A PR person recently asked me to write about “culture fatigue.” (Many PR people think I’m a working journalist instead of a leadership coach/consultant who writes and they pitch story ideas to me. However, I did train as a journalist.)

“Culture fatigue” is not the issue, or in journalism terms, the story that deserves attention. The phrase is a corporate buzzword that does a disservice to employees as well as organizations. The word “fatigue” doesn’t accurately describe the unexpected and even chaotic changes many employees are experiencing in their work culture. Sometimes these changes are so dramatic that employees barely recognize their work culture any more.

In this Forbes Coaches Council article, Stop talking about culture fatigue when the real issue is whiplash, published online on August 17, 2026, I explain the difference between “culture fatigue” and “culture whiplash.”

The brief version is that “culture fatigue” is a decades-old term that describes the challenges expats face when they and their families move to a new geography.

By contrast, “culture whiplash” (my term) describes what’s happening now in many organizations, which is incredibly uncomfortable and challenging for many to navigate.

To what extent have you ever or are now experiencing culture fatigue or culture whiplash?