Real stories, real tension, and clear maps for navigating the human side of management.
When Feedback Misfires: Why Managers Get Vague or Unfair Criticism
When feedback is vague or unfair, most managers assume it is truth. This episode helps you treat feedback as a system signal, sort what is yours, and recover your clarity.
Stop Trying to Please Everyone
"You can't make everyone happy. Just make the call." This feedback dismisses collaboration as indecision—but the research tells a different story. If you've been told you're too consensus-driven, you're not indecisive. You're building decisions that actually stick.
You're Too Sensitive
When someone tells you you’re “too sensitive,” they’re not assessing your leadership—they’re misreading your intelligence. You’re tracking emotional data others don’t value, and that mismatch gets labeled as fragility instead of insight. This post reframes the feedback, names the real pattern beneath it, and shows you how to lead without abandoning the part of you that actually sees what’s happening.
You’re Not Leadership Material
Being told “you’re not leadership material” is often not a reflection of your capability, but a signal that the system evaluating you lacks the lens to recognize your form of leadership. In organizations that equate leadership with visibility, charisma, or warmth, leaders who build structure, develop people, and translate strategy into durable systems are frequently misread rather than underqualified.
You're Too Direct
You've been told you're "too direct" or "need to be more collaborative." But the feedback isn't about a skill gap—it's about a leadership style mismatch. Learn how to teach people to see the system you see, so your clarity becomes relational instead of isolating.
You Don't Embody the Mission
What happens when you’re told you don’t “embody the mission,” even as your systems, strategy, and outcomes hold the company together. This essay explores how miscalculated feedback often hides archetype mismatch—not failure—and how to find the terrain that sees your kind of leadership.