Undoing Masculinity Contest Culture: Lessons from Practice

Masculinity contest culture (MCC) is widely documented as detrimental to employee well-being, equity, and organizational effectiveness, yet practical guidance for intervention remains limited. This article presents a practice-based account of addressing MCC within a corporate technology setting through a collaboration between an organizational psychologist and a senior leader. Drawing on employee engagement data, facilitated dialogue, and leadership modeling, the intervention targeted underlying cultural norms related to overwork, competition, and vulnerability. The case illustrates how naming MCC, fostering honest conversations, and aligning leadership behavior with organizational values can support meaningful and ongoing culture change. We conclude by highlighting three interrelated mechanism which may be helpful for practitioners seeking to move from diagnosing MCC to implementing sustainable, system-level interventions.