Beware the Leadership Echo Chamber
This month’s article focuses on a recent coaching session with Peter, the CEO of a large engineering company who has been in post for eleven years.
In my experience, it is unusual that a leader with such a long tenure seeks coaching. Surely, he must now have the experience and competence to deal with everything the market and his board throw at him? What Peter has recognised is what many long-term leaders find – he has unwittingly built a leadership ‘echo-chamber’ where challenging views or novel ideas have faded into the past. His business exists in a rapidly changing market, and if they are to take advantage, not to fade, they must embrace change and innovation.
He has unwittingly built a leadership ‘echo-chamber’ where challenging views or novel ideas have faded into the past.
From the first quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2025, the average tenure of global CEOs has fallen from 7.7 to 6.8 years. This contrasts with the top decile of performance whose leaders are in post for 15 years. The difference? I believe that top-performing CEOs have the confidence to surround themselves with a diversity of thinking, whereas those who build an echo chamber of agreement lack the innovation or agility to cope with periods of downward performance.
Peter is keen to build the capability around him so that he can lead his business through the changes he foresees in the coming years. With that in mind, we have focused on several areas:
- Incrementally changing his team to bring in voices who will challenge his and the business’s current thinking. Through promoting (and arguably over-promoting) some of his most trusted lieutenants, Peter has stifled fresh thinking, challenge and capability.
- Focusing his ‘team time’ on listening: His current executive meetings are characterised by Peter broadcasting, and his team agreeing. Peter must find a way to invite contribution and reward new ideas; however uncomfortable this may be in the first instance.
- Rethinking his relationships with the board. Peter admits that, like many CEOs, he sees the board as a group to be managed, rather than a source of counsel and advice. He has committed to a process of informal private meetings to work on his listening. This also applies to key customers, and members of the wider employee team – all these groups will give unvarnished opinions, useful data points contributing to understanding his context.
- Establish a wider network of advisors: for Peter, this includes his peer CEOs in adjacent industries, bankers, consultants and, of course, building and executing his plans alongside his coach.
As human beings, we are social and tribal animals, and as such, we all feel comfortable when surrounded by agreement and consensus. Over the coming months, I am looking forward to working with Peter to push beyond this so that both he and his business are fit for the future.
