The Leadership Mistake That’s Quietly Sabotaging Your Growth

Hot take: The biggest threat to your growth isn't lack of capital, product-market fit, or pipeline growth. It's misalignment. Lack of collaboration. Whatever you want to call it—your teams working in silos, working hard but not making progress. Or worse, infighting and blaming each other for lack of results.

And misalignment often starts with the wrong people in leadership.

Chess pieces arranged on a board; black and white knights, bishops, and kings. Blurred plant background, monochrome, calm setting.

The problem? Many companies believe they’re making smart leadership choices, but those decisions are quietly derailing growth. I've worked with companies that had everything going for them: great product, brand awareness, and funding or a profitable bottom-line. But they still struggled to grow consistently. Not because of the work. Because of who was leading the work.

Leadership isn’t just about filling roles. It’s about setting the tone, aligning the teams, and unlocking execution across the business.

What You’ll Get From This Blog:

The outdated leadership playbook that’s costing you millions
How to identify and hire leaders who drive real impact—not just visibility
The traits of next-generation leadership and why they matter more than ever
How to avoid common leadership blind spots that sabotage growth
A sneak peek from my interview with Dani Bicknell, author of The Restorative Rebel

The Confidence Illusion That’s Costing You Millions

Businesspeople in suits stand confidently in a bright office. One man in the foreground poses with hands on hips, confidently exuding leadership. The people in the background have arms crossed and eyes rolled, this leader may be confident but he's definitely not competent.

Think about your last leadership hire or promotion. Was it someone who:

Dominates the conversation in meetings?
Always has an answer (even when they shouldn't)?
Comes off as polished and persuasive?

You’re not alone. But you might be making one of the most expensive mistakes in business: confusing confidence with competence. For decades, we’ve rewarded boldness and bravado, even when it comes at the expense of collaboration, alignment, and execution.

But the data tells a different story:

Companies with collaborative leadership models outperform competitors by 33% in long-term growth.
Teams led by leaders who foster psychological safety see 76% higher innovation outcomes.
Organizations that promote based on measurable impact (not visibility) reduce executive turnover by 41%.

The harsh reality? While you're promoting the loudest voices, your competitors are elevating the most effective ones. And winning.

The Hidden Cost of Leadership Blind Spots

Leadership mistakes don’t show up on a spreadsheet. They show up in lost momentum, internal friction, and missed targets. And by the time you realize it, the damage is done.

Common Leadership Selection Pitfalls:

The Star Power Trap: Valuing impressive résumés and eloquence over execution.
The Mirror Effect: Choosing leaders who look and think like you, creating homogeneity and stifled innovation.
The Visibility Bias: Rewarding self-promotion over actual contribution.

I once worked with a company that hired a loud, high-profile sales manager from a global competitor. On paper, he seemed perfect to lead their next phase of growth. He said all the right things and saw an initial sales bump, but growth quickly stalled. And the excuses piled up: service dropped the ball, marketing wasn’t pulling their weight, the CRM was flawed, the economy was soft.

The company made sweeping changes at his request, only to see things get worse.

When I stepped in, the issue was obvious. There were no systems. The CRM was a mess. The reports he presented? Manually built and filled with vanity metrics. He was good at selling... himself. Despite the pedigree, he lacked the fundamentals needed to lead a high-performing sales team.

Bottom line: ineffective leadership drains resources and morale. And it can't fix itself.

The Leadership Model Driving Exponential Growth in 2025

If your hiring playbook hasn’t changed, you’re already behind. The companies outpacing the rest aren’t led by the flashiest personalities. They’re led by people who:

Build Bridges, Not Silos: Alignment across sales, marketing, and customer success accelerates growth.
Cultivate Collective Intelligence: Diverse leadership teams generate 35% higher revenue.
Lead with Questions, Not Just Answers: Curiosity drives better decisions and continuous improvement.

"The future belongs to companies that develop leadership as a deliberate, continuous practice—not something that happens by accident or crisis."

Sneak Peek From the Podcast

Highlights from My Conversation with Dani Bicknell, author of The Restorative Rebel

Why Confidence Isn’t the Same as Competence “We’re still promoting people who speak with the most certainty—not those who create the most value. That gap is costing companies millions in lost opportunity and turnover.”
The High Cost of Overlooking Quiet Leaders “A fintech company kept elevating aggressive performers into leadership roles—until talent started leaving and revenue stalled. When they shifted their criteria, everything changed.”
How to Spot True Leadership Potential Early “Leadership isn’t about titles. The companies growing fastest are the ones identifying impact-makers before they ever ask for the promotion.”

Your Next Steps: Transforming Leadership for Sustainable Growth

If you want aligned teams, scalable execution, and consistent growth, it starts with who you choose to lead.

Start here:

Redefine your leadership criteria: Prioritize outcomes, not optics.
Implement structured assessments: Evaluate real execution ability.
Create leadership paths: Develop your high-potential people before they walk out the door.

One Final Thought

I’ve seen plenty of creative, visionary entrepreneurs get outmaneuvered by leaders doing what looks like "boring work." But here’s the thing: they weren’t selling ideas. They were solving real problems. And that’s what wins.

What's Next:

Listen to this week's Revenue Remix episode to hear the entire conversation with Dani.
Read companion content to help you on your alignment journey.
Not sure if alignment is your challenge? Check out our FAQs

Rise of Us is a practice run by Summer Poletti, specializing in revenue growth: sales, strategic partnerships, customer success, marketing alignment. We generally work with financial services and SaaS companies from $2MM - $10MM ARR and help them plan and execute for their next stage of revenue growth. We concentrate on strategy, coaching, and organizational alignment.