📬 In This Week’s Issue:
A story from my early sales days
What bad leaders unintentionally teach us
The hidden cost of “script-based” management
How great leaders use bad leadership as fuel
Q&A on motivation and leading people well
Setting the Stage
A lot of what I teach today comes from one simple truth: you learn just as much from bad leadership as you do from good leadership. Sometimes more.
The worst manager I ever had taught me lessons I still use 30 years later. At the time, I was at Circuit City (RIP) back when it was the place to work in retail. I loved that job. It was my first real taste of performance-based success. I learned how to sell, how to know my products inside and out, and how to watch top performers and copy what worked.
I had over a dozen managers in three years. Most were good or on their way to being good. But one of them was textbook terrible.
I won’t say his name here, but it started with “D.”
And ended with “avid.”
If he ever reads this, he’ll know exactly who he is. And honestly? I’m grateful for him. Because he showed me the kind of leader I never want to be. He also was the reason I left the job I loved which ended up being a tipping point in my life. I never would have discovered my passion for building my own businesses and growing teams if I had stayed in that “sales job”.
As a professional speaker for the past 20+ years, I’ve probably shared this story with more than 10,000 people. It always leads me to the same question: What will your team be saying about you 20 years from now?
🔎 THE BIG INSIGHT
Bad leadership sticks with you. Great leaders use it as fuel.
What Made Him So Bad
This manager didn’t lead. He managed from a script. Every conversation sounded like it came out of a corporate handbook.
He always had the “right” textbook answer, but none of it matched the real world. You couldn’t learn from him because he wasn’t actually teaching anything you could really apply to your problem. You also couldn’t challenge him because he didn’t believe he had anything to learn.
His real skill was demotivating people quickly. If you were excited, he’d flatten it. If you had momentum, he’d find the flaw. If you had a win, he’d show you how it “could have been better.”
One year I hit President’s Club 11 months in a row (top 10% in sales out of 60,000 employees). When he handed me the award, he said:
“If you’d done better in January, you’d have had the full year.”
That one sentence told me everything about how he saw people.
The Lessons That Stayed With Me
This manager unintentionally taught me three lessons I still carry today.
People don’t follow perfection. They follow presence. He always had the scripted answer. But leaders earn trust only when they show up as real people in real situations.
You can kill motivation without ever raising your voice. He never yelled. He didn’t have to. A few careless comments can kill more momentum than a week of hard work can create.
People remember how you made them feel far longer than they remember what you said. Thirty years later, I can still feel the moment he handed me that certificate.
These lessons shaped how I lead today. They changed how I coach others. They taught me how to treat people when the pressure is high.
Turning Bad Leadership Into Fuel
The truth is, bad leadership leaves a mark. But it’s not all negative. It gives you a blueprint of what not to do. It sharpens your instincts. It shows you the impact of tone, presence, and tiny moments of feedback.
It also makes you pay attention to the leaders who get it right!
The ones who care.
The ones who tell the truth with respect.
The ones who see you when you’re trying, not just when you’re perfect.
Bad leaders just focus on where the bar is. Good leaders show you how high it can go. Great leaders put you on their shoulders and carry you up the ladder.
💬 READER QUESTIONS
Q: What’s the simplest way to avoid becoming the kind of leader people quietly resent?
Start paying obsessive attention to your micro-moments. The tone you use. The look on your face. The small reactions you don’t think anyone notices. People don’t judge you on your big speeches. They judge you on the two-second interactions that happen between them.
Q: How do I give correction without crushing someone’s confidence?
Start by anchoring the conversation in effort, not flaw-finding. People hear feedback through the filter of how you see them. So show them you see the work they’re putting in before you touch the part that needs to change. A reliable formula that works in almost any situation:
Acknowledge the progress → Name the shift → Reinforce the belief you have in them.
It sounds simple, but it’s powerful:
Acknowledge the progress: “You’ve made real strides on this. I can see the thought you put into it.”
Name the shift: “Here’s the one adjustment that would make it land even stronger.”
Reinforce belief: “You’re absolutely capable of this. That’s why I’m pointing it out.”
This keeps the correction connected to the person’s growth and not their identity. When people feel seen, respected, and believed in, they don’t crumble under feedback. They rise to it.
Takeaway
Bad leadership is loud. It stays with you. It also gives you a choice. You can carry it forward, or you can use it as a map of what not to repeat. Every leader leaves a mark. The question is which kind.
~ Chad Todd
P.S.
If this story reminded you how differently people respond to leadership, join me on December 11th at 1:30 EST for a free Working Genius workshop.
I’ll show you how to lead people in a way that actually fits who they are. So you’re not relying on scripts, guesses, or one-size-fits-all management. It’s a practical way to start leading better, not louder.