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the opposite of the first cause. These people are used to being the “brightest kid in the class.” They can be brutal with others whose intelligence doesn’t match up, and many people don’t want to take the risk of incurring their wrath by disagreeing with them.
• Leaders’ strong persona, oversized ego. Some people are used to running things, of being the driving force in all meetings, of being numero uno. That’s fine, as long as they know their limits. But when subordinates play up to (or are threatened by) their strength, these leaders can easily fall into the trap of expecting continual agreement.
• Subordinates’ ambitions/too eager to please. Some leaders are plagued by subordinates whose ambitions outweigh their integrity; they are so determined to get ahead, they’ll tell the boss almost anything in the pursuit of career goals.
• Leaders who place too much emphasis on loyalty. Loyalty is an important management trait . . . as long as it doesn’t interfere with candor. The ultimate loyalty, of course, is telling the boss what s/he doesn’t want to hear, but needs to hear (especially when the boss is about to step on a land mine).
• Leaders too fond of the look in the mirror. In some organizations, managers and leaders create a self perpetuating culture in which they hire people who look like, talk like, and think like themselves. I once knew about a basketball coach who only hired assistant coaches who’d previously played on her teams. They had good chemistry, which is important. But these assistants never gave the head coach an alternative point of view; all they knew was her system. The same thing happens in many corporations, where executives get comfortable by hiring people who “fit in.” This fit often leads to a culture in which the dominant norm is, “to get along you have to go along.”
• The perceived risks of being candid. It’s common to hear office stories about poor old Charlie or Barbara, who are “no longer with us because they took
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