Let’s be frank. In too many boardrooms, ‘failure’ is still a dirty word, especially when it’s attached to the person in charge. A single poor decision or a strategic misstep, and the knee-jerk reaction is often to show them the door. But are we really solving the problem by simply replacing a leader? Or are we missing a far more valuable opportunity for growth, not just for the individual but for the entire organisation?
Real leadership has never been about infallibility. It’s about navigating the messy realities of business, learning from adversity, and emerging with a sharper focus and greater resolve.
As we all continue to grapple with the business landscape of 2024, it’s high time we re-evaluated our response to leadership setbacks. Mistakes don’t have to be career-ending disasters. They can be crucial turning points, the very moments that forge resilience and clarify strategic thinking. This isn’t just a philosophical shift; in a volatile world, it’s a business necessity.
The Resignation Reflex: A Plaster on a Deeper Wound
In our 24/7 news cycle, a leader’s mistake can quickly escalate into a public chorus demanding their departure. Whether it’s in the public sector or a corporate boardroom, the script is all too predictable: a head must roll.
It creates the illusion of decisiveness. A resignation signals that a line has been drawn and accountability has been taken. But that clean break often papers over a much deeper, unaddressed fracture. When dismissal is the default, we rarely stop to ask the difficult questions about the root cause. We sidestep a vital learning moment and lose the chance to build a smarter, more robust organisation.
Worse, the message this sends to the rest of your people is loud and clear: there is zero room for error here.
And that’s the great paradox, isn’t it? Because failure, when handled correctly, is an incredibly powerful teacher. It’s fertile ground for reflection, innovation and genuine course correction, but only if we cultivate a culture that allows for it. When a leader stumbles, our first question shouldn’t be “who’s next?”, but rather “what does this tell us about our culture, our systems, and our own assumptions?”
Perfection Isn’t the Goal; Progress Is
One of the most damaging myths in business is the expectation of perfection from our leaders. We promote them to the top tier and then tacitly assume they’ve become all-knowing and immune to miscalculation. The truth is far simpler and far more human: leaders are fallible, constantly learning, and adapting just like everyone else.
Placing them on this impossible pedestal breeds a dangerous risk aversion. Why would anyone make a bold, innovative bet if getting it wrong means the end of their career? Innovation stalls, creativity withers, and fear starts to dictate strategy.
We absolutely have to change that narrative.
True leadership is a journey of intelligent risk-taking, guided by acute self-awareness and the agility to pivot. Setbacks aren’t signs of incompetence; they are markers of ambition. You have to give your leaders the space to get it wrong, recalibrate and go again. After all, resilience isn’t built in the absence of failure, it’s forged in its very fire.
Demand Accountability, Not a Scapegoat
In high-pressure environments, it’s easy for the call for accountability to morph into a hunt for someone to blame. As the most visible figure, a leader becomes the natural lightning rod when things go sideways.
But pointing the finger offers no real value. Accountability, on the other hand, is an active, forward-looking process. It says, “Right, this happened. Here’s what we’ve learned, and here’s what we’re going to do to fix it.”
Now that is what leadership in motion looks like.
A genuinely people-first culture doesn’t punish vulnerability; it encourages ownership and works collaboratively to find a solution. When we give leaders the trust and support to confront and correct their own misjudgements, we model real strength to the entire organisation.
If we simply keep removing leaders at the first sign of trouble, we cultivate a culture of silence where nobody dares to stick their neck out. We should be teaching our teams that growth is iterative, and that even the most seasoned captains sometimes need to adjust their course.
Discernment Is Key: Knowing When It Is Time to Part Ways
Of course, this isn’t to say every failure is salvageable. Let’s be pragmatic. There are clear lines, such as serious ethical breaches, a catastrophic loss of trust, or decisions that shatter the organisation’s core values, which warrant a change in leadership. But these decisions demand cool-headed discernment, not drama.
Before making that call, boards and HR leaders need to reflect honestly:
- Are we dealing with a lapse in judgment or a fundamental conflict of values?
- Is the leader demonstrating a genuine capacity to learn and adapt from this?
- Has the confidence of the team, the board, and stakeholders been permanently lost?
- Can this individual still realistically and effectively lead the organisation forward?
If the answers point towards irreparable damage, then a transition may be the only responsible choice. But knee-jerk reactions, often driven by headlines or social media pressure, rarely serve an organisation’s long-term health. The decision must be rooted in clarity, not chaos.
The “Punishment Gap”: Are We Judging Failure Fairly?
There’s an uncomfortable truth we in HR need to confront head-on: not all leaders are held to the same standard when they make a mistake.
I’ve seen it throughout my career; women and leaders from ethnic minority backgrounds often face far swifter and more severe consequences for errors than their white male counterparts. This disparity, often called the “punishment gap,” is a deeply embedded bias that distorts how we evaluate leadership performance.
It’s not just anecdotal either. Research confirms that women are penalised more frequently for organisational setbacks, and minority leaders often face a compounding level of scrutiny, where a single mistake is amplified out of all proportion.
What’s the cost of this? We lose brilliant, promising talent. We undermine our efforts to build diverse leadership teams. And we reinforce a culture where only a select few are ever granted the psychological safety to take risks and grow.
If we are serious about building cultures of excellence, then we must demand equity in everything: in opportunity, in feedback, and yes, in forgiveness.
From Fear to Flourishing: HR’s Role in This Cultural Shift
To build organisations that are truly fit for the future, our role as HR professionals must evolve from policing compliance to actively shaping culture. This means leading the charge to reframe failure, seeing it not as a blot on a copybook but as a critical part of leadership development.
What does this look like in practice?
- Normalise a culture of transparency – Create genuine psychological safety, where leaders can admit to missteps early without fear of immediate reprisal.
- Embed robust feedback loops – Build regular rhythms of honest, constructive reflection and adjustment into your leadership processes.
- Invest in recovery and growth – When a setback occurs, provide a clear pathway back with coaching, mentoring and support.
- Champion resilience, not just success – Make a point of celebrating and recognising leaders who navigate difficulty and bounce back with new strength.
A true people-first mindset begins right here, not by demanding perfection, but by enabling progress through learning.
Looking Ahead: What Defines a Leader’s Legacy?
In the years to come, a leader’s legacy won’t be measured by a flawless track record. It will be defined by how they responded when things went wrong. Did they retreat into defensiveness, or did they rise to the challenge? Did they seek to justify, or did they stop to reimagine?
So, the next time a leader in your organisation stumbles, I urge you to pause. Instead of asking, “Should they go?” let’s ask a better question: “What can we all learn from this?”
It’s in those difficult moments, if we handle them with courage, clarity and compassion, that we so often find the seeds of our most profound transformations.
