You may have got this impression that I don’t really like pompous bosses.

You may be absolutely spot on!

How many leaders (so-called) surround themselves with yes-men (& women).

How many cannot resist the allure of worship that their colleagues heap upon them?

How many succumb to the drug of saccharin adulation?

I mean – don’t get me wrong. Leaders are there to lead.

They have to be incisive. They have to demonstrate vision. They have to make a difference.

Share prices often rest (a little too much) on what a given leader has or has not achieved… has or has not strategized.

While this is a little dumb – in that 99.999999% of the company’s fortunes really lie in the hands of the managerial staff and below – I can see that a truly charismatic, bright, visionary, differentiating leader can be devastatingly positive.

The only trouble is that most leaders aren’t leaders.

They nod in the direction of all the qualities of a true leader… but they don’t have it. The chutzpah. The talent. The vision. The intelligence.

Most leaders fail because they pay lip service to leadership qualities without actually demonstrating or practicing them.

The art of listening is a great example of where most leaders fail.

Imagine the scenario… where the board have hired expensive advisors and consultants from the top firms… where a sparkling ‘strategy’ for the company’s near-term and medium-term future has been outlined… where the markets have been informed… (where the yes-men have not challenged but nodded through the board directors’ ideas)…

…then some bright spark in the company points out that the strategy will not work.

OMG!

The bright spark also presents data or other evidence to prove their point. They urgently push this up the line to their manager.

Now, in 99% of cases, this valid challenge to corporate strategy will be suppressed by the management yes-men. They don’t want this inconvenient truth to reach the board… especially they don’t want it to be associated with themselves. They’d rather a misconceived and disastrous strategy bring the company to its knees, than suffer the embarrassment of being associated with evidence that the board’s strategy isn’t going to work.

But even if the data-evidenced challenge from the bright spark does somehow manage to push itself all the way to the top brass, can you imagine most business leaders (so-called) admitting to their mistake and acting to re-think strategy?

How many would be prepared to have that amount of egg on their face?

How many would be able to pivot?

How many would have the required resilience?

Bill Gates did when admitted in the mid-1990s that they’d almost missed the internet revolution, then mandated for all future development to be internet focused.

Tim Cook had the balls to admit Apple’s ‘Maps’ initiative was a failure in 2012 and recommend people use Google instead.

Bob Iger at Disney in 2024 admitted that spending more on content than could be profitably monetized led to “volume and not quality”.

These examples are rare.

Have a think through the leaders you have known and consider… in all honesty… which have been truly incisive… which have listened to fact and input even when it’s inconvenient or embarrassing… which have had the strength and humility to admit they might have been wrong…?

And tell me whether this is the majority… or the minority.

Real leaders listen.

Real leaders don’t suppress inconvenient truths.

Real leaders are tough.

Real leaders are smart.

Real leaders can’t bear flatterers.