The Leadership Crisis: What’s Holding You Back?

October 9, 2024
Radhika Vachani

The Leadership Crisis: What’s Holding You Back?

Last week, in my article, Why Leaders Are Failing Today-And It’s Not What You Think, I wrote about how leaders often fail to rise to the occasion despite their qualifications, experience, and technical know-how.

Are external pressures, market shifts, or evolving technologies the only reasons? While these factors play a role, the question is: what’s holding you back? Other significant obstacles are much closer to home.

People expect leaders to be grounded, visionary, and resilient, capable of confidently navigating complex situations; it comes with the title. Yet, too often, we’re left feeling disappointed, longing for leaders who give us hope and inspire us all to be bigger and better. However, are we forgetting that leaders are human too?

Internal barriers are powerful obstacles that prevent leaders from showing up as their best selves, leading effectively, and achieving their full potential. And unless we unite to nurture impactful leaders—those who can stand up and transform our workplaces, environments, and the world—we risk missing the opportunity for meaningful change.

Here are three of the most common internal obstacles leaders face:

1. Lack of Self Awareness

Leaders face the same internal challenges that plague many of us: self-doubt, lack of mental clarity, and perspectives often not grounded in reality. The problem is that, like many of us, leaders lack the self-awareness and tools to recognize their mental and emotional barriers. Without this self-awareness, they struggle to self-regulate, maintain composure, and mental clarity under pressure.

Feelings of being emotionally overextended and drained, niggling thoughts in the back of the mind that often lead to the questioning of one’s abilities, undermine our decisions and cause hesitation when decisive action is needed. This mindset can be crippling in critical moments, and regardless of a leader’s accomplishments, thoughts and emotions can be powerful saboteurs. As a result, leaders fail to set aside personal challenges, often clouding their judgment and hindering their ability to lead effectively. Effective leadership requires both external skills and inner mastery to overcome internal obstacles such as self-doubt, fear of failure, and the pressure to meet external expectations.

Self-awareness is the foundation of this inner mastery. It allows leaders to recognize their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in real-time, understand how these internal states affect their decision-making, and identify when they are being derailed. With self-awareness, leaders can detach from limiting beliefs and maintain mental clarity and focus even in times of ambiguity and uncertainty.

2. Emotional Reactivity Versus Responsiveness

Many leaders struggle with managing their emotional reactions daily and in high-stakes situations. Factors such as stress, lack of confidence, and team cohesion often derail leaders, cloud judgment, and lead to impulsive decision-making.

Leaders who react emotionally rather than responding thoughtfully can create a chaotic environment, leaving employees and others feeling frustrated, disengaged, and dissatisfied. According to multiple research studies, a significant majority of employees, often cited as around 57%, leave their jobs due to dissatisfaction with their direct managers or leaders, highlighting that poor leadership drives employee turnover and disengagement.**

Having a mindset that recognizes and regulates emotions is essential for maintaining composure, making sound decisions, and cultivating trust and collaboration within organizations.

3. Fixed Mindset

The belief that one’s abilities, intelligence, and talents are static – can significantly limit a leader’s growth and effectiveness. Leaders with a fixed mindset often fear failure and avoid challenges that could reveal their limitations. Instead of viewing mistakes as opportunities for growth, they see them as threats to their competence.

This mindset stifles personal and professional development and creates a challenging organizational culture.

Leaders who are unwilling to stretch beyond their comfort zone may discourage their teams from taking risks or experimenting with new ideas and also cite them for failure. Over time, this leads to stagnation, as both the leader and the organization miss opportunities for innovation and growth.

Consider the story of Lisa, a successful executive in a rapidly growing tech company. Early in her career, Lisa excelled at her job. Her technical expertise and drive were unmatched, and she quickly climbed the corporate ladder. However, as her responsibilities grew, so did her self-doubt. Lisa constantly worried that she wasn’t good enough or that her team didn’t respect her decisions. She found herself second-guessing every move, and as a result, avoided making bold decisions that could have propelled her forward.

On top of this, Lisa had a fixed mindset when it came to leadership. She believed leadership was an innate skill; you either had or did not. This belief caused her to avoid feedback and shy away from challenging situations, fearing she would expose her weaknesses. Consequently, she stagnated, missing key opportunities for growth and innovation.

Moreover, when under pressure, Lisa often allowed her emotions to get the better of her. When projects didn’t go as planned, she would speak to team members rudely, damaging the very relationships that were key to her success. The more she struggled internally, the more disconnected she became from her team, creating an unhealthy work environment.

In cases like Lisa’s, no amount of professional development can help overcome these internal barriers. Leaders rarely share their internal struggles within their teams and organizations, fearing judgment or the perception of weakness. This creates a dangerous cycle where internal challenges go unspoken and unresolved.

Without organizations creating a safe space outside of the typical workplace setting to support leaders in addressing these internal struggles—through a leadership strategy that addresses internal barriers, mindset, and resilience training—these issues persist and lead to toxic organizational cultures. Leaders, overwhelmed by their unacknowledged fears and frustrations, unknowingly perpetuate cycles of dysfunction, resulting in low morale, high turnover, and a lack of innovation.

Focusing on external performance and internal growth is essential for sustainable leadership success.

The reality is that few understand the power of our internal landscape in achieving outer success.

Below are some core elements of the Inside-Out Leadership Strategy training, including:

Building Self-Awareness: Leaders must understand their strengths, weaknesses, and emotional triggers. This awareness allows them to identify areas for growth and improvement.
Cultivating a growth mindset: Leaders must learn to embrace challenges, seek feedback, and view mistakes as learning opportunities.
Developing emotional intelligence: Leaders who can regulate their minds and emotions are better equipped to navigate complex interpersonal dynamics and make sound decisions under pressure.
Practicing mindfulness and reflection: Reflecting on experiences, emotions, and thought patterns helps leaders stay grounded and make intentional choices.

In conclusion, the most significant obstacles to leadership success are often not external pressures but the internal barriers we create. By effectively addressing self-doubt, adopting a growth mindset, and developing emotional intelligence, leaders can unlock their full potential and lead with greater purpose, confidence, and impact. This inside-out approach to leadership is more than just a mindset shift—it is a strategy for sustained growth, resilience, and excellence.

What mindset challenge are you currently facing? Drop a comment below, and let’s discuss solutions.

Radhika Vachani

Founder & CEO

Transforming People, Potential & Performance

IIWE-Institute of Inner Wellbeing & Excellence

www.iiwe.world

**Article Sources:

https://www.shrm.org/about/press-room/survey-84-percent-u-s-workers-blame-bad-managers-creating-unnecessary-stress

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-ddi-research-57-percent-of-employees-quit-because-of-their-boss-300971506.html

0 Comments

Oldest

Newest

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

The Inner Mastery Formula

The Leadership Crisis: What’s Holding You Back?

The Leadership Crisis: What’s Holding You Back?

Related Post

Why Transformative Leadership is Essential for Thriving in Today’s World, and What It Takes to Become One

Beyond the Bottom Line: What Are You Leading With?

Why Leaders Are Failing Today – And It’s Not What You Think!

IIWE - The Institute of Inner Wellbeing & Excellence

CONTACT INFO