20 Ways Executives Ignore Leadership Challenges—And Why It's Risky

Forbes

11 hours ago

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From hybrid schedules and technology shifts to growing employee concerns around purpose, trust and well-being, workplace expectations are changing in myriad ways that directly affect how leaders operate. In response, some executive leaders are staying heads-down, focused on day-to-day demands, short-term priorities and putting out fires.
While it might seem prudent, that kind of reactive focus can come at a cost: Deeper issues may go unnoticed until they've already impacted performance, retention or long-term growth. Here, 20 Forbes Coaches Council members share challenges that many leaders are struggling to address right now, along with the risks of ignoring them and leaving these issues unresolved.
1. Focusing Only On What's Happening Now
Uncertainty paralyzes innovation. Many leaders are waiting for stability to pursue growth, risking stagnation. But shifting from 'What's happening now?' to 'What's possible next?' empowers leaders to rally their teams, envision multiple futures and begin preparing for what could be. It's not predicting the future; it's creating the capacity to meet it confidently. - Lisa L. Baker, Ascentim
2. Rushing To Invest; Overlooking Existing Resources
Leadership ignores the pause and thinks holistically. With FOMO driving them to 'keep up,' companies keep investing more in the tech stack for new services, totally ignoring the optimization of the investment already made. At times, services already exist but go unused, and leaders are unaware. It goes against both an organization's environment and its financials. - Nav Thethi, The Nav Thethi
3. Ignoring A Growing Lack Of Employee Trust
There is a growing lack of trust in their leaders among employees. Layoffs, the dismantling of DEI efforts, return-to-office mandates and smaller (or no) pay increases or bonuses are all contributing to employees' lack of trust. As leaders, we need to be aware of our employees' concerns, address them openly and honestly, and show the integrity our employees need to see. - John Cleveland
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4. Failing To Focus On Adaptability And Agility
Leaders today are struggling to focus on adaptability: navigating change with clarity and agility. Ignoring this risk erodes resilience, delays decisions and weakens competitive edge. In today's fast-changing environment, adaptability is not a soft skill; it's the core of sustainable leadership. - Mehmet Egilmezer, International Coaching Education Group LLC
5. Treating AI Like A Buzzword; Not Focusing On Use Cases
There's too much focus on AI as a buzzword, but not enough focus on real use cases that generate tangible results. You can't ignore this discussion either, as someone will get it right, and it could be your competition. Build momentum with one to three solid use cases and work them to success. Take the learnings to build other use cases. One positive side effect is the employee engagement built in the process. - Curtis L. Jenkins, Jenkins & Associates
6. Losing Engagement With Virtual Audiences
Five years ago, the business world discovered it had to do business on Zoom, Teams and other platforms. Even five years later, so many leaders are bad at video presence. That means that people in meetings zone out, misunderstand or don't appreciate priorities. Hybrid meetings are worse. So a key leadership challenge is to keep virtual audiences engaged. That takes effort, energy and intentionality. - Helio Fred Garcia, Logos Consulting Group
7. Neglecting Personal Branding And Influence
Focusing on their communication skills, building their personal brand and having a consistent influence are challenges for today's business leaders. The risks: Their messages are misunderstood, which impacts productivity, employee morale and profits. They risk jeopardizing their personal brand, damaging their trust, confidence, impact and credibility. They damage their relationships and influence their top performers to leave. - Stacey Hanke, Stacey Hanke Inc.
8. Not Helping People Live Their Purpose
One big issue is that people want to live their purpose, and organizations don't get what that means, nor do they realize the risks of ignoring it—unfulfilled employees mean an impact on profit and overall success. A simple focus by leadership on listening, paying attention and pointing people to where they are already interested will remind them of their passion and will give them energy for their work. Try it! - Darla Beam, Darla Beam Leadership & Coaching
9. Being Busy To The Point Of Saturation (And Dilution)
Leaders today are not just busy—they're saturated. Saturation leads to dilution: of clarity, of presence and of power. And when leaders are diluted, so is their impact. But most don't realize it because they're still producing. They are still performing—which is exactly why it's so dangerous. The risk isn't just burnout. It's misdirected energy, frustration, stagnation, poor decisions and loss of talent. - Gia Lacqua, Gia Lacqua
10. Struggling To Adapt To A Faster Pace Of Business
The rapid pace of business today is consistently working against the plans of leadership. The persistent dilemma of choosing to sprint versus going at it like a marathon is a real issue for organizations. Technology and consumer demands have significantly raised the bar for turnaround times, and leadership has had to adapt to quicker execution plans to meet new expectations and standards. - Stefanie Ricchio, SRBC Inc.
11. Reacting Instead Of Leading
Leaders are struggling to slow down long enough to think. In Navy SEAL training, they say go slow to go fast. But in today's urgency culture, leaders skip reflection and taking the time to zoom out—and end up reacting instead of leading. The risk? Burnout, poor decisions and teams running hard in the wrong direction. Slowing down isn't a luxury—it's a leadership discipline. - Jodie Charlop, Exceleration Partners
12. Prioritizing Short-Term Results; Losing Talent
The constant pressure for short-term results is contributing to widespread burnout and declining employee engagement. Leaders often overlook the true cost of turnover, which can exceed 150% of an employee's salary. The hidden risk is that valuable organizational knowledge and culture built over years quietly disappear as experienced talent exits. - Christine Daniels, Christine Daniels LLC
13. Poorly Communicating With Different Personalities
Being able to communicate effectively with team members who have different personalities is a challenge. Not everyone thinks or communicates as you do as a leader. Build your skill set of recognizing the communication styles of your team members and pivoting to meet their emotional needs. Identify their unique traits and focus on getting them to reach their full potential, as it's not a paint-by-numbers process. - Bryan Powell, Executive Coaching Space
14. Not Prioritizing Leadership Development
Many CEOs are struggling to prioritize leadership team development amid deal delays and mounting pressure from investors. Ignoring it risks poor performance, failed exits and lost value. Investors expect CEOs to navigate what's next, not just survive it. In uncertain markets, leadership versatility isn't optional—it's the lever that drives alignment, resilience and returns. - Dan Hawkins, Summit Leadership Partners
15. Fostering Insufficient Psychological Safety
One major challenge business leaders face is creating psychological safety in fast-paced, high-pressure environments. If ignored, team members may withhold ideas, avoid taking risks and disengage, leading to poor collaboration, less innovation and weakened team performance. To overcome this, start by listening actively and making it safe for people to speak up without fear of judgment. - Weixi Tan, Workplace Asia
16. Ignoring Employee Well-Being
A big issue that is often ignored is employee well-being. How people feel about themselves, their workplace, work itself and the people they work with plays a crucial role in their engagement, performance and loyalty. At the same time, this is also true for those in leadership positions. Unfortunately, it is still seen as a 'soft' factor many times, leading to burnout and (quiet) quitting. - Thomas Gelmi, Movadis AG
17. Neglecting To Meaningfully Connect With Teams
One issue that leaders are finding it hard to focus on is making meaningful time with their leadership and downstream teams to focus on the 'why' and to connect the priorities back to the vision. One-on-ones are cancelled, there is low attendance at leadership sessions, and the 'busy' factor is keeping leaders from understanding what and how their teams are operating and where gaps need to be addressed. - Laurie Waligurski, LGW Executive Consultants, LLC
18. Overlooking A Cognitive Bandwidth Shortage
Most leaders are ignoring cognitive bandwidth. In a world of overwhelm, attention is the new oil. Miss this, and you burn out teams, bury innovation and bleed momentum. Train your focus like a muscle. Otherwise, distraction becomes your culture. - Adam Levine, InnerXLab
19. Allowing Hybrid Disengagement To Deepen
Hybrid work disengagement erodes morale and productivity. Leaders must combat this by prioritizing empathy, crystal-clear communication and inclusive strategies to keep teams aligned and motivated in this new work reality. Failure risks a significant performance decline. - Maryam Daryabegi, Innovation Bazar
20. Not Developing Structured Remote Training
One of the issues leaders face today is the lack of structured training for early-career employees. The bottom rung of the ladder is often broken, especially in hybrid workplaces, where new hires may miss out on shadowing and real-time learning opportunities. Without clear in-person and remote training for all employees, we continue to burn through talent who don't see a path forward. - Jill D. Griffin, The Griffin Method