The biggest leadership failure isn’t missed targets, it’s the silent killer of companies: Silos
Missed targets can be fixed.
Silos slowly break a company from the inside.
They look small at first.
However, they undermine trust, slow down execution, and erode customer value.
What silos cause:
- Work gets duplicated
- Decisions lack context
- Teams drift into “us vs. them”
Most leaders attempt to break down silos with tools or new processes.
That’s a band-aid.
The actual fix is alignment.
How to prevent silos:
- Start quarterly planning with one company-wide North Star metric
- Rotate product, engineering, and ops leaders into each other’s reviews
- Tie bonuses to shared metrics like NPS or revenue growth
- Share your own decision notes or board decks with managers
If silos already exist:
- Call it out in an all-hands as a business risk, not a team flaw
- Launch a 30-day cross-functional “strike team” for one visible win
- Make two leaders co-own a shared metric
- Empower natural “connectors” who already bridge teams
Rivers don’t compete. They flow into one lake.
Teams should, too.
And sometimes, silos won’t break with the same minds that built them.
That’s when new leaders with a broader perspective are needed.
Because the job of a leader isn’t to manage silos.
It’s to make sure they never exist in the first place.