Adaptive Leadership: Can the One-trick CEO Be Retrained?

The inability or refusal to adapt is a career-limiting factor for leaders of all persuasions. When the financial crisis hit, prescient boards moved on "one-trick pony" chief executives who were considered not agile enough for the new straitened times. CEOs who cling to one style of leadership tend to exacerbate their own problems. They hear no evil because they avoid fearless feedback, preferring to surround themselves with "yes men" and women who often hitch a ride along to the boss's next gig. But rather than putting intransigent leaders out to pasture, boards might consider how to teach them new tricks.