers slide into complacency. Continuous executive development ensures leaders model consistency and maintain the capacity to support their teams.

Notable Quotes

“Just because your culture was great yesterday does not mean it’s guaranteed for tomorrow. Every leader, team, and organization has an opportunity to breathe oxygen into their culture every single day.” — Jason V. Barger

 

“Culture is dynamic, which means it’s not static. It’s always changing and it’s always being shaped moment by moment every single day by the way that we think, act, and interact.” — Jason V. Barger

 

“Our brains use about 25% of the oxygen that we take in to fuel our organs and basic functions. And a lack of oxygen stunts our abilities to think, to move, and to make decisions. The same thing is true in our relationships, teams, and organizations.” — Jason V. Barger

 

“The best teams, the best leaders, the best cultures, they stimulate progress by recalibrating that thermostat together and then intentionally breathing oxygen into each other.” — Jason V. Barger

 

Questions to Ponder

To evaluate your leadership impact and ensure you are actively fueling your workplace culture, reflect on these reflection prompts from the episode:

1. Personal Oxygen: What specific habit, activity, or practice will help breathe good oxygen into you to fuel your leadership this week, month, and year?

2. Environment Check: What toxic or unhealthy situations—such as gossip, persistent negativity, or unhelpful backchanneling—do you need to step back from or address differently?

3. Strategic Intentionality: What concrete strategies will you deploy over the coming months to systematically breathe oxygen into your people and your broader organizational culture?