Leadership and Self-Deception: How Collusion Ruins Workplaces
When leaders and teams collude, they reinforce each other’s negative stories.
Management says: “Staff don’t care.”
Staff say: “Management doesn’t listen.”
Each side justifies its stance and blames the other, creating a cycle of distrust.
The Cost of Collusion
This toxic loop:
Kills trust between leaders and employees
Stalls progress as problems remain unsolved
Erodes culture from the inside out
Leadership and Self-Deception reveals how collusion silently undermines workplace health and performance.
Breaking the Cycle
Ending collusion requires leaders to:
Take ownership instead of blaming
Build awareness of self-deception
Model new ways of seeing others as people, not problems
The Payoff
When collusion ends, trust is rebuilt, energy returns, and workplaces move from toxic patterns to collaboration and progress.
Collusion ruins culture. Awareness and ownership rebuild it. Great leadership begins by breaking the cycle.
