Why will you fail?

Are you in trouble?

Are you in trouble?

"This is not looking good for me right now," says a client of mine. "I was distraught at your feedback, but now I see I had a huge blind spot. I screwed up." The painful reality is that this high-potential executive had just been promoted to a strategic role in a multi-billion-euro global company. And now, he might lose his job. All because of a single mistake — one error, one bad shot. Now, all might be lost.

I can name a dozen scenarios resembling this disaster. For example, a general manager responsible for distributing American industrial products across several African countries declined coaching during his onboarding last year. He is about to be fired and does not even know it yet. "Why did we hire him? How did we get to this?" is the day's subject of discussion. Predicting this type of outcome is not complicated; unfortunately, it is a pattern that will likely continue until the CEO matures. The leader must acknowledge that the critical problems stem from them…