CEOs’ Blind Spots – Epilogue – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1162

CEOs’ Blind Spots – Epilogue – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1162

Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1162 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma    Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here.

Credit: Tima Miroshnichenko

Credit: Andrea Piacquadio

Credit: Snapwire

Credit: Werner Pfennig

Preamble

These posts are inspired by McKinsey research. Link at the end. This is the last post of the series which summarizes and concludes.

In Pakistan, most CEOs of private businesses are owners who rarely retire. The succession goes to their children, who sometimes get quite old waiting for the father to handover charge. The following applies to owner CEOs also.

 Leadership Blind Spots Across a CEO’s Tenure: Early, Middle, and Later Years

The journey of a CEO is never linear. It is marked by bold beginnings, complex middle years, and delicate transitions toward the end of tenure. Yet, throughout this arc, leaders often encounter predictable “blind spots”, moments where vision, clarity, or judgment falters, not because of incompetence, but because of the unique pressures and temptations of each stage.

Understanding these blind spots is critical not only for CEOs themselves but also for boards, executive teams, and employees who depend on steady leadership. By anticipating these challenges, organizations can better prepare for the pitfalls of leadership and ensure resilience 

The Early Years: Overconfidence and Cultural Missteps

When new CEOs step into the role, they often bring a surge of energy and clarity. Armed with fresh ideas and a mandate for change, they feel compelled to make bold moves quickly. This urgency can be a strength—many organizations desperately need a reset when new leadership arrives. But it is also a source of one of the most common early blind spots: overconfidence.

New CEOs frequently believe they can shift culture faster than reality allows. They arrive with a clear point of view on where the company needs to go and assume that employees will quickly rally behind their vision. Yet, organizational culture is deeply rooted, shaped by years of practices, values, and habits. Changing it requires time, trust-building, and sustained effort.

The blind spot is assuming that conviction equals alignment. In reality, employees may resist change, interpret the CEO’s moves as disruptive, or simply need more time to adapt. What feels like swift progress at the top may look like turbulence on the ground.

Another early blind spot lies in personal effectiveness. Many CEOs overestimate their ability to balance being who they want to be with who the organization needs them to be. They quickly discover that the demands of the role—from board relations to employee morale to external scrutiny—stretch them in ways they had not anticipated. Burnout, impatience, or micromanagement can surface if this tension is not managed well.

The Middle Years: Losing the North Star

If the early years are marked by overconfidence, the middle years are where complacency and drift often take hold. By this stage, a CEO’s initial bold moves have usually played out positively. The company may have stabilized, revenues may be strong, and leadership may feel validated. But therein lies the danger: the loss of a clear and compelling vision.

Once the urgency of the early tenure fades, many CEOs struggle to find the same inspiration and boldness that fueled their initial success. The North Star—the guiding vision that once galvanized the organization—begins to dissipate. Leaders may cling to old strategies that worked in the past, failing to acknowledge that markets, technologies, and competitors have changed.

Employees, too, can become hung up on previous successes, resisting calls for reinvention. The company risks stagnation, slowly losing its edge even while enjoying short-term stability.

At this stage, another blind spot emerges: the failure to remain open to new ideas. Success creates its own inertia. A CEO who was once innovative can become overly cautious, unwilling to “press reset” and try bold new approaches. Over time, this erodes competitiveness and morale, as employees sense the organization is coasting rather than striving.

The Latter Years: Legacy, Risk, and Succession Challenges

The final phase of a CEO’s tenure brings perhaps the most delicate blind spots, as the leader begins to think about legacy and transition. Ironically, the same clarity that propelled them in the early years and the steadiness that carried them through the middle years can dissolve into confusion and missteps.

One late-tenure blind spot is the temptation to protect legacy by avoiding risks. CEOs may focus narrowly on hitting near-term earnings targets to ensure they “exit cleanly.” This conservatism, while understandable, often undermines long-term investments in innovation and talent, leaving the organization ill-prepared for future challenges.

On the other end of the spectrum, some CEOs swing to reckless boldness. Fearing irrelevance, boredom, or slowdown in growth, they may pursue risky acquisitions or market expansions in an effort to leave a final mark. These late-stage gambles can destabilize organizations and saddle successors with problems.

Perhaps the most damaging blind spot of all is the failure to manage succession effectively. CEOs who avoid confronting their own departure allow rivalries to fester within the leadership team. Ambitious executives jockey for position, lower performers disengage, and teamwork suffers. Instead of uniting the company for the future, the CEO becomes the focal point of division.

Sum Up

Taken together, these blind spots form a continuum.

Leadership blind spots are not signs of weakness; they are natural consequences of the pressures and incentives CEOs face throughout their tenure. The key is not to eliminate them but to recognize and manage them.

In the end, what defines great leadership is not the absence of blind spots, but the courage to confront them and the wisdom to lead with clarity despite them. By understanding how blind spots evolve across the early, middle, and late years of tenure, organizations can ensure that leadership remains not only effective but transformative—at every stage of the journey.

Concluded.

Disclaimers: Pictures in these blogs are taken from free resources at Pexels, Pixabay, Unsplash, and Google. Credit is given where available. If a copyright claim is lodged, we shall remove the picture with appropriate regrets.

For most blogs, I research from several sources which are open to public. Their links are mentioned under references. There is no intent to infringe upon anyone’s copyrights. If, any claim is lodged, it will be acknowledged and duly recognized immediately.

Link:

https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/seeing-ceo-blind-spots?stcr=798248FAF7894947B6105FBD8EB75F4D&cid=mgp_cfas-eml-alt-mkq-mgp-glb--&hlkid=3bcc27ef57ea40bfa9f1349a052031d4&hctky=15999472&hdpid=09da9c7e-dbdf-4d66-9190-0d3019d55a6b