I think the business environment of today lacks two things more than all others: alignment and accountability. We use the term governance to mean alignment, generally and universally, to the point where it has lost meaning outside of financial governance. Alignment starts with a clear goal. Knowing what the end result should look like distinguishes good leaders from bad ones. Bad leaders don’t know what they want, making it impossible to align functions and processes, leaving people to burn cycles without measurable value.
Good leaders hold people accountable, starting with themselves. This contrasts with leaders who might blame employees without reflecting on their own actions. Accountability allows the opportunity to pick up the broken stones of failure and build a new foundation from them. Good leaders are typically adept at creative destruction, an economic theory by Joseph Schumpeter. They excel at communicating goals, roles, and expectations. Bad leaders might have expectations, but they fail to convert them into goals due to poor skills in alignment, accountability, and communication throughout an organization.