Language of Leadership - Adaptability, Teamwork and Diversity

At work we are going through a very interesting book in our leadership circle "Competing against Luck' by Clay Christensen who talks about the jobs theory and how crafting our programs, products, services with the customer need and what the customer is not telling us while serving them is key to find untapped markets, engage into process and product innovation etc.  I love the valuable discussion we have at work on these topics and learn a lot. This also got me thinking of the book I recently read about Leadership language summing up a few thoughts here for my own sake and maybe valuable for someone stumbling here. 

Most companies today are still run according to models developed during the Industrial Age. In the traditional approach to management, people are divided into two categories: deciders and doers. Over time, different labels have emerged to describe these two groups—leaders and followers, salaried and hourly, white collar and blue collar. But the primary (and often arbitrary) distinction between them remains the same: one group makes the decisions, and the other carries them out. This mindset is clearly illustrated in Frederick Winslow Taylor’s 1911 book, The Principles of Scientific Management. Why are so many airplane crashes ultimately attributed to poor communication between the pilot and co-pilot? The answer may surprise you: much of the language we use in today’s workplaces is still rooted in the Industrial Age. It was designed to maximize efficiency, reinforce hierarchy, and promote conformity—not collaboration or adaptability. An example of this  not a plane crash but that of a container ship is very much highlighted in the story of October 1, 2015, as tragedy struck in the waters off the Bahamas. The container ship El Faro sailed directly into the eye of a hurricane—and was lost at sea. All 33 crew members perished. It might seem easy to place blame: on the captain for not choosing a safer route, on the first mate for failing to alert the captain to worsening weather, or on the bridge team for not voicing their concerns about the intensifying storm.

These days, adaptability, teamwork, and diversity are more important to a company's success. So why are we still using a playbook developed for a different era? 

But according to the author, the true cause was a failure of language. Both aboard El Faro and within the company that owned it, the communication style reflected an outdated model of leadership—one rooted in hierarchy, rigidity, and unquestioned authority. In this case, that old way of speaking had fatal consequences. The key lesson here is the language of traditional leadership is deterministic and binary—focused on doing, not thinking. It leaves little room for questioning, reflection, or collaboration. Let’s examine some of the things the captain said to his crew in the days leading up to the tragedy. At one point, he told them simply: “It should be fine.” The captain’s language—marked by invulnerability and a sense of invincibility—was, as the author argues, a relic of the Industrial Age. It reflected a time when leaders were expected to issue directives and followers were expected to comply. This kind of language is focused, goal-driven, and designed to reduce variability and prevent dissent. When questions are asked, they tend to be binary and deterministic—“Are you sure?”—rather than reflective or open-ended—“How sure are you?”

Binary questions demand a simple yes or no, leaving little room for nuance or deeper thought. But “How sure are you?” invites reflection. It encourages dialogue. It slows things down—something that, in critical moments, can make all the difference.

Now imagine if the captain of El Faro had used that kind of language. What if, instead of declaring, “We’re not going to turn around,” he had opened the conversation to the entire crew? What if he had asked, “How confident are we in this course?” That shift might have delayed the decision—but it also might have saved the ship and every life aboard.

The old approach to leadership is no longer effective for modern companies..more to come in future posts as I reflect on these store. 

On a side note this story remeinded me of a Podcast I follow and listen to  "Cuationary Tales" by Tim Hartford who shows us through his amazing storytelling, insights on human decision making, psychology, lessons we can learn and the economic drivers and motivations behind them.