Why Your Best People Are Opting Out of Leadership
What the leadership pipeline crisis is really telling us — and how to fix it
Your best early talent doesn’t want a leadership role. That’s not their problem- it’s yours!
85% of respondents observed early talent were reluctant to move into leadership roles- 2026 Gallagher Organizational Wellbeing study.
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The reasons? Desire for work-life balance, perception of high stress in leaders, concerns about inflexible work arrangements, avoiding work as a primary source of identity and perception that managers have limited ability to create positive change.
Note the Signal
Let’s play this data back. Early talent thinks their leaders have inflexible, over-stressed, work-consumed lives and despite that steep price they pay, they are not even empowered to change things for the better! Early professionals see this double whammy and don’t want any part of it. We need to create a leadership aspiration. Nobody has written this playbook yet.
Our early talent is showing us a mirror and their reluctance is the signal to the real underlying problem. Is this a marketing problem? No, it’s a perception and reality problem. We need to change the reality of our leaders.
The Issue at Hand
Most leaders I speak to acknowledge they are experiencing a lopsided work-life balance, ever-higher inflexibility in work arrangements and identities getting increasingly enmeshed with their work. Invariably, the causes they cite are the “noise” of busy-work and unclear expectations amidst constant change, weak communication of priorities and most importantly, the lack of agency to set direction. No leader has ever suggested that they feel overwhelmed with meaningful work.
Cut Through the Noise
How do we reduce the noise around us? Define clear priorities. In my coaching, I ask leaders three simple questions
Where will you be in five years?
What are three things you must do to get there?
What are three things you will stop doing to get there?
These questions can easily be translated into a business context. The hardest one to answer is the last one, “what will you stop doing”. We are programmed to be additive and it’s hard to let go of something that still has “some” value. If that value is not instrumental for the future direction and cannot be scaled, it’s time to cut losses.
Clarifying priorities isn’t a one-time exercise. With a changing landscape, priorities may need to be adjusted. When that need arises, it important we respond with intention instead of reacting with panic.
Pass the Baton
Once priorities are defined, clearly communicate these priorities and the “why” behind them, to our leaders. This automatically clarifies expectations and removes most of the distracting noise. We need to ask ourselves- Are we communicating with our audience in mind? Are we communicating enough so it sticks? Have we equipped our leaders at every level to communicate these priorities with complete ownership?
This last one is important. Too often, managers become messengers rather than advocates — shrugging and saying “I didn’t make this decision.” That shrug does double damage: it signals disempowerment, and it tells the team that leadership is something that happens to you, not something you do.
Leaders in our teams are key stakeholders. Sharing the “why” behind a decision, making space to process the decision, gaining their partnership and equipping them with the right language is extremely important.
The Empowerment Contract
We may do all the above, but if leaders at each level don’t exercise their empowerment, clarity is simply a useless ornament. The last piece of this puzzle is empowering our leaders to make decisions within the framework of clarified priorities and expectations while creating accountability.
It starts with creating a culture of trust with leaders on our teams. That trust gives them the agency to make decisions and drive positive change for their own teams, in turn. This is the foundation. Senior leadership teams should ask themselves:
How are we creating space for our leaders to reduce the noise for their teams?
What does a culture that tolerates some well-intentioned inadvertent mistakes look like?
How are we making sure our leaders experience such a culture?
The reciprocation is the accountability that comes with empowerment. When leaders feel that they lack agency, it’s important to acknowledge their reality and then help them reflect on a few questions.
What does it take to earn and maintain your leader’s trust?
How do you communicate tough messages with ownership?
How do you habitually align with senior leadership on your decisions to build common understanding and trust?
These are hard questions. But when senior leaders extend trust deliberately, and leaders at all levels meet it with ownership and courage, the contract is complete.
Early talent is watching. If we fix the reality of leadership, aspiration will simply follow.