These Three Leadership Habits Create BIG Problems

I’ve been fortunate enough to consult with hundreds of organizations during some of the most challenging business climates—the Great Recession of 2008–2009, when layoffs and deep spending cuts were the norm, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which reshaped how teams worked and communicated overnight. And before that, I was in the trenches as a salesperson during the dot-com bust, when the tech bubble burst, telecoms collapsed, and the economy came to a screeching halt.

Across all those experiences, one thing stood out: the organizations that struggled most weren’t just hurt by external forces—they were undone by internal behaviors that quietly eroded performance, trust, and accountability.

Today, I want to share three of those behavioral patterns—and how you can avoid them.

1. Setting Expectations Once (and Assuming They’ll Stick)

In nearly every consulting engagement, my process begins the same way—with discovery interviews. I meet with leaders, middle managers, and individual contributors to understand how the organization operates. I ask questions like:

• What are the company’s core values?
• What are your goals this quarter or this year?
• How are you performing against those goals?
• What’s expected of you in your role, and how are you being measured?

Here’s what I’ve learned:  most individual contributors can’t answer these questions.

And leaders and managers? Their answers often contradict each other.

How can that be?

Two main reasons.

First, most leaders set expectations once—and never revisit them. They assume people will remember. They fear sounding repetitive or patronizing. They believe adults should be self-managing. Or they’re simply moving too fast to slow down and reinforce.

Second, some leaders avoid setting expectations at all—because if they don’t set clear standards, they never have to hold anyone accountable.

But here’s the truth:   Your culture is shaped by what gets enforced, not what gets announced.
When expectations aren’t consistently set and reinforced:

• Standards drift
• Accountability fades
• Performance plateaus
• Top performers leave
• The culture quietly weakens

And the kicker?  Nobody notices right away.

But six months later—when revenue slips, morale drops, and confusion spreads—everyone wonders how things got off track.

2. Choosing to Be Liked Instead of Respected

Many leaders care deeply about being liked. They want to be approachable, supportive, and well-regarded. But when that desire overrides accountability, performance suffers.

If you don’t hold people accountable, they won’t respect you.
Accountability doesn’t mean micromanaging. It means setting standards, following up, and creating a feedback loop that ensures people follow through.

It sounds like this:

• “You said you were going to send that recap—did it go out? Can I see it?”
• “You missed your outreach target yesterday. What’s your plan to make it up today?”
•  “You said you’d have interview feedback—what happened?”

True accountability also looks like: 

• Asking recruiters to maintain their outreach cadence even when results lag
• Calling out your top performer publicly when they skip steps
• Validating that a sales opportunity is truly qualified before delivery begins

These moments aren’t easy—but they’re what separate strong leadership from passive supervision.

Accountability isn’t about control—it’s about consistency.

3. The Double Standard That Kills Culture

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard these phrases......

• “Our new hires follow the process, but our tenured people do it differently.”
•  “I don’t want to micromanage.”
•  “She hits her number, so I let her do her own thing.”
•  “Everyone has their own style.”

Sound familiar?

Double standards are culture killers. They quietly erode trust, weaken performance, and create division.

Here’s how it plays out:

Creates a Two-Tier Culture:  Veterans get a pass. New hires have to follow the rules.

The message? Standards are flexible and depend on who you are. That breeds resentment—not loyalty.

Kills Team Morale:  Reps who play by the rules watch others cut corners and get rewarded.

Eventually, your hardest workers either lower their standards or leave for real leadership.

Fosters Entitlement and Inconsistency
High performers who are never held accountable start believing:

• “The rules don’t apply to me.”
• “My way is good enough.”
• “If I close a few deals, I can coast.”

When standards shift from person to person, nobody knows what’s expected.

• “Are call blocks required or optional?”
• “Do we log our calls or not?”
•  “Do we follow the sales framework or freestyle it?”

Unclear expectations breed hesitation, inconsistency, and underperformance.

And as the saying goes:   “The moment you have a double standard, you’ve created a culture where the wrong people feel safe and the right people don’t.”

Final Thought

The toughest markets don’t just test your sales strategy—they test your leadership habits.
When growth slows or uncertainty rises, culture cracks appear where expectations, accountability, and fairness were neglected.  But the fix isn’t complicated—it’s discipline.

Set expectations.
Reinforce them.
Hold the line.
Your people—and your results—will follow.