Has your leadership team checked out?

I once showed a board they had a client trying to spend another $30 million with them, and no one in sales, customer, delivery or leadership had done anything about it.

There I was, like Rafiki holding up the Lion King to the sun and its worshippers:

“Here is your client, who has asked many times for you to usurp your competitor and take this deal - and you’ve done FA.”

You’d have expected everyone to pull out their phones and call the client immediately.

But nothing. It was like watching zombies eat soup on a pavement.

That’s when I realised the problem wasn’t the customer strategy. It was them.

My mistake in that meeting was that I didn’t shake leadership. I thought I’d done something wrong. But I just didn't push them hard enough.

Leaders don’t like being told they’re the problem as individuals. But they’ll take it as a team. And that’s often what it takes to get results.

A few years ago I created something called The Mirror. It shows executive teams and boards the brutal reality of how they are seen by customers, markets and their own people.

Most companies can handle hearing what customers think, but if leadership teams don't act, they have to be challenged.

What made The Mirror work wasn’t the data. It was the challenge. The above-my-paygrade honesty that forced action.

“You’ve shown no evidence that your team is connected to your most important clients. There’s a lack of urgency in your leadership mindset that’s costing you delays and wasted salaries. The board dynamic here is not working.”

Did I overstep?

“Thank you for being so straight. You’re absolutely right. We needed to see this.”

Only when I connected the dots between the data and the leadership failures did people sit up. Because now it touched their bonus and reputation.

There’s now a fear of discomfort baked into today’s business culture. Teams hold back. We’ve built polite environments where the priority is that no one gets upset.

The business doesn’t stall because of the market. It stalls because no one acts.

Yes, support and positivity are good. But sometimes, discomfort and challenge drive performance. Sorry.

The Mirror shows you how your business really performs through the eyes of your customers, employees, users, sales teams and peers. It has driven major client wins, strategy change, leadership shifts and brand repositioning.

But it’s not for the faint hearted.

Do you think boards have gone soft?

Dan