# What Leads Companies to Betray Their Own Principles

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/hbr-ideacast-650643/what-leads-companies-to-betray-their-own-principles
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/hbr-ideacast-650643/what-leads-companies-to-betray-their-own-principles.md
Podcast: [HBR IdeaCast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/hbr-ideacast-650643)
Published: 2026-05-26T13:05:54+00:00
Episode link: https://hbr.org/podcast/2026/05/what-leads-companies-to-betray-their-own-principles
Audio file: https://audio.hbr.org/ideacast/20260522102243-1080_WhatLeadsCompaniestoBetrayTheirOwnPrinciples.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/hbr-ideacast-650643/episodes/what-leads-companies-to-betray-their-own-principles
Duration seconds: 1735

## Resource

Why do so many organizations lose their way as they grow? Eric Ries, entrepreneur and author, says that corruption inside companies rarely begins with bad people or dramatic scandals. More often, it emerges slowly, through broken incentives, unchecked bureaucracy, and systems that reward the wrong behaviors. He explains why even successful organizations drift from their values, and what companies can do to stay adaptable, trustworthy, and mission-driven as they scale. Ries wrote the book Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad... and How Great Companies Stay Great.

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## Transcript

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