The Leadership Challenge: Why So Many Poor Leaders Survive and How to Break the Cycle

Introduction: The Paradox of Leadership

Leadership is supposed to inspire, align, and elevate. Yet in countless organisations, people still find themselves working under leaders who frustrate, divide, and damage and somehow those same leaders survive, even thrive.

It’s a paradox that’s as old as corporate life itself: companies invest heavily in leadership development, and yet poor leadership persists.

The truth is, many poor leaders deliver just enough results or the appearance of results to stay in the game. They know how to play the system, project confidence, and use fear or authority to keep people in line. But beneath the surface, these leaders quietly drain the organisation’s potential, morale, and future.

The Anatomy of Poor Leadership

Not all poor leaders are bad people but their behaviours can be toxic. Let’s look at the most common traits and habits that cause damage, even when results seem strong.

1. They’ve Always Got to Be Right

For insecure leaders, being wrong feels like weakness. So, they double down, dismiss alternative views, and punish those who challenge them.

This “I’m right” mindset kills collaboration and innovation. The best ideas often come from debate and curiosity, but when leaders equate dissent with disloyalty, they silence the very people they need most.

The result: a compliant team, not a creative one.

2. They Feel Threatened by Successful and Popular Peers

Poor leaders often crave recognition and control. When others shine, they feel diminished.

You’ll see subtle behaviours, withholding information, undermining talented peers, taking credit for shared success. They talk about “teamwork” but secretly compete with their own people.

Strong leaders celebrate others. Weak ones see success as a zero-sum game.

3. They Like to Catch People Out

The “gotcha” leader thrives on moments of power, catching mistakes, embarrassing people in meetings, or questioning competence in public.

It creates a culture of fear. Teams stop taking initiative, stop owning risk, and focus on self-protection instead of performance.

Good leaders look for reasons to lift people. Poor ones look for reasons to punish them.

4. Insecure Behaviours

Insecurity in leadership shows up as over-control, micro-management, mood swings, or constant justification of authority.

These leaders rarely ask for help or feedback, because feedback threatens the image they’ve built. Ironically, the stronger they try to appear, the weaker their teams become.

5. Bullying as “Tough Leadership”

There’s still a dangerous myth in business that fear drives performance. Leaders who shout, belittle, or intimidate others often justify it as “high standards.”

Fear might create short-term compliance, but it destroys trust and psychological safety. In the long term, it leads to burnout, turnover, and mediocrity.

The best leaders hold people accountable and make them feel safe. That balance is what drives sustainable performance.

6. Mistaking Control for Leadership

For poor leaders, control is the goal. They equate authority with effectiveness.

But leadership isn’t about control, it’s about influence. The tighter they grip, the more creativity and initiative they squeeze out. True leadership means letting people own the outcome, not just execute orders.

7. Recognition Without Connection

When these leaders give praise, it’s often through awards, ceremonies, or announcements.  These are important of course, but often they can be gestures that feel hollow because they’re disconnected from genuine understanding.

They may not even know why someone deserves recognition. It’s leadership by performance theatre rather than authentic appreciation.

8. The One-Model Leader

Some leaders mistake past success for universal truth. They’ve “read a bit,” achieved one big win, and then spend their career repeating that formula, regardless of context.

For example, a turnaround specialist who only knows cost-cutting might apply the same approach to a growth business, killing innovation in the process.

Effective leadership adapts. Poor leadership recycles.

9. Poor Communication and Disconnection

These leaders talk at people, not with them. They use jargon, avoid vulnerability, and can’t connect with real people.

The outcome: their teams feel alienated and disengaged. Communication without connection is just noise.

10. Surrounded by “Yes People”

Poor leaders don’t build teams, they build echo chambers.

They hire people who won’t challenge them or who fear them too much to speak up. It creates a false sense of success because everyone appears to agree. Meanwhile, reality drifts further away.

11. Ritual Executions

To keep control, they occasionally make public examples of people…the “ritual execution.”

Someone is suddenly out, sidelined, or demoted, often to remind others who holds power. It’s brutal, short-sighted, and corrosive. But it works, temporarily, because it keeps fear alive.

Why This Happens in Business

So, why do these people rise…and stay in leadership roles?

Because in the short term, fear can look like focus. Intimidation can look like accountability. And control can look like consistency.

Many poor leaders deliver short-term results by driving people harder, cutting costs, or projecting confidence. Their ambition is often fuelled by insecurity, a deep need to prove themselves. With the right coaching, these insecurities could transform into self-awareness and empathy. Without it, they harden into destructive habits.

Boards and senior executives often reward these individuals because they see “results”; improved numbers, decisive action, strong presence, without recognising the damage underneath.

In other cases, organisations tolerate poor leadership because addressing it feels risky. “What if we lose results?” “What if they take key clients?” So they stay silent, until the cost of inaction becomes undeniable.

The Jack Welch Performance–Values Matrix

Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, created a simple but powerful matrix based on performance and values for evaluating leaders (you’ll see lots of variations to this theme from others):

High Performance, High Values (Stars)

High Performance, Low Values (Toxic Stars)

Low Performance, High Values (Potential)

Low Performance, Low Values (Low/Bottom Performers)

Many organisations stumble on the third box: high performance, low values.

These are the leaders who often hit numbers but poison culture. They are tolerated because they deliver results, until those results collapse under the weight of disengagement, turnover, or ethical issues.

Removing them takes courage. But keeping them sends a louder message: values are optional. And that message spreads fast.

Other Useful Comparisons

Jim Collins’ “Good to Great” framework contrasts Level 4 leaders (high individual performance) with Level 5 leaders (humble, service-oriented, driven by purpose). Most destructive leaders are stuck at Level 4, brilliant operators, poor humans.

Similarly, Daniel Goleman’s model of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) highlights self-awareness, empathy, and relationship management as differentiators of effective leadership. Those scoring low in EQ may thrive in stable or fear-based environments, but collapse under complexity and change.

What Businesses Can Do

1. Stop It in the First Place

Prevention is better than repair.
Leadership appointments should be based on values, not just performance. Use behavioural interviews, peer feedback, and culture-fit assessments to evaluate how people achieve results, not just what they achieve. Test whether they can take people with them and how well they communicate.

2. Develop the Right People and Coach Them

Invest in leaders who live your values.
Provide ongoing coaching and mentoring, not just training, because leadership is learned through reflection, feedback, and self-awareness.

Identify high-potential individuals who demonstrate curiosity, humility, and emotional intelligence. Support them before they become “accidental managers.”

3. Address Issues Early

The moment you notice toxic behaviour, act.
Don’t hide behind “but their results are good.” Poor leadership costs you far more in morale, retention, and lost innovation than short-term numbers can justify.

4. Make Values Visible

Be explicit about the culture you expect.
Recognise and reward how people lead, not just outcomes. Make sure every level of management understands what leadership means in your organisation.

What Good Leadership Looks Like

Not an exhaustive list of course, but if you’re identifying or developing future leaders it’s a good idea to look for these traits and habits:

• Curiosity – they ask, listen, and learn before they decide.

• Challenge – they respectfully question the status quo and invite others to do the same.

• Resilience – they recover from setbacks without blame or drama.

• Emotional Intelligence – they understand and regulate their emotions and empathise with others.

• Authenticity – they show up as real people, not corporate caricatures.

• Inclusivity – they create environments where everyone feels heard.

• Self-belief balanced with humility – they lead confidently but know they don’t have all the answers.

Leaders like this build trust, not fear. They energise, not exhaust. They shape organisations people want to belong to.

The Power of Great Leadership

When leadership works, everything changes.
Engagement rises. Teams innovate. Customers notice. Growth becomes sustainable, not forced.

In the short term, great leadership builds focus.
In the medium term, it builds capability.
In the long term, it builds legacy.

Businesses that avoid destructive leadership don’t just survive, they thrive, because their culture becomes a competitive advantage.

The leadership challenge isn’t just about spotting bad leaders, it’s about having the courage to build better ones.