In the rapid race to integrate AI and optimize workflows, many organizations have inadvertently opened a high-interest line of credit they can’t afford to repay. We call this Cultural Debt. Much like technical debt in software development, cultural debt is the accumulation of systemic friction caused by choosing "fast" over "healthy." By mid-2026, the cost of this debt has become impossible to ignore. When we prioritize metrics over people, we borrow against the trust, psycho