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The Blind Spots That Derail Leaders 59

dented engineering challenges that had left him exhausted and
discouraged.

What Happened. Logan worked with our group, even though he
was deeply resigned and believed nothing would change. Before we
met, we talked with his peers, direct reports, and next level up. A uni-
versal theme emerged: Logan’s behavior over the past six months had
changed from his usual easygoing manner to being abrupt, shut
down, and defensive. As he had become more withdrawn and inac-
cessible, the organization came to a virtual standstill with everyone
tiptoeing around his unpredictable moods.

The Impact. When we asked Logan why he was so discouraged, he
explained, “My boss and I are no longer on the same page.” Logan
had drawn the conclusion that his role was being diminished from
building and growing an organization to simply maintaining it. As a
result, he lost his spirit and drive. Although Logan and his boss talked
regularly, Logan never raised his real concerns. Instead, they had
business-as-usual conversations and discussed strategic issues.
In our work together, Logan became aware of his blind spot of
going it alone and the emotional impact it had on others. He had a
breakthrough about the extent to which he had been resigned and
withholding his emotional commitment and not talking straight.

The Courage to Take a Stand and Act Decisively. He shot off an
e-mail to his boss—one from the heart where he disclosed his resig-
nation and took accountability for his lack of engagement—and
asked to talk. Within an hour, his boss called him. This time Logan
initiated a different conversation and talked about what had derailed
him. His boss was unaware of his impact and listened carefully to
what was needed to resolve what turned out to be a simple misun-
derstanding.
A week later, the CEO of the global enterprise flew to Logan’s
operation. Together they met with over 700 employees and included
them in discussing the breakdown that had occurred and how they
had realigned and restored their partnership. They took a stand for
building a high performance organization based on committed part-