While I cannot comment with certainty due to a total lack of information, It appears as if this CEO has blind spots related to an egocentric leadership style. When a leader’s focus is to control rather than surrender, or put another way, to direct rather than develop, trouble is never very far off.  

How articulate and insightful. Here is a real life example that illustrates leadership that creates constant expectation gaps: I have just had an experience working with the CEO of a company recently, whose communication style is so flawed that he constantly creates a mismatch between what he promises his business associates and colleagues and the actions and decisions he ultimately executes. His agreements are usually verbally communicated, and where they are in written form, they are ambiguous. He changes his mind often and does not communicate his rationale for these changes clearly, or at all. He often finds himself embroiled in interpersonal conflicts, some of which result in legal action, or threatened legal action. A lot of his time and energy is spent in putting out fires that he has stoked. Yet, he sees nothing wrong with his own behaviour, and feels beleaguered.

Thanks for sharing your experience Ivars – you’re not alone. That said, a mark of a good leader is being able to Learn from mistakes. Well done Sir.

Hi Devan:

Thanks for the kind words. I’ll read your post over the weekend. Thanks for stopping by. 

Love how you pointed out how “managing expectations is gamesmanship – aligning them is leadership” and the graph that goes with it. I think you’re right on par with how poor leadership is really about failure to meet expectations.

Coming from an “others” point of view, I recently wrote a 2-part article on what leadership looks like from a follower’s stand point. I’d really love to get your thoughts on it, Mike. I didn’t realize it until reading your article, but the points I made about the poor leadership are all because of failed expectations:

http://www.enmast.com/2012/05/16/leader-lead-followers-point-view/