Cameron HeroldFounder of the COO Alliance & Invest In Your Leaders Training

The Silent "Underground" Killing Your Culture | José Mejia

21 May 2026 · 1 min

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1:11

In this talk, José Mejia introduces a "languaging" framework for understanding organizational culture, dividing it into three zones: the underground, the common ground, and the battleground. The underground represents unspoken doubts and hidden disagreement that, when left unvoiced, breeds politics and erodes open conversation. The common ground is the space where transparent dialogue occurs, and leaders have a responsibility—what Mejia calls the role of a "Maryland"—to cultivate and maintain it. The battleground is the arena of overt conflict between individuals or leaders. Mejia also likens a company's culture to a human being with its own birth certificate and rules, emphasizing that culture should be treated as an entity that can be shaped intentionally. The overall message warns against the dangers of the underground, encourages proactive creation of common ground, and frames culture as a living system that leaders must nurture.

Chapters

One of the things I've always done in companies is I introduce languaging, and languaging as part of the creation of the culture. One of those languaging that we have is there's organizations that are in the battleground, in the common ground, and in the underground. And when you're in the underground, is let's say you, Lindsay, and I are talking and your little voice is saying, oh, I don't know, I don't, I disagree, but you don't say it, you don't, you don't express it, so it stays in the underground. Underground is very dangerous in organization, is what, what actually creates politics, there's lack of open conversation. So we talk a lot about the common ground. Oh, Lindsey, sounds to me like you're in the underground. Are you in the underground? You know, and people actually even joke about this, right? The battleground is when two people actually hate each other, right? I mean, I've been in situations where there's two leaders that people know, be careful. I actually see my role as a Maryland that is focused on creating an amazing common ground. And then I think of a culture more as a human being. When we create companies, it's almost like, you know, they have a birth certificate, right? So it becomes an individual almost, and it has its own rules, et cetera. But yeah.