← Impact Podcast, Mentorship with Eddie Wilson
Impact Podcast, Mentorship with Eddie Wilson
51 - Obedience Isn’t Loyalty | The Leadership Failure That Destroys Empires
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Welcome to the Impact Podcast. I'm Eddie Wilson, here to help you visualize what others cannot see, create opportunities where others have failed, and push you to build empires where once there was empty space. Let's embark on this journey together and make a difference in this world. Thank you so much for joining us on the Impact Podcast today with Eddie Wilson. Today we're going to talk about human history and the fact that it's a catalog of human stupidity. If we watch closely, we can learn what not to do. You know, we've been given this amazing historical record that in the day and age we live in, we could hop on our phones, we could jump into. We could jump into AI, and we can ask it any question we want. It'll bring back historical accounts of all kinds of different things. And we know that history often repeats itself. But instead of looking at history and avoiding some things, human history just shows us repeating the same thing over and over and over and over again. It's an interesting dichotomy in the fact that you have all the answers. However, we don't study enough to avoid all the problems. The people around you are often revealing who you are and what you believe about history. Think about those bad choices in your younger years. And oftentimes those same people doing the same things are still in your presence, are still around you. The core thesis I want to kind of put in front of you today in the podcast is this, is that history isn't primarily a record of brilliance. It's a record of avoidable mistakes made by people who thought they were different. It's a record of avoidable mistakes made by people who actually thought they were different, that they would have. They would do the same things with a different outcome. And if we're honest with us, the same patterns that destroy empires show up in our own lives. They show up in our relationships. They show up in our businesses. It's our business, it's our leadership teams, it's our personal relationships, and it's the people that we tolerate around us. It's the people that we tolerate around us as we jump in. I want to say that history is a great warning system, but only if you were in tune to it. I was building a business in Kansas City, Missouri, for the very first time. And I remember I grew up in the Midwest, and so we had tornadoes, but it wasn't an often occurrence. And I was over in Kansas City, and there was oftentimes these massive tornadoes and storms that came through Kansas City. And the very first time that I was there, I Remember? And when a big storm came through and I remember these massive sirens going off, right? And. And I would, you know, at first it, it kind of was unnerving because there were these sirens and I had never heard these before. So I ran across the hallway to one of the staff members that was across the hall from me and I said, what. What is that noise? And they had grown up their entire lives. They had to pick up their head, listen for it. And then they said, oh, that's a, that's a tornado siren. And it was. They were so oblivious to this noise that was so loud, I couldn't do anything else other than listen to it and be afraid or warned of what was about to happen. And I said, what does that mean? And they said, well, that means that there's a potential for a tornado. I was like, well, shouldn't we evacuate the building? Shouldn't we get in the basement? Should we take action? And they said, oh, no, no, that's just a pre. Warning for what potentially could happen. It's fine, go back to work. And it was like they had tuned out the very warning signals of what was built to make sure that they stayed safe. That's oftentimes our history. It's. We, we aren't in tune to it. And so we just pick up our head, realize like, oh, yeah, that is going on around us. And then we just carry on as if there's no danger in. In proximity. Most people, as they look into history, they look for inspiration. However, the wise look to history for correction. They look to history for correction. The same mistakes, different centuries, ego, pride, group think, a refusal to listen, surrounding yourself with the wrong people are all present time after time after time, historical period after historical period. And if history keeps repeating itself, it's because arrogance keeps insisting that this time it's actually different, that this time we'll make a change, that this time the outcome will be separated. I love history. And I think that there's a historical event that I think is fascinating. It might be one that you've heard of or not heard of. It might be fairly obscure. There's a famous poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson about this moment, and it's called the Charge of the Light Brigade. And in the Crimean War, you have the British Cavalry, cavalry that is being commanded to ride into this valley that is occupied by the Russians. This is in the Crimean War. This is, you know, pre. Late 1800s, early 1900s, I believe. And there's elite soldiers. They're trained, they're on horseback, they're loyal. And they're ordered to charge what they believed was a retreating enemy. So they believed that it was a retreating enemy, or at least the leadership of the. Of kind of the British unit believed that the Russians were retreating. The problem is, is that the order was completely wrong and many people knew it was wrong. They knew that this was a horrible choice. While the order was being given, you have about 600, 700 men on horseback riding down into this valley. And many British leaders and commanders and the people that were actually on horseback knew that the Russian army wasn't retreating. They were setting up for battle and they were on all sides. It was miscommunication at the highest level. The order was completely wrong. And the officers were too proud, but also too obedient to question it. Think about this great dichotomy. You have strong, capable, well trained leaders who are so obedient, so loyal, that even though they knew they were being sent to their death, they followed the order. It's a, It's a crazy. It's a, It's a crazy thought here. And so instead of charging a retreating enemy, they actually charged straight into the valley that was surrounded by artillery on all three sides. They went into this bowl, and in this bowl you had Russian, Russian artillery sitting on all three sides except for the entry point. In. They rode into this killing zone where they charged in and it was a slaughter. Six hundred and seventy men rode in. Over 40% were killed or wounded in a matter of minutes. The survivors were shattered. Many of them came back and the accounts of what happened haunted them for the rest of their lives. There were many that were, you know, 40% were killed, many more were wounded. The objective actually accomplished nothing like there was nothing accomplished by this. There was no reason to even charge the retreating enemy. There was no reason to go after them if they were retreating. And in the end, they weren't retreating. And many people knew they weren't retreating. And here's the line that should haunt everyone. As it was said by a leader in the British Empire. It is magnificent, but is not war magnificent? Obedience, catastrophic stupidity. You think about that moment and how many times in your own business are you riding in to a situation where the people around you actually know it's a bad idea. They actually know that you're putting yourself in harm's way, that there is danger and yet no one speaks up. This is why the, the, the Light Brigade happened. This is why. It's one of the. The great stories of British conquest. Failure is it wasn't cowardice, it wasn't they were afraid. They actually rode in with, with complete courage. And knowing that it was a bad decision. It wasn't incompetence at the ground level. It wasn't that the. That the soldiers and the cavalry knew, like, they. They actually knew what was going on. They knew the danger they were riding into. It was a leadership failure. It was a leadership failure where they wouldn't take information, advice, or feedback from those who actually knew what was going on, the reason the disaster happened. And I think this is where we can learn, right? Like when we're thinking about history being that great common catalog of stupidity, those repeated mistakes. Here are the three reasons that it happened. And I think that you should be asking yourself the question, is this present in my own life? Number one. No one questioned authority. No one questioned authority. Orders came from above. Everyone assumed someone else had clarity, and they just followed. No one ever was willing to say, hey, hold on a second. This seems like a bad choice. Blind obedience isn't loyalty. It's intellectual surrender. And that's what you do not want around you, is intellectual surrender. You do not want people to just say, well, you know what? I know better, but I can't ever speak up. No one ever questioned authority. Questioning authority, if done right, could be the most powerful growth process in any situation. Number two, the culture punished dissent. When they had this culture, you know, in the British army of if you do not shut your mouth, follow orders, then you are disloyal. And. And even worse, it was like you were treasonous, you were a traitor if you didn't shut your mouth and just do what you were told. This is a scary thing. Whenever you create that dictatorial leadership style that is shut your mouth, be loyal, never oppose, you're going to create massive issues in your business and in your life culture. This culture punished dissent. You know, I have to be very careful. Even in my. My parenting, it's so easy to say because I told you so, right? Like, why would you want me to do that, dad? Because I told you so. The questioning authority should never be, should never be answered with this dictatorial because I am the leader. I'm the authority. Shut your mouth and do it right like that. That should never be the case. Questioning orders was seen as a weakness in this. And we should see questioning authority or questioning orders as the greatest pathway to understanding for even greater loyalty. Courage was defined as compliance, not wisdom. Courage was defined as compliance, not wisdom. If your culture rewards agreement over truth, it will eventually reward a catastrophe. It will eventually award those moments in history that repeat themselves when they could be completely avoided. So in this process, right, I've given you, I said, number one, no one, no one question authority. Number two, the culture, the culture, it punished dissent. And number three, ego replaced responsibilities. Leaders protected rank, not the people. They protected the authority rank or that positional authority versus the people that it was going to put into harm's way. No one wanted to look uncertain and so no one ever questioned. That's ego. When, when you don't know the answer, but you're afraid to speak up and say I don't know the answer for the sake of what it's going to do to, to your, let's say, credibility or to, to your position, that's ego. That's a massive issue. Pride kills more leaders than opposition ever will. Pride kills more leaders than opposition ever will. When, when you are a leader, it is okay not to have all the answers. A leader who pretends to have all the answers is just someone who is ego driven that will drive that, will drive that, that, that vehicle into a catastrophic end. Let me kind of walk you down now. How to tell if any of those things exist in your life. The people that are around you will be the great revealer or the reflection of what you believe you deserve and what you're willing to tolerate the people around you. Let me say that one more time. The people around you are often a reflection of what you believe you deserve and what you're willing to tolerate. Who around you challenges your bad decisions? And you say, well, I never make bad decisions. Go back to point number three. Your ego is replacing responsibility. If you're never wrong and you can't point back to a place that you're at that you've ever been challenged on being wrong, you've got too big of an ego and you're headed towards disaster. Who around you challenges your bad decisions? Who around you only agrees with everything you say? As much as that makes you feel good, it is a recipe for disaster for those around you. If they won't ever shake their head in dissent, if they won't ever challenge or question or ask questions specific about why the decision was made, you don't need those people around you. Those people are there to prop up your ego, not to help you get to a better decision and a better leadership outcome, who around you only agrees? Who around you would rather be liked than be honest? Who around you would rather be liked than be honest? Honesty is what you need because honesty breeds truth. Honesty breeds a pathway to discover truth. The hard truth is this that Light Brigade story I told you, and that Light Brigade, the group of men, that's 670 men, didn't die because of the enemy. Yes, the enemy were the ones firing the shots. They died because no one said, hey, this doesn't make sense. The order came from the top. The top had no understanding of what was actually going on. And it stepped down to the ranks of the British military. And every step, there were people that knew that this was the wrong action, all the way down to the very bottom. And now you have these cavalrymen sitting atop their horses, getting ready to ride into slaughter. And not one person said, this does not make sense. Someone needs to speak up and say, this does not make sense. If no one in your inner circle can tell you're wrong, you're already in the valley and the artillery is getting ready to fire, if no one around you is willing to say, hey, hold on a second. Let's. Let's rethink this. Is this really. Even if you have to say, yes, it is, and prove it, it's still a better pathway. Right? If no one in your inner circle is willing to say, hey, we should check this, we should double check this. We should make sure that our data is right. If no one is willing, you're already in the valley. You've already ridden into this place where artillery is on three sides. You know, the other day I was in a meeting, and many of you know that I have a coffee brand. And we have engaged a really great guy by the name of Gregory Zamfotis. And Gregory is the founder of Gregory's Coffee out of New York City, built, I think, 56 stores, and then now they're expanding to 250 stores. And we've hired him as an interim CEO for our coffee brand because he already knows the path to get to the expansion that I want for our coffee brand. And. And he's been a great addition to the team. He's brought so much great leadership and information. We had recently signed two or three leases on brand new buildings, getting ready to expand our coffee brand. And the team before Gregory came in was excited about these. These locations, and we were pumped up about them, and they seemed good. And I remember the other day in the meeting, Gregory said, hey, guys, can we just double check before we actually put all this effort into these locations and make sure that they're the right locations? He said, can we just double check in? The first thing you want to do is be like, well, we already made the decision. We already. I had my heart set on these locations. And I was so grateful in that moment that he had the courage to step up against leadership, step up against investment dollars, step up against previous leadership, step up against all of our thoughts, our opinions, our. And step up and say, hey, can we double check this? And it was that moment that I knew. It wasn't the changes, it wasn't the processes he's building, it wasn't all the help he's given our staff. It was that moment I knew that we had made a great choice because he was willing to challenge the thing that was most sacred, right these new locations, these things that we had thought about and worked on and had leases signed. And he said he challenged the most sacred of things. And in my. In my mind, I thought that this is a. This was a great choice. I'm excited for him being a part of the team. Do not ever bristle, you know, and it's natural to bristle sometimes, but not ever bristle at someone asking you to prove why you're making the decision you're making. Instead of bolstering and bristling and the bravado and the pride coming out, allow it to refine you and be grateful that those people actually exist in your world. You don't have to repeat history. You don't have to learn by pain. You can actually learn by observation. Here are the three questions I want to ask you as you go on your day today, as hopefully this podcast has gotten you to think through some of the decisions you're making and the people that are allowing you to. You're allowing in your counsel. Number one, where am I obeying something that doesn't make sense? Where am I obeying something that doesn't make sense? At the highest level of leadership, we still get into these ruts of just doing the thing that we're doing because it does, you know, because we. We've just done it that way, or people expect us to do it that way, or that's just how it's always been done. Number two, who around me benefits from my silence? Who around me benefits from my silence? Number three, what pattern from history am I unknowingly reenacting? One challenge this week is, I would love for you to take a challenge in your business. Take a challenge in your business, no matter what it was or what it is. I don't care if it's a challenge of not finding enough leads or not fulfilling whatever the challenge is. Hiring, firing, operations, leadership, finance. Take that challenge, throw it into an AI tool, whatever one you want. ChatGPT, Grok I don't really care. Throw it into one and say give me a historical non fictional account of something that happened that is parallel to what I'm experiencing in my business right now and study history to show yourself how to avoid those same mistakes. Stupidity isn't loud, it's often disciplined, loyal and well dressed. Wisdom pauses, questions and observes. One last quote I want you to think about as you go about your day today. The wise study history to avoid pain, the arrogant study it for entertainment and the foolish believe that they're the exception. One more time. The wise study history to avoid pain, the arrogant study it for entertainment and the foolish believe that they're the exception. Have a great day. Thanks so much for being a part of the podcast and for listening today. Love to connect with you further. And you can connect with me on social media dywilsonofficial on any of the social media channels.