Sure, but a single-minded ambition towards product excellence at the expense of cultural excellence creates a company that acts unethically towards its employee

Sure, but a single-minded ambition towards product excellence at the expense of cultural excellence creates a company that acts unethically towards its employees and, likely, its consumers/surroundings as well (if it doesn't go out of business due to its cultural problems). That's just as bad as rudderlessness, if not worse. The answer needn't be an extreme, and these discussions needn't consider business success as the sole axis of correctness--ethics should be considered as well, whether or not it has a monetary value.