What Great Leaders Really Do When Someone Fails
A reflection from What Makes an Effective Executive by Peter F. Drucker
Hej! It’s William!
This is part of the "Meller Highlights" series with reflections and learnings from my personal book highlights. As mentioned here, this series is now something I’m keeping special for the people who support this channel as paid subscribers.
If you’ve been following along and enjoying the ideas I share, I’d love to have you join them. Becoming a subscriber not only gives you full access, but it also helps me keep creating and going deeper with the work I do.
How do these highlights work? Every day I pick one idea from my reading and think about how to apply it in real life. Most stay as private notes, but once a week, I choose one that feels special.
That’s the one I share here, a highlight that turns into a deeper reflection on how it can change the way we do something.
Today’s highlight: What Makes an Effective Executive by Peter F. Drucker
“Effective executives know this and check up (six to nine months later) on the results of their people decisions. If they find that a decision has not had the desired results, they don’t conclude that the person has not performed. They conclude, instead, that they themselves made a mistake. In a well-managed enterprise, it is understood that people who fail in a new job, especially after a promotion, may not be the ones to blame.”
Let’s reflect on that…
It’s much easier to blame the person. To think they weren’t ready. That they didn’t have what it takes. That maybe we expected too much from them.
But Drucker points the mirror back at us. If the decision didn’t work out, maybe the mistake wasn’t about the person.
Maybe the mistake was ours.
Maybe we picked too soon.
Maybe we didn’t set expectations clearly.
Maybe we didn’t support enough when the pressure started building.
Maybe we just assumed people would figure things out on their own.
It’s a tough but important shift. Real leadership starts when we accept that our responsibility doesn’t end when we make a decision. It keeps going. It stays alive through how we support, coach, check in, and adjust.
One small practice that can help is keeping a "people decision" log. Nothing fancy. Just a place where you write down when you promote someone, hire someone, trust someone with a big project. Write what you decided and why you believed it was right. It helps a lot later because memory is tricky, and stories in our head change with time.
Then, set a reminder for six months later. Not to control people or to judge them, but to ask real questions. Did they have what they needed to succeed? Did we guide enough? Was the role really what we thought it would be? Was the timing right?
When things don’t go as planned, it’s easy to feel disappointed or frustrated.
But disappointment without reflection doesn’t teach anything.
Choosing people is one decision. Helping them succeed after the decision is the real job.
Leadership is a long game of responsibility, not just big decisions.
Have you ever seen this happen in your own experience? I’d love to hear what you think.
This is your tip today, inspired by one of my highlights from What Makes an Effective Executive by Peter F. Drucker.
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