The karma police are coming
Last week my wife and I visited the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford to see the Thom Yorke/Stanley Donwood exhibition. If you’re not familiar with the names, Yorke is the lead singer of British Indie band Radiohead who have sold over 10m records worldwide and who Rolling Stone named as one of the 100 greatest bands of all time.
Donwood is an artist and Yorke’s long time collaborator on artwork for Radiohead and The Smile. The exhibition brings together the art from the last 30 years of collaborating.
One particular piece of artwork stood out to me and it was this one:
[image copyright: Stanley Donwood/Thom Yorke]
This is taken from the Radiohead song Karma Police from their classic album OK Computer in 1997. According to Yorke, the song is to “everyone who works for a big firm. It’s a song against the bosses.”
The metaphor of ‘karma police’ resonates deeply in today's workplace landscape. Yorke's vision of accountability catching up with those who abuse their power feels particularly relevant as we continue to witness high-profile reckonings across industries - from tech giants to entertainment companies to retail organisations - where toxic leadership has finally faced consequences.
What's fascinating about workplace karma isn't its mystical nature, but its practical inevitability. Toxic leaders often succeed initially because they exploit short-term gains: driving results through fear, hoarding information for control, or taking credit whilst deflecting blame. Yet this approach contains the seeds of its own destruction.
When skilled employees vote with their feet and walk away from toxicity, they don't just leave, they become ambassadors for competitors, sharing insider knowledge and warning networks about their former employers. The ‘karma police’ here aren't supernatural forces, but market dynamics and human networks.
The most potent form of workplace karma emerges through reputation. In our hyper-connected world, toxic behaviours spread beyond offices, warehouses and sports fields through platforms like Glassdoor, LinkedIn, and industry networks. Leaders who build their success on others' misery find their reputations preceding them, making future opportunities increasingly scarce.
Yet karma isn't merely punitive, it can be restorative too. Organisations that address toxic cultures early, support affected employees, and demonstrate genuine change often emerge stronger. They attract talented people seeking psychologically safe cultures and benefit from the creativity that flourishes when people aren't consumed by workplace politics.
For those currently enduring toxic environments: your experience matters, your wellbeing is valid, and change, whether through organisational transformation or your own strategic moves, is possible. Document incidents, build alliances, and remember that today's toxic leader may well become tomorrow's cautionary tale.
The karma police are real. They're called accountability, and they're already on their way.
