Page 49 - Fearless Leadership

36 FEARLESS LEADERSHIP

had been able to intellectually justify and defend their behavior as “That’s
just who I am” and avoid seeing their emotional impact and how they left
people feeling.
In learning about their specific blind spots, leaders were surprised that
their actions had such a negative and crushing impact on others. When
we probed deeper, we discovered the depth of their lack of awareness. The
vast majority were oblivious and unaware of the impact of their unpro-
ductive behavior: they were committed, competent, and caring leaders
who had no intention to damage people or undermine the organization.
The overwhelming majority of leaders wanted to have a positive impact
on others and experienced sincere remorse when they discovered they
did not.
Our interviews focused on both intellectual perceptions and emotional
impact on others. We researched how peers, direct reports, and superiors
felt and compensated for behavioral blind spots of the leader in question.
Below are examples of what others had to say:

• “I felt shut down and dismissed, so I withdrew and stopped
speaking up.”
• “I felt devalued and disrespected—I avoided any meeting that
he would be in.”
• “I lost my energy and enthusiasm and never got it back, so I do
only what needs to be done.”
• “I never felt included in decisions, so I went along with them,
but secretly I did not support them.”
• “I felt frustrated and discouraged. My boss doesn’t have any
time for me so I work around him and hope he will move on to
another position soon.”

It is one thing to understand blind spots at an intellectual level and
another to recognize the emotional impact on others. What was most
alarming from our research was how leaders unconsciously taught others
poor behavior. For instance, leaders who consistently blamed others
taught their people that it was appropriate to point the finger at other
groups in the organization and avoid accountability. Poor behavior was
informally taught by how leaders behaved and then it was copied by oth-
ers. Unproductive behavior spread to entire groups and business units