#97 - Accidental leaders!
12 Feb 26
Most organisations do not set out to appoint the wrong leaders. Yet many find themselves led by individuals who have become accidental leaders. These are people who arrive in senior roles without ever being deliberately prepared for the reality of leadership at that level.
These leaders are rarely incompetent or ill-intentioned. More often, they have progressed through a series of reasonable decisions that, collectively, allowed them to bypass the usual checks and balances designed to reduce leadership risk.
The cost of accidental leadership is seldom immediate or dramatic. Instead, it accumulates quietly in disengagement, slowed decision-making and cultural drift. The issue is not blame, but recognition: accidental leadership is a systemic outcome, and it requires a systemic response.
What?
Accidental leaders are not appointed by accident. They become leaders by default.
They are often:
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High-performing specialists promoted for delivery rather than leadership capability,
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Trusted insiders whose tenure substitutes for assessment,
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Individuals elevated during periods of urgency or crisis,
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Confident communicators whose presence is mistaken for readiness.
On paper, each step makes sense. In practice, something is missing.
These leaders may never have been asked to:
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Lead through ambiguity rather than expertise,
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Influence peers rather than direct reports,
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Hold organisational tension without retreating into control,
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Examine the impact of their behaviour at scale.
They are not failing a role they were trained for. They are occupying a role they were never fully equipped to do.
Why?
Leadership systems, frameworks, panels, development pathways and governance exist to reduce risk. But they rely on one critical factor: ongoing challenge.
Accidental leadership emerges when challenge fades, often because:
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Past results create immunity from scrutiny,
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Seniority discourages upward feedback,
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Organisations conflate experience with capability,
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No one wants to slow momentum or ask awkward questions.
Gradually, assumptions replace evidence:
Theyā€™ve earned it.
Theyā€™ll grow into it.
This isnā€™t the moment to intervene.
The system doesnā€™t collapse. It simply stops checking.
And so accidental leaders continue, not because they are succeeding, but because no mechanism exists to pause, reflect and recalibrate.
How?
The solution is rarely removal. More often, it is intentional reset.
A structured leadership reset allows organisations to:
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Re-define what effective leadership now requires,
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Surface blind spots without personal threat,
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Reconnect authority, behaviour, and impact,
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Re-activate the purpose of leadership guardrails.
Done well, this is not remedial. It is responsible leadership risk management, especially at senior levels where the consequences of misalignment are amplified.
Accidental leaders do not need rescuing. They need intentional development matched to the reality of their role.
In Summary
Accidental leadership is not a personal failure. It is a predictable outcome of systems that prioritise speed, familiarity and past success over deliberate preparation.
The greatest leadership risk is not inexperience at the top, it is untested leadership operating beyond the reach of challenge.
Strong organisations do not assume their leaders are finished products.
They ensure leadership remains intentional, examined and fit for purpose...
...especially when the stakes are highest!
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