When leaders stop getting honest feedback.

A short post on the moment authority starts working against you – and how to reverse it.

There's a moment in leadership – sometimes it happens overnight, sometimes gradually – when people stop telling you the truth.

They smile and nod in meetings, or agree with your decisions in the room and then do something different behind closed doors.

The fix isn't complicated, but it takes discipline. You have to actively ask for the feedback you don't want to hear. You have to respond to it well when it comes. You have to make it worth people's while to be honest with you.

And sometimes you have to reverse course based on what you hear, publicly, so people know you actually meant it.

Easy, no. Necessary, yes.