LET’S RETURN to our example of the BBC division that was being shut down. The first executive who was sent to deliver the bad news—and who made people so angry that he almost needed to call security for an escort out—exemplifies what we call dissonant leadership: Out of touch with the feelings of the people in the room, he drove the group into a downward spiral from frustration to resentment, rancor to rage.
When such leaders fail to empathize with, or to read the emotions of, a group accurately, they create dissonance, sending needlessly upsetting messages. The resulting collective distress then becomes the group’s preoccupation, displacing the attention they need to give to the leader’s message—or to their ...
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