Senior Leaders Should* Know Better
*But who has responsibility
for teaching them?
There is an unspoken assumption that sits beneath many frustrations with senior leaders:
They should know better.
But, shouldn't we first be asking “Who, exactly, was responsible for teaching them?”
Because “knowing better” is not automatically bestowed with a job title.
In today’s fast‑moving organizations—especially in growth-stage companies, startups, and technical fields—leaders are often promoted quickly based on results, expertise, or vision. The same dynamic shows up in owner-partner professional leadership systems, where leaders are senior by status rather than by any formal development pathway.
Very little time, structure, or funding is devoted to the slower work of learning how to lead people well. The expectation of leadership competence rises sharply with seniority, while commitment to real development rarely keeps pace.
The Myth of the Fully Formed Leader
By the time someone reaches senior leadership, they are often assumed to be fully formed. Capable. Seasoned. Self-aware.
In reality, many senior leaders have had surprisingly little exposure to sustained, skillful leadership development. Feedback thins out as power increases. If it was ever present in the first place.
Peers become cautious and direct-reports edit themselves. Boards are distant from day‑to‑day behavior. By the time they know there is a problem, it's a really big problem.
HR advises, but rarely has authority or influential leverage over someone that high in the hierarchy.
How exactly are leaders supposed to mature in a developmental vacuum? The system assumes maturity will emerge according to leadership level—and then gets frustrated when it doesn’t.
Fast Growth, Thin Development
Modern career paths reward speed. High performers are catapulted into roles with increasing scope and complexity long before they’ve had much practice managing people, navigating conflict, or receiving honest feedback.
In these environments, leadership development is usually treated as optional—something to be added later, if there’s time. But later rarely comes. Pressure accumulates. Expectations rise. And gaps that were once invisible begin to show under stress.
As a co-owner and co-founder who helped grow a counseling agency from $0 to nearly seven-figure revenue over twelve years, I was never not the boss. I asked for feedback from my directors, and I got it—but without someone skilled enough to help me interpret it, challenge me, and translate it into real change, my own development stalled.
We invested deeply in developing and supporting our staff, yet failed to build in meaningful development and accountability for ourselves. I only saw how critical that missing piece was in hindsight—after the partnership and agency dissolved in a fiery mess.
It’s Not Too Late—but It Is Urgent
Here’s the hopeful—and demanding—truth: it’s not too late.
Senior leaders are still capable of growth, insight, and meaningful change. But at this level, development requires something different than internal coaching, ad hoc feedback, or one‑off workshops—which tend to break down under power dynamics, internal politics, and the lack of effective accountability at senior levels.
It requires experienced, external support—someone providing the wisdom, perspective, and position to work skillfully inside power, pressure, and complexity. Someone who can leverage truth-telling without the constraints of power dynamics or political fallout. That kind of expertise is rare to find in‑house, not because organizations are negligent, but because it is a specialized discipline in itself.
Why Executive Coaching Becomes the Only Real Lever
This is why executive coaching so often becomes the primary—and sometimes only—effective intervention for senior leaders.
Not as a soft alternative to accountability, but as a way to finally provide what was missing all along: a structured space for honest reflection, behavioral insight, and sustained development, free from political entanglement.
Handled well, coaching allows organizations to respond to concerns without overreacting or avoiding—to invest in growth before the leader burns out or spins out.
The Responsibility Question
If we expect senior leaders to know better, we also have to ask whether we’ve ever truly invested in helping them get there.
Leadership development is not automatic. It is not purely intuitive. And it is not a side project.
It requires intention, expertise, and resources—especially when the stakes are high.
If you’re facing pressure around a senior leader and want space to slow things down, think out loud, and choose a response that’s both responsible and realistic, an experienced executive coach can help you assess what’s possible—before decisions become irreversible.
