6 signs of bad driving

Be it Steve Jobs, Elon Musk or Bill Gates, these people are known for driving the growth of their companies through strong leadership. A good leader can take a failed business and turn it around, while a bad leader, on the other hand, can destroy even the most successful companies. Leadership is essential to the growth and success of any business – but what happens when that leadership fails? What are the symptoms? How do you know if your business is being led by a failed leader? Here are six signs of poor leadership that you should watch out for:

1. Selfish leadership style

Selfish leadership centers around the leader, not the team. Their efforts, ideas, and goals always tend towards bettering themselves. From their perspective, it’s all about what they can do to make themselves look good. It’s about feeding their ego. They hide their concern for themselves that they are “looking out for the best interests of the company”. But really, the opinion of the team does not matter to them. They make all decisions without input from others, take all the credit for the successes, and worse, blame their team for any failures. For them, having power as a leader empowers them to get right all the time. As a result, this type of leadership creates a toxic work environment where creativity and innovation are stifled.

Related: 5 Ways Bad Leadership Can Ruin Your Business

2. Resistant to change

When the business is led by a bad leader, growth and change always meet resistance. New ideas are dropped, and any suggestions for change are always met with negativity. This resistance stems from their unwillingness to leave their comfort zone. They believe that “if it ain’t broken, there’s no need to fix it.” They see growth as unattainable and are satisfied with the status quo. Their narrow thinking prevents them from being able to see the potential in new opportunities and restricts them from taking the necessary risk. As a result, the company becomes stagnant and unable to adapt and compete in an ever-changing market.

3. Unable to lead themselves

A bad leader always seems to have the best picture, but most of the time, they all talk and do nothing. They are empty shells of what a leader should be. They are always quick to issue orders and make decisions, but when it comes to carrying out work, they are nowhere to be found. They are unable to lead themselves, let alone the team. This is because they lack the discipline, focus and drive to see things through.

Their lack of follow-up is a direct reflection of how much they have underestimated their responsibilities. They are all attached to preaching, but they do not see the need to practice what they preach. Not to mention making it a lifestyle. They hate commitment and are always looking for an easy way out. They are not committed to their own goals, so why would they stick to team goals? This contradiction is evident in their personal life as well as in their professional life. As a result, they are not only bad leaders, but also terrible role models.

Related Topics: These 5 Leadership Styles Don’t Work. Do any of them describe you?

4. Unable to stand criticism

One way to easily spot a bad leader is to give him honest feedback. A bad leader is unable to handle criticism. They see any form of criticism as a personal attack and a challenge to their authority. They cannot accept constructive criticism, because they think it makes them appear weak and incompetent. As a result, they surround themselves with “yes men” – people who only give them the validation they’re looking for. They fear honest feedback and build an echo chamber where their ideas are constantly reinforced. In the validation hunt, they bury valuable feedback that could reveal actual issues.

“What we reveal, we can heal.” If problems are never revealed, they will never be solved, and the team will remain on a path of no growth – a path where they only survive rather than thrive.

5. Not acting in accordance with their core values

Core values ​​are the foundation of any business. They are our guiding beliefs, and they dictate how we behave. Behavior is what drives our results. When a leader does not act in accordance with the core values ​​of his company, he strongly influences the results obtained by the company. The most important reason to have core values ​​is to create filters for decision making. But if the leader can’t stick to it, it’s only a matter of time before their decisions start affecting the company in a negative way.

6. It cannot inspire growth

A leader should be someone who inspires others to grow. They must be able to develop others to become leaders in their own right. We must not forget that the first job of a leader is to create a path in which the team can grow. If the leader does not understand this, he will not be able to create a suitable plan and environment for growth. All they can do is keep the company afloat but they don’t create the right conditions to grow the team to its fullest potential.

There can be many factors that can cause a business to fail. But whatever these problems are, they are always due to poor leadership skills. Leadership is the component of success or failure in a business. And oftentimes, it’s the difference between a successful company and a failing company. To avoid dangerous repercussions, we must be aware of the symptoms and traits of failed driving, and remember, “There are no problems at work, only driving problems.”

Related Topics: Leading by Example: 7 Ways You Might Be a Bad Example for Your Employees