3. What organisations unknowingly reward — and how that shapes leadership behaviour

Organisations don’t just develop leaders.
They select them — often long before anyone realises it.

And in that selection, we unintentionally reward a very specific kind of behaviour.

We tend to favour leaders who:

• act quickly

• speak confidently

• reduce complexity fast

• project certainty under pressure

It looks effective. It feels reassuring.
Especially in interviews, assessments, and promotion rounds.

But what we reward shapes what people learn to perform.

The hidden message leaders receive

When speed and certainty are consistently rewarded, leaders adapt.

They learn to:

• answer before they’ve fully thought

• simplify before they’ve really understood

• move away from doubt, ambiguity, or discomfort as quickly as possible

Not because that’s always what the situation requires — but because it’s what gets recognised.

Over time, this doesn’t just shape behaviour.
It shapes identity.

Leaders stop asking different questions.
They stop sitting with uncertainty.
They stop trusting slower, more reflective forms of judgment.

What we filter out in recruitment and promotion

This pattern often starts in recruitment.

Job profiles praise “decisiveness,” “action orientation,” and “drive.”
Interviews reward clear opinions and fast answers.
Assessment settings favour those who perform confidence well.

Meanwhile, we quietly filter out people who:

• think in systems rather than soundbites

• tolerate uncertainty without rushing to closure

• hold complexity instead of collapsing it

• pause before acting

Ironically, these are exactly the qualities that matter most in a VUCA world.

We don’t reject them because they lack capability.
We reject them because they don’t match our image of leadership.

The cost of this mismatch

When organisations consistently reward action over sensemaking, leaders learn to move faster than reality allows.

That creates:

• brittle decisions

• overconfident strategies

• cultures where doubt goes underground

And once uncertainty is no longer welcome, organisations lose access to their own intelligence.

People still see the complexity.
They just stop naming it.

A different question to ask

Instead of asking:
“Who comes across as strong?”

Try asking:
“Who stays steady when answers aren’t obvious?”
“Who can think clearly without rushing to simplify?”
“Who can sit in discomfort without offloading it onto others?”

Those capacities don’t always look impressive in an interview.
But they matter enormously once the role gets real.

Shaping leadership — intentionally

Leadership behaviour is shaped less by what we say we value, and more by what we consistently reward.

If organisations want leaders who can navigate complexity, uncertainty, and rapid change, they need to recognise — and select for — those qualities early on.

Not as weaknesses to be coached away.
But as strengths that fit the world we’re actually operating in.

Sources (background reading):

• Kahneman, Lovallo & Sibony (2011) — Harvard Business Review

• Derue et al. (2011) — Personnel Psychology

• Hogan & Kaiser (2005) — Review of General Psychology

• Uhl-Bien, Marion & McKelvey (2007) — The Leadership Quarterly