The Mike Horne Blog

A dream involving two former leaders raised an unexpected question: What feedback might I have missed during my career? Drawing on experiences with coaching, autonomy, and leadership development, this week's article explores the blind spots we may unknowingly create for ourselves.

Most of us can identify a handful of leaders who shaped our careers in meaningful ways. Some held impressive titles, managed large teams, or led significant organizational initiatives. Yet those are not always the leaders we remember most clearly. The leaders who stay with us are often the ones who changed how we thought about ourselves, trusted us before we fully trusted ourselves, and created opportunities we might not have pursued on our own.

As organizations grow, additional layers of leadership, new processes, and more formal decision-making structures often emerge. In many cases, these changes are necessary. Growth creates complexity, and complexity requires coordination. The challenge is not the existence of structure itself but what can happen when structure begins to create distance between decisions and the people responsible for carrying them out.