What are you avoiding?

A central theme of this blog and my own leadership learning and one that I have often returned to is Courage. Courageous engagement with difficult issues is foundational to effective leadership. What we avoid due to fear or discomfort doesn’t go away - it remains with us and often becomes more difficult because we didn’t address it head-on in a timely manner. 

In Dare to Lead, Brown argues that leaders often avoid vulnerability because they equate it with weakness. In reality, the unwillingness to confront discomfort such as admitting uncertainty, acknowledging mistakes, or addressing conflict creates environments where problems remain unspoken and unresolved. Brown describes courage not as the absence of fear but as the willingness to “rumble with vulnerability.” Leaders who avoid these moments may inadvertently signal that honesty and candor are not welcome which limits authentic dialogue within teams.

Other leadership authors speak to leadership avoidance behaviors as well. Amy Edmondson’s research on psychological safety, such as in The Fearless Organization, demonstrates that employees are far less likely to speak up about risks, errors, or innovative ideas when they fear embarrassment or punishment. When leaders confront difficult information openly instead of avoiding it, they create the conditions necessary for learning and improvement.

Similarly, in Patrik Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, he identifies avoidance of conflict as a core dysfunction that prevents teams from achieving commitment and accountability. According to Lencioni, productive conflict—centered on ideas rather than personalities—is essential for robust decision-making. When leaders suppress disagreement or fail to address tensions, teams may appear harmonious on the surface but often lack genuine alignment. The result is passive compliance rather than true commitment.

In Multipliers, Liz Wiseman contrasts leaders who unintentionally diminish others’ intelligence with those who amplify it. One form of diminishing occurs when leaders avoid giving challenging assignments, difficult feedback, or ownership of decisions because they fear failure or loss of control. While this avoidance may appear supportive, it restricts growth and limits the team’s collective intelligence. In my coaching of leaders, this is a prevalent theme - ‘I’ll just do it myself’ - which keeps others from having the opportunity for growth and learning.  I know I was guilty of this in my early leadership years.

Across these perspectives, a consistent pattern emerges: avoidance creates short-term comfort but long-term dysfunction. Whether it manifests as reluctance to address conflict, hesitancy to discuss mistakes, or fear of vulnerability, avoidance reduces transparency and weakens the feedback loops that organizations depend on to adapt and perform. Leaders who confront difficult realities through candid conversations, acknowledgment of uncertainty, and constructive debate build stronger cultures of trust and accountability.

The question for leaders then is what am I avoiding?. Facing these avoided issues requires courage, emotional discipline, and intentional practice. Yet the research from Brown, Edmondson, Lencioni, and Wiseman consistently demonstrates that organizations become more resilient, innovative, and collaborative when leaders choose engagement over avoidance.