A few thoughts I’ve been sitting with lately relate to the leadership skills we don’t talk about. We prize strategic thinking, trust-building, and swift decision-making. We admire those whose storytelling skills enrapture stakeholders with an aspirational vision. But underpinning these leadership traits is something even more essential—the ability to read signals.
This is more than holding regular meetings with direct reports. It’s the ability to actually hear, through the organizational white noise, the things that potentially signal trouble. It’s the cultivated skill for sensing when something worrisome is being held back. It’s the methodical creation of a safe place where a suspected problem can be probed before it becomes a certified disaster.
The consequences of missed signals—the blows that blindside leadership—can be dire. This list should be familiar: Kodak. Blockbuster. Pearl Harbor. 9/11. In each case, conscientious people signaled potential catastrophe, and yet no preemptive action was taken. Either the communication was ignored, fell through the cracks, or was deliberately suppressed.
This happens in corporate culture all the time. Not because people are deceitful; in fact, it’s probably because they are loyal, overly optimistic, and want to spare the CEO from hearing bad news they hope will blow over. Good people don’t want to overreact. They don’t want to be “the problem person.” And if there is a “shoot the messenger” culture—or one cranky supervisor in the wrong position—an ugly truth can hide in a dark corner and pounce when no one is looking.
During WWII, the U.S. Navy created the position of Sonar Technician—the “ping jockeys” responsible for underwater surveillance. In the old war movies, they are the sailors stationed at the bottom of the ship, straining to pick up signals through their headphones. When they discern something out of the ordinary, they immediately alert the next in command, and the message is relayed to the ship’s captain. It might be a school of dolphins. It might be an enemy submarine. But everyone jumps into action. Immediately.
Time and again, I’ve seen leaders blindsided because their cultural sonar wasn’t tuned to hear the signals their employees were trying to send. A safety issue that had been whispered about.
A client relationship slowly eroding. A malign cultural behavior that everyone witnessed, but no one escalated. In the aftermath of a disaster, the excuse that “no one told me” rings hollow.
Successful leaders remain successful because they make it a priority to know what is happening in their organizations. They know that truth rarely arrives fully formed but is a messy amalgam of rumor, experience, and informed hunches. They build infrastructure that makes bottom-up communication a default. They seek reporting that reaches diverse levels of the organization and includes minority opinions. Leaders reward managers who bring them the unvarnished truth.
Some of the best leaders still employ “management by wandering around.” They talk to the people doing the work because that’s where the strain shows up first. They know that people on the front lines experience client frustration firsthand. They feel culture drift. They see the workarounds that become SOP because the system is broken. Leaders look for red flags like talent fatigue. And when they invite face-to-face input, leaders are on high alert for the tell-tale signs of polite discomfort and evasive optimism.
This isn’t a responsibility to be delegated. Leaders need to establish and listen to their company’s Sonar Techs. As good captains of industry, they must make sure everyone on the ship feels safe saying the scary part out loud. They must have a system that ensures early warning signals are sent right to the bridge. And they must publicly demonstrate gratitude to whoever sends the signal, good or bad. Because an early warning signal, however imperfect, can be evaluated and dealt with. Being blindsided by a torpedo? Not so much.