IF YOU CAN’T READ IT, YOU CAN’T LEAD IT
As soon as I walked into the room and saw his face and posture, I could see he was weary and flat. ‘Ok… unexpected‘, I thought. I sat down, settled in, and readied myself to listen.
I was meeting a coaching client six weeks after he had started a new role as CEO at a fintech start-up. It had been an exciting move- the opportunity to scale a successful business to its next stage. This opportunity was scary good; exactly the kind of challenge that would unlock his next level of growth. Last time we saw each other, he embodied an emotional cocktail of restless anticipation, excitement about future possibilities, and a slight dash of daunted.
“Well, it’s been an interesting start…” he began. I waited.
“I’m ok… It’s ok,” (Exhale, long sigh). “I’ve just had to reset my expectations about where we’re at. I walked into a near-crisis, an executive team that isn’t where I thought they’d be, and in trying to resolve one problem, I may have made it worse. I didn’t see this coming.”
It turns out he had inherited a hot deadline – a critical client deliverable with a non-negotiable timeline. He’d been led to believe it was on track, only to discover (by chance) two weeks before his first client meeting that the team was, at best, a week behind.
What struck me wasn’t the lateness of the deliverable. It was the dawning realisation on his face that he’d crossed his first invisible threshold of leadership in this new role:
He discovered the gap between what he’d been told… and what was actually happening.
Many, if not most, new CEOs face this moment. The moment the dream fades into the deeply felt full-bodied weight of the risk and responsibility that is the CEO’s to carry.
And while the technical problem needs urgent resolution, what matters even more is what that problem reveals about the team, the culture, the dynamics, and the expectations he has unwittingly walked into. If these patterns aren’t recognised and corrected early, they don’t go away. They repeat, and they cost energy, effort, time, performance and stress.
Classic CEO Cultural Tripwires
Every new CEO inherits a culture wired with invisible pressures, loyalties, fears, expectations, and behaviours shaped long before they step into the role. These aren’t “issues.” They’re tripwires. One of the early challenges is knowing whether you’re seeing an individual behaviour or a cultural pattern. After twenty years inside executive teams and organisational systems, I’ve learned to recognise the signals. They show up early, if you know what to look for.
Tripwire 1: The Well-Mannered Stand-Off
A room that appears agreeable but hides that the system is not.
How to recognise it: It’s in the omission, not the admission.
- Issues are hinted at but not named.
- Expectations are assumed but not clarified.
- People “wait and see” rather than commit.
- Everything stays pleasant, while anything difficult is bypassed.
Why It Happens
- A new leader arrives, and people don’t yet trust them.
- Team members are protecting turf or relationships.
- No one wants to be the first to voice bad news.
- People fear conflict or jeopardising their standing, so they go silent or speak privately (“the classic wedge-creating move”).
- The organisation has learned to “manage up” by staying agreeable.
The CEO Trap
- Rushing to action before asking quality diagnostic questions.
- Rewarding positivity over accuracy.
- Mistaking politeness for alignment.
- Interpreting silence as support and commitment to action.
How To Respond
- Invite candour explicitly.
- Normalise speaking to issues early rather than perfectly.
- Model naming tensions neutrally, without blame.
- Show that honesty won’t be punished -publicly acknowledge and thank people who raise difficult issues or disagree with you, explaining its value to the team.
Useful Early Diagnostic Questions
- What risks should we get ahead of early so they don’t grow?
- Where would clearer roles or expectations help lift performance?
- Where do the cracks appear first when we’re under pressure to deliver? (And always ask for examples.)
