Why good leadership advice fails smart people
Let’s dig into the genius of Nike, shall we? Originally Blue Ribbon Sports, founded in 1964, Nike began as a distributor for a Japanese shoe company before coming out with their own line of footwear. The brand changed their name to Nike, Inc. in 1971, named after the Greek goddess of victory.
In 1988, they still weren’t the dominant brand we think of today. They were struggling to compete, losing ground to the likes of Reebok and Adidas, especially in the booming aerobics market. They were seen as a running brand. Not a brand for everyone. Fitness culture was expanding beyond hardcore athletes, so to keep up, they needed a way to unify the market. How? Just Do It.
Instead of simply targeting runners via elite athletes, they changed their strategy to one that would ultimately shape their corporate reputation as a whole. Just Do It is now one of the most recognizable slogans in advertising history. They started pumping the message that anyone can be an athlete. The difference between thinkers and doers is just that; they just do it. All that’s required is starting! This uplifting message shifted their corporate identity from a shoe company to a mindset brand.
The secret in the sauce is that the slogan hit a psychological nerve, too. The genius in it lies in the fact that it removes overthinking, it applies to everything, and it feels personal. From the campaign launch in 1988 to a decade later in 1998, their sales increased roughly $8.12 billion. Billion.
Now, why do we care about this today specifically? It directly relates to the disconnect that many, many leaders share; the critical gap between knowing and doing. Unfortunately, intelligence can actually sometimes widen that gap.
Learning something (and ultimately knowing it) can create a false sense of mastery. Reading, listening, and learning all feel productive, but they simulate progress without requiring risk. Nothing about these activities is hands-on. The stakes are low. You can be fascinated without having to apply any technique. Knowledge is clean and controlled, but application is messy and uncertain.
No one wants to be wrong, no one wants to be made a fool of, and most of what corporate jobs are about is teaching behavior to avoid risk. No one wants their competency questioned. So what do you do? The path of least resistance is to fly under the radar. If someone needed help, you might be able to tell them what to do. When our own lives are on fire (at least at work), who stops long enough to analyze whether someone else is really walking their walk?
For example:
- Someone who can explain great leadership principles but avoids hard conversations or conflict.
- The person who has so many strategies for optimizing productivity that they never use their time to start working.
- The visionary who can articulate multiple strong strategies and see second- and third-order consequences, but sees so many different angles they never actually commit to one.
- The manager who knows they should delegate, and doesn’t.
Smart people are especially vulnerable because intelligence can lead to overanalysis, over-commitment to perfect results, and the fear of looking incompetent. In other words, the smarter you are, the easier it becomes to justify inaction. Intelligence just becomes a shield for discomfort.
Most leadership advice assumes execution, not just comprehension.
- “Have the hard conversation”
- “Time block your calendar SO THAT you can do the work”
- “Pick a path and stick with it”
- “Delegate effectively”
These aren’t intellectually difficult concepts; however, they are emotionally and socially difficult. The people who enact good leadership advice are the people who aren’t afraid to face tolerating the process to get to the results. The real skill gap in leadership is acting despite uncertainty, imperfection, and emotional friction.
If you want to see the results you’ve been hoping having the knowledge would provide, here are a few actions you can take to bridge the gap in execution:
- Lower the bar for initial action.
- Aim for imperfect execution, not optimal strategy.
- Shorten the loop.
- Apply one idea immediately instead of collecting ten.
- Expect discomfort.
- Treat it like a sign you’re doing the right thing.
- Track behavior, not insight.
- Measure based on what you did, not on what you learned.
- Reframe failure.
- Every action provides data. Even if you “fail”, you inevitably learn something from it, and thereby decrease the likelihood of the same outcome the next time you try. Your identity isn’t in question. In fact, if anything, it’s being further developed.
The world doesn’t respond to what you know, only to what you do. The most effective leaders aren’t the ones with all the best ideas. They’re the ones willing to act when they know how to solve a problem. Understanding the right move is easy, but making the move is the true skill.
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