People are stronger together, because we can draw on each others strengths and viewpoints. It’s a form of protection from our own blindspots, and helps us deal with the complexities of the world and accomplish things we couldn’t do on our own. If you don’t agree with this I’d argue that disqualifies you from leading. But that’s not the interesting problem I want to talk about. The interesting problem is what happens to leaders who do believe it, and still end up distanced.

I think that the situation of a distanced leadership comes down to some factors that reinforce each other and pull in the direction of distanced leadership, the human preference for clarity over complexity, efficiency pressure as a part of organizational survival, status and self protection of the individual. An example to illustrate how these can work together: External time pressure and preference for certainty pushes toward metrics. Metrics create a shared but narrow reality. And the higher you are in the organization, the more you have to lose by questioning the numbers.

What’s not in the numbers though is often how complex reality really is, which can lead to oversight or destruction of information or an “invisible” system or procedure that developed over years.

The danger becomes that leadership mistakes their own map for the territory. This risk deepens when leaders slowly isolate themselves, surrounded by only like-minded voices and creating a dangerous feedback loop. At its worst, the organization keeps moving confidently in the wrong direction and no one left in the room has the standing, or the safety, to say so.

The leader holds the steering wheel and knows the destination, but they can’t see everything the road ahead holds. That’s what the people around them are for, their perspectives, knowledge and commitment to helping the organization arrive safely. Being uncertain about the best way to get to the destination is not a weakness it’s open eyes leadership.

Wherever you find yourself responsible for others, I’d invite you to think of and practice open eyes leadership. But it takes courage, often without obvious reward for doing so. The effects, when you get it right, travel further than you’d expect.

If you want to go deeper on how institutions develop this kind of blindness, James C. Scott’s Seeing Like a State is a good read.