Leadership
Disruption Without Direction Is Destruction
By Pauline Warui
In big organizations, the selection of a CEO comes with a lot drama and expectations. Even in the private sector, the selection process is akin to a political appointment. Interests are high and they come from many quarters. The selection criteria does not come without certain shortcomings. Bribery, biases and many other vices are vested in the big boardrooms as the decisions are being made. Some of the selection mistakes are genuine. The lobbying teams are usually very active and the night dances until the stronger team wins. A decision is finallly reached based on various considerations. It could be the godfathers, the brand of the CEO, his personality, all based on the winners strategy.
Sometimes the CEO is not aware of all these strings being pushed and pulled behind the scenes. He might not even be aware of the cake that he has to bake or continue baking. The size and value are not even in his game plan. Getting the big name is where his heart is. He is the man of the moment.
Unknown to him, the old saying of entering the hot seat begins to dawn on him. It is not just the seat, he is entering a kitchen. And the kitchen has no order in a mixed grill organisation where he has to make decisions about the menu as he cooks. It is not just hot. It is brutally challenging and the staff do not have an understanding about his ways. He has to create a rhythm. Suddenly he realizes that the customers are waiting for the orders and he has fulfilment KPIs to meet. He starts barking orders, far removed from the system unaware that there are old processes no matter how weak, that have been working.
The quiet and dangerous illusion that comes with the title CEO begins to fade. But his ego is still on fire. It whispers: You are now the architect of everything. The final voice. The one who knows.
But what many leaders never quite realize, until it is too late, is this: You are not stand ing above the business. You are in the kitch
22 MAL71 / 26 ISSUE en. Sometimes the kitchen has a way of frustrating the main chef. Delayed deliveries, power gone off and the freezers are emitting a pungent smell. Electricity goes off and the customers are loud and obnoxious. Hungry men don’ t want tales. They want action.
A business is neither the boardroom, a strategy document nor a PowerPoint presentation. A business is a living kitchen. There are ingredients( people, systems, capital); There are recipes( processes, strategies, culture); There are customers( hungry, impatient, evolving); There is timing( everything must come out right, and on time).
And the CEO? The CEO is the head chef. But here is where it gets interesting. Some CEOs walk into the kitchen and start creating magic. The trick lies in the fact that they listen. They observe. They find the rhythm. They understand the underlying culture. Then they start changing slowly but with reason and purpose. Others? They burn it down in the name of transformation.
There is a school of thought- romantic, dramatic, and deeply flawed that says:“ If you want change, create chaos.” And yes, sometimes disruption is necessary. Sometimes systems are broken. Sometimes culture is stagnant. But chaos is not a strategy. Chaos is a tool. And like fire, it can cook a meal very well, or destroy the entire kitchen.
Some CEOs come in swinging. Restructuring everything in the first 90 days. Changing teams without understanding context. Rewriting strategies before even understanding the current one. Creating fear and calling it urgency. They mistake movement for progress. Noise for impact. Disruption for leadership.
The bitter truth is, if you shake a system too hard, you don’ t create clarity- you only create more confusion. And confused organizations do not perform. They survive because employees have to keep their jobs. They turn into pyschophants who only say yes but will never ever say no even if the food is burning.
Then there is another type of CEO. He is calm and does not create dramatic gymnastics. What most people miss about this CEO is that he is far more dangerous because his type are often overlooked. These are the leaders who understand one thing deeply:“ Not everything needs to be changed. Some things need to be protected.”
Sustainability is not about playing small. It is about protecting what works while improving what doesn’ t. It is about knowing: which recipes are signature dishes; which ones need refinement; and which ones should be taken off the menu entirely.
But many CEOs miss this. They arrive with the mandate to“ transform” and assume that transformation means replacement. Sometimes, the greatest leadership move is not to disrupt- but to stabilize.
The CEO ego plays a major role. This is always the elephant in the Kitchen. It often sounds like this:“ I was hired to fix this.”“ I see what others don’ t see.”“ I know what needs to be done.”“ I have to change things around here”“ No one seems to understand how this works.”
Their greatest word is“ I”. Everything rotates around them and their capabilities. If there is a sudden success, they own it. If there is failure, they blame everyone else. No one advises them even if they have hired a new strategic Personal Assistant and a Head of strategy.
Their mantra is simple. I have done this before. I was not selected for this role by chance.“ I must be right,” and this is where great leaders begin to fail. Not because they lack intelligence. Not because they lack experience. But because they lose perspective.