Leadership Sucks

LarryMoss
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The Leadership Sucks Podcast is a place to discuss all the reasons leadership sucks from the perspective of the leader and the led. It doesn't matter where you are on your leadership journey, there have been and will continue to be times that leadership sucks. It is my mission to help it suck a little less by providing you insights, strategies, and methodologies from successful leaders who have learned from their failures and successes. It should be fun!!

  1. 1d ago

    Leadership Sucks Podcast, Episode 18

    When Your Team Stops Telling You the Truth Your team agrees during the meeting. The concerns come out afterward. What information are you missing—and how might your response to difficult news influence what people bring to you next? In this episode of Leadership Sucks, Larry Moss explores how leaders can unintentionally discourage honest feedback. Drawing on research into employee silence, psychological safety, and managerial openness, he explains how to create room for disagreement while maintaining clear expectations and accountability. In this episode Why silence in a meeting does not necessarily mean agreement. How defensiveness, interruptions, and a lack of follow-through can discourage input. Why “bring me solutions, not problems” can limit early warnings. How honest communication supports strategy, operations, culture, and leader development. Practical ways to respond when someone challenges your assumptions. How to turn better listening into an observable leadership habit. Questions to take into your next meeting What dependency could keep us from meeting this deadline? What work will need to move if we make this the priority? Which assumption in this plan should we test first? What makes it difficult to raise a concern here? This week’s leadership challenge Ask someone: “What is one thing I may be missing that is making your work harder?” Give them time to answer. Ask a clarifying question before explaining your position. Agree on a next step, then follow through—even if your follow-up is to explain why a change is not possible. Research and sources The episode paraphrases the following research. These sources support the research discussion; the hypothetical scenarios and suggested conversation techniques are Larry’s practical applications. Elizabeth W. Morrison (2014) — Employee Voice and SilenceA review of research on why employees share—or withhold—ideas, concerns, and useful information with people in higher organizational positions.Read the abstract and access options James R. Detert and Ethan R. Burris (2007) — Leadership Behavior and Employee Voice: Is the Door Really Open?A study of 3,149 employees and 223 managers in a restaurant chain examining managerial openness, psychological safety, and employees’ willingness to speak up.View the journal article James R. Detert and Amy C. Edmondson (2011) — Implicit Voice Theories: Taken-for-Granted Rules of Self-Censorship at WorkFour studies examining beliefs about when speaking up is risky or inappropriate and how those beliefs help explain workplace silence.View the journal article Amy Edmondson (1999) — Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work TeamsA study of 51 manufacturing teams examining the relationship between team psychological safety and learning behavior.View Harvard’s repository record and paper Some publishers may require a subscription or institutional access to read the full article. Connect with Larry Explore how leadership behaviors shape organizational health at Azimuth Consulting. If this episode sparked a useful conversation, share it with another leader and follow Leadership Sucks for future episodes.

    Leadership Sucks Podcast, Episode 18

  2. Oct 21

    Leadership Sucks Podcast, Episode 17

    How hard is it to lead when your world is falling apart? This week I discuss some personal struggles that challenged my leadership, and sanity at times, and share some tools that helped me get through the journey. Come join me.

    Leadership Sucks Podcast, Episode 17

  3. Sep 30

    Leadership Sucks Podcast Episode 16

    Whether you are the leader or the led, sometimes leadership sucks. But it doesn't have to. I am joined for this episode by LTG(R) Milford H. Beagle, Jr - Beags as we talk about Leadership Sucks When the Map Runs Out. The title of Beags' latest book. Sometimes, when we have the best strategy, the best plan, the best team and resources, the environment can change leaving us with critical decisions to make. What do we depend on when all the options suck? Join us and find out.

  4. Sep 16

    Leadership Sucks Episode 15

    What happens when the world around you feels like it is falling apart—but people are still looking to you to lead? In this episode of Leadership Sucks, Larry Moss explores what crisis leadership demands when information is incomplete, emotions are high, and every available option seems difficult. Using the aftermath of 9/11 as the backdrop, Larry examines how leaders can remain grounded, protect their people, simplify the mission, make decisions without certainty, and stay aligned with their values under pressure. This episode covers seven practical crisis-leadership disciplines: Face reality Stabilize before you optimize Simplify the mission Stay visible and grounded Put people before the machine Take the next right step Hold onto your values when the options are bad Because leadership in crisis is not about pretending you have all the answers. It is about creating enough clarity, stability, and trust for people to keep moving forward. If you have ever had to lead through uncertainty, disruption, loss, or a season where there were no easy choices, this episode is for you.

    Leadership Sucks Episode 15

  5. Sep 9

    Leadership Sucks Episode 14

    Holding people accountable sounds simple until the person missing the mark is someone you respect, care about, or know is going through a difficult season. In this episode of Leadership Sucks, we explore the tension between empathy and expectations, why leaders often avoid accountability, and what that avoidance costs the rest of the team. We talk about why accountability should never be a surprise, how unclear expectations create unfair consequences, and why dependable employees should not become the safety net for people leaders refuse to address. Most importantly, we look at accountability as more than discipline. Done well, accountability is an act of care. It gives people clarity, ownership, and the opportunity to improve. Because sometimes the most caring thing a leader can do is stop making excuses, have the conversation, and hold the standard. Holding people accountable sucks. But avoiding it usually costs even more.

  6. Sep 2

    Leadership Sucks Podcast Episode 13

    Giving difficult feedback is one of those parts of leadership that almost everyone understands—and almost everyone wants to avoid. In this episode of Leadership Sucks, we dig into why leaders delay hard conversations, what that avoidance quietly costs the team and organization, and how to deliver honest feedback without destroying trust. We explore the difference between clarity and cruelty, why vague feedback creates defensiveness, how empathy and accountability can exist at the same time, and why waiting too long often makes the conversation far worse. If there’s a conversation you know you need to have but keep putting off, this episode is for you. Because difficult feedback may suck—but avoiding it usually sucks more.

    Leadership Sucks Podcast Episode 13

  7. Aug 27

    Leadership Sucks Episode 12

    The podcast where we discuss the aspects of leadership they don't put on the motivational posters. In this episode we discuss how leadership development can suck when we view it as an event we expect to transform leaders' behavior. Episode 12: Developing Leaders Sucks Developing leaders sounds simple—until you actually have to do it. Sending someone to training, giving them a new title, or assigning them a mentor doesn’t automatically create a better leader. Real leadership development requires time, honest feedback, practice, accountability, coaching, and a willingness to let people struggle while they grow. In Episode 12 of Leadership Sucks, we explore why organizations often confuse leadership training with leadership development, why information alone rarely changes behavior, and what leaders and organizations must do differently if they want development to stick. We also examine one of the hardest realities of developing others: sometimes you have to resist the urge to step in, solve the problem, or do it yourself—and instead create the conditions for someone else to learn. Because developing leaders isn’t about creating people who lead exactly like you. It’s about building their capacity to lead effectively without you. Leadership development can be frustrating, uncomfortable, and slow. And sometimes…developing leaders sucks.

    Leadership Sucks Episode 12

  8. Aug 19

    Leadership Sucks Episode 11

    Delegating sounds like a great leadership practice—until you hand something off and realize you could have done it faster, better, and with a lot less frustration yourself. In this episode of Leadership Sucks, Larry Moss explores why delegation is so difficult for capable leaders and how constantly taking work back can turn you into the bottleneck you are trying to avoid. We look at the difference between protecting quality and protecting control, why delegation is really about building capability, and how to give people enough clarity, authority, and room to grow without abandoning accountability. If you have ever thought, “It would just be easier if I did it myself,” this episode is for you. Because maybe you can do it better yourself. But that’s not the point.

    Leadership Sucks Episode 11
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About

The Leadership Sucks Podcast is a place to discuss all the reasons leadership sucks from the perspective of the leader and the led. It doesn't matter where you are on your leadership journey, there have been and will continue to be times that leadership sucks. It is my mission to help it suck a little less by providing you insights, strategies, and methodologies from successful leaders who have learned from their failures and successes. It should be fun!!

Information

  • Creator
    LarryMoss
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    18
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © LarryMoss
  • Show Website
    Leadership Sucks