The Walking Dead. World War Z. Zombieland. There is no denying zombies have invaded pop culture. You may be surprised to learn their reach extends beyond a post-apocalyptic wasteland on your television screen – there are lessons to be learned from these horror movie creatures in the boardroom as well.

Steven Spear, a lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Business, warns our response to issues that arise can literally make or break our business. In fact, it has a lot in common with how heroes battle hordes of the undead.

“The zombie-like organizations are constantly plagued with working around the same problem every day, continuously, so there’s nothing but aggravation in those work spaces,” says Spear. “There’s something else which happens, which is that occasionally just enough of the right number and combination of problems coalesce to cause catastrophic failure.”

On the flip side, companies who take a heroic approach – containing the issue and learning what caused the failure so it doesn’t happen again – have more dynamic workplaces and deliver more value to their customers.

To find out whether you’re leading an army of the living dead, watch the video Don’t Be a Zombie Organization.