Hey Leaders, We’re The Problem

We, the leaders, are stuck in a self-perpetuating doom loop with no one to blame but ourselves.

As a long-time CEO and now working closely with senior leaders across our portfolio of Fortune 1000 customers, I can safely say that all problems are who, not what problems. And most of those who’s are leaders.

To be clear, my focus as a transformation leader and author has been on design and product leaders so I cannot say for certain that leaders in departments like finance, HR, or sales are also guilty of these things, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are. If you’ve seen similar behavior, please share it in the comments here on my twitter account @rmbanfield.

#1 Leaders dive into solutions, without knowing the problem.

The “hand of God” is too frequently the way leaders address problems. Before the problem has even been articulated, leaders pass down their solutions as if they are the solution gods. When a team is discussing a problem with a leader there is this tension that at any moment the leader will drop in some previous-experience advice from their box of tricks. We hear things like, “When I was at [Company XYZ] we saw the same thing and here’s how we dealt with that…” or “I’ve seen this before. We should just hire someone who can execute on this issue” as if adding a new person somehow makes the problem magically disappear.