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Why Do CEOs Fail? • Most “failed” CEOs were strong leaders before their blunders • The pressure for performance is shorter and more unforgiving • Many sabotaged themselves, albeit unconsciously • ALL leaders are vulnerable to their “shadow side” • CEO’s downfall are more noticeable/spectacular • Nobody told them the truth

The 11 Derailers • Arrogance: You’re right and everybody else is wrong. • Melodrama: You always grab the center of attention. • Volatility: Your mood swings drive business swings. • Excessive Caution: The next decision you make may be your first. • Habitual Distrust: You focus on the negatives. • Aloofness: You disengage and disconnect. • Mischievousness: Rules are made to be broken. • Eccentricity: It’s fun to be different just for the sake of it. • Passive Resistance: Your silence is misinterpreted as agreement. • Perfectionism: Get the little things right even if the big things go wrong. • Eagerness to Please: Winning the popularity contest matters most.

Learning About Failure • Our research on derailers owes a debt to the work of: • Robert Hogan • Ram Charan • Daniel Goleman

Understanding the Way Derailers Work • Derailers emerge under stress. • Stress differs for each leader. • You can’t remove your derailers—they are part of your personality. • Derailers are both strengths and weaknesses. • Most leaders have two or three derailers. • Some may seem like the opposite of one another.

You’re Right and Everybody Else Is Wrong • Arrogance is blinding belief in your own opinions. • Success as a leader requires confidence. • Most smart leaders know when they’re being stubborn, single-minded, and self-righteous. • Arrogant leaders can’t see their own arrogance.

You Always Grab the Center of Attention • Successful CEOs require presence. • Sometimes, you must be dramatic to make a point. • Melodramatic leaders suck up the oxygen so no one else can breathe • Melodramatic leaders don’t develop others, can’t see what is happening and always grab the focus.

General Patton: Derailing by Example.

Your Mood Shifts Are Unpredictable • Volatility creates compliance—successful CEOs use it strategically. • Volatile leaders create energy. • Unpredictable eruptions from powerful people creates caution, distrust and fear. • People waste productivity energy managing the moods of the leader.

The Next Decision You Make May Be Your First • Overanalyzing important decisions in the face of increased anxiety and significant stress. • Your fear of making the wrong decision causes procrastination and the need for “one more study.” • Problems spiral and the very failure you sought to avoid is brought about by indecision.

You Focus on the Negatives • Healthy skepticism is different than virulent distrust. • The former involves being realistic, reacting appropriately to circumstance and environment. • The latter involves being inappropriately and egregiously suspicious. • Distrustful leaders question motives and look for hidden agendas.

You Disengage and Disconnect • Aloof leaders “emotionally disappear” • Conflict, especially creates withdrawal. • Aloof leaders are distant, abstract, and sometimes disengaged, especially under stress. • They isolate themselves during crises or retreat from people who need guidance or support

You Know That Rules Are Only Suggestions • Mischievous leaders are easily bored, and often like to “stir things up” to create excitement. • These leaders see “rules” as either “suggestions” or “for others to follow.” • Mischievous leaders enjoy provocative ideas but have trouble executing these ideas. • Mischievous leaders are charming and engaging.

It’s Fun to Be Different Just for the Sake of It • Eccentrics can generate ideas and deliver results—or else others would not tolerate their weirdness. • Eccentric leaders are often viewed as true originals, their strange behavior often spoken of with affection. • When things aren’t going so well, however, eccentrics become irritating. • Others have trouble predicting their behavior

Your Silence Is Misinterpreted as Agreement • Passive-resistant look like savvy leaders, who know how to play politics and be pragmatic about goals. • Underneath , however, is unconscious duplicity. • Passive Resistant leaders create expectations they don’t meet, confusing and disappointing others in the short term and creating cynicism in the long run.

You Get the Little Things Right While the Big Things Go Wrong • Perfectionistic leaders often ignore the big picture. • They focus on details, and lose sight of major developments around them. • Perfectionism is useful for anyone in a position where mistakes can be literally or figuratively fatal, but derails those with significant responsibility

You Want to Win Any Popularity Contest • People often try to please leaders -- not the reverse. • Many leaders are eager to please, -moving up because they identify and meet the needs of others. • Pleasers can be enormously popular because of these qualities, but they can also fail because of them. • Their aversion to conflict and contentious debate causes them to bury contrary opinions that need to be heard.

What Kind of Stress Triggers Your Derailers? • Interactions with bosses, boards, big customers, or authority figures • Major career or life transitions • Mergers and acquisitions • Failure of a program, team, or policy for which you are accountable • Downsizing or restructuring • Boredom • Too much work • Intense peer competition

What Kind of Stress Triggers Your Derailers? • Deadlines • Personal financial pressure • Negative publicity • Conflict • Confronting underperforming direct reports • Working in a matrix • Dealing with paradox, complexity, uncertainty, or conflicting expectations • Appeasing difficult customers

Coaching Techniques • Adversity Analysis • Think of your difficult situations or failures: • What behaviors in these circumstances didn’t serve you well? • What would your worst critics say about how you acted? • Do you see a theme or pattern in your behaviors? • Do any of the derailers fit this pattern?

Coaching Techniques • Direct Report Evaluation • Leave your direct reports alone, and ask them to report back to you with their best ideas and recommendations about the following questions: • How can I be a better leader? • What do I do that makes you nuts? • How do I force you to work around me rather than with me? • When you get together to complain about me, what do you complain about? • When I’m under stress, what do I do that you think is counterproductive?

Coaching Techniques • Finding a Confidant • Someone you can trust, who understands your business context and who can provide you with objective, insightful advice, and feedback. • Good choices: • A mentor, retired or still active, who has observed you move up. • Someone who has experience as a coach • A former direct report whom you respect and trust • Poor choices: • Friends or spouses • Organizational allies, because they can become tomorrow’s competitors.

Addressing Organizational • Leadership Derailers • Managing derailers helps both careers and companies. • With their derailers under control, leaders free up their strengths. • Coaching a leadership group has a trickle-down effect to the entire company.

An Evolved View of Leadership • In the past, leaders hid their weaknesses. • That’s not possible now—there are few secrets. • To handle stress, accept that you—and all leaders—are fallible. • Flawed leaders deny they are human, but human beings can still be great leaders. • Accepting this will free you to become aware of your derailers—and learn to manage them. • Increased stress may be inevitable, but failure is not.

Based on the book Why CEOs Fail • by David Dotlich & Peter Cairo

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