Organisations often claim to value diverse perspectives, yet those perspectives are welcomed only as long as they conform to existing norms. When they challenge established patterns of communication, hierarchy, pace, or decision-making, they are frequently labelled as confrontational, difficult, or disruptive. Through the lens of Pierre Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital, this is unsurprising. The same behaviours that are rewarded in those who already embody the dominant culture are often penalised in those whose ways of speaking, leading, or contributing fall outside it. I think what is framed as innovation in one person becomes disruption in another, not because the behaviour differs, but because the social value attached to the person expressing it does.
