n LEADERSHIP
HOW CEOS CAN IDENTIFY
THEIR BLIND SPOTS
Leaders need to seek outside help to improve organizational culture
BY Jessica Kriegel ILLUSTRATION: Theadora Kaiser
DO CEOS REALLY WANT TO KNOW
WHAT THEIR EMPLOYEES SAY ABOUT
THEM? Do they actually want to hear
about inefficiencies, overly-complex
workarounds or gossip going around
the coffee machine? Of course they
should — although many don’t.
CEOs need to fully understand the
values, beliefs and norms of their orga-
nizational culture before they can cre-
ate any change. But it’s challenging for a
CEO to reach this depth of understand-
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ing because, unsurprisingly, people
have a difficult time giving the person
at the top bad news. The CEO controls
the purse strings, and the hiring and
firing decisions. Giving the leader criti-
cal feedback, telling them what they are
doing wrong or where their blind spots
exist, can be — to put it mildly — a ca-
reer-limiting move.
CEOs are often most blind when it
comes to their close leadership team.
These are hand-picked, trusted execu-
tives who work closely together toward
a common goal. Here’s the problem:
Those leaders have blind spots, too.
They may be excellent at managing up
but terrible at managing down.
How is a CEO to gather reliable in-
tel? You can start by conducting an
anonymous employee engagement
survey to get valuable intel fast. Al-
though, surveys can be limiting. Many
employees question whether they are
truly anonymous and refrain from be-