Listen or Fall

 

Listen or Fall

by Judy Fay London

 

My friends, if you've read the book about my life, you know I ran two companies before I became seriously ill in 2018.

After about two years of treatment, I made a full recovery, and I'm healthy today.

So as a former entrepreneur, I know that companies rarely die from a single mistake. Failure often begins much earlier, and much more quietly, than most people realize. Sometimes a company dies slowly due to a leader who stops listening, especially to bad news.

I've thought about this a lot, partly because it's so easy to see from the outside and so hard to admit from the inside. I've always found it revealing to watch what happens when someone in authority is challenged. What happens when an employee says, "I don't think this is going to work"? What happens when someone points out a problem the leader doesn't want to hear?

That's when you learn a lot about a leader.

Human beings naturally avoid information that makes us uncomfortable. When something threatens our beliefs, our decisions, or our sense of control, it's tempting to look away. I've done it, and I think most of us have. Nobody enjoys hearing "You're wrong" or "This isn't working."

But after running two companies, I've come to realize that leadership demands more. If you are responsible for other people, you have to be willing to hear things you don't want to hear, because the cost of ignoring bad news grows with the size of the team.

You have to be willing to hear bad news, face criticism, and sometimes accept that you are the problem.

Leading requires the courage to hear what you don't want to hear, and a leader who can't do that is failing at the job.

To be clear, I'm not saying these leaders are stupid. They are often smart, and sometimes very successful. That's part of the danger. Success can convince you that you no longer need to listen.

The leader who won't listen

Imagine you work for a company, and your manager announces: "Anyone who disagrees with me is against this company."

What would you do?

If you value your own opinions, you might start looking for another job. If you don't, you may even admire your manager at first, because they seem confident and decisive. They appear to know exactly what they want.

But over time, you'd grow afraid to point out problems. You'd learn which topics are safe and which earn you a cold stare in the next meeting. You'd start editing yourself before you spoke.

This is how it goes wrong. The leader gains power by rewarding those who agree and punishing those who push back. Every problem gets labeled an external threat, and only the leader's plan can fix it. Mistakes continue because nobody feels safe enough to speak honestly. The people who notice the cracks first, those closest to customers and daily operations, are exactly the ones who learn to stay silent.

In the end, the company often fails. Of course it does. A boss who wants only good news and praise eventually loses the ability to hear the truth. Meanwhile, the problems they refused to hear keep growing until it is too late to fix them. The collapse may look sudden to outsiders, but it isn't. It began the day the leader stopped listening.

The leader who does listen

Now imagine a different manager, one who says, "I hear you. Something is wrong. Let's fix it together."

What would you do now? You'd speak up, because you wouldn't have to worry about telling the truth, delivering bad news, or sharing your real ideas. I've felt the difference between these two environments, and it is hard to overstate. In one, you spend your energy protecting yourself. In the other, you spend it on the actual work.

Over time, a company like that doesn't just survive; it thrives, because problems surface early, when they are still small and cheap to fix.

What separates good leaders from bad ones

Bad leaders can't listen to bad news. They prefer to live in an alternate reality. They demand personal loyalty above rules, and in their minds, anyone who doesn't support them is an enemy. They usually blame others for every problem and rarely accept the responsibility that would allow improvement. They treat every disagreement as an attack, as if honest disagreement couldn't lead to better decisions. In doing so, they weaken the people and systems around them.

And the good ones? Good leaders don't need people who never disagree. They need people who will tell them the truth. They see criticism as useful information, surround themselves with people who push back, and reward the person who brings bad news. They ask, "What am I missing?" They have the guts to face negative news and admit their mistakes, and they fix problems before they become disasters.

Admitting a mistake looks like weakness, but it's quite the opposite. The leaders I respect most are the ones who can say "I was wrong" without hesitating. (I was one of them, I hope.)

As a result, companies run by good leaders tend to thrive over time, while those run by bad leaders so often end in bankruptcy.

And, my friends, you may have noticed that the same pattern appears outside business: in politics, in sports, even in families. Bad leaders see criticism as disrespect and surround themselves with people who only nod. They protect their own decisions and punish whoever brings bad news. Their favorite response is, "Why are you questioning me? What's wrong with you?"

These leaders often fail. Teams, families, companies, and even countries rarely collapse because no one saw it coming. They collapse because the people who saw it coming were ignored.

So the next time someone brings you bad news, pay attention to your first reaction. It tells you which kind of leader you are.