More from our excellent B2B partner Dr. Ed Gurowitz. This installment follows his previous article “What Organizations Think They Need… But Don’t”. EnjoY!
Most leadership teams come to the table with a shopping list. They ask for strategies, tools, metrics, and sometimes a shiny new cultural initiative with a catchy name.But rarely — almost never — do they ask for what actually determines whether those things will work. They don’t ask for the foundations that make a company resilient, adaptive, and truly high-performing. They want the furniture without the house.This isn’t because they’re foolish. It’s because what they really need is hard to see and even harder to measure. And let’s be honest — it’s a little uncomfortable to talk about.Here are three things organizations need but rarely, if ever, put on their agenda.
First, A Brutally Honest Mirror
Most companies operate with a silent agreement: don’t name the elephants in the room.Leaders avoid saying out loud what everyone already knows:
- The CEO has a blind spot that keeps derailing key initiatives.
- A high-performing team is quietly toxic and driving good people away.
- Everyone nods in agreement at meetings but rolls their eyes afterward.
The danger isn’t the elephant itself. It’s the silence. When the truth becomes unspeakable, trust erodes. Decision-making slows. Politics fill the gaps.What organizations need is a mirror held up by someone who won’t flinch. Not a diagnostic survey that produces a neat dashboard. Not another “pulse check.” A human, direct conversation where leaders hear what others are afraid to say — and actually listen.This is messy work. It’s also liberating. Because once the unspoken is spoken, the organization can finally move.
Second, The Courage to Slow Down
Modern business worships speed. Faster time-to-market. Faster decisions. Faster growth.But speed without alignment is just chaos in motion. Think of a rowing team where everyone rows harder but out of sync — they don’t go faster, they just splash more.Organizations need to slow down long enough to:
- Align on purpose, not just goals.
- Make agreements about how decisions get made and conflicts get resolved.
- Build trust that can withstand the inevitable storms ahead.
This feels counterintuitive to leaders under pressure. When I tell an executive team, “We’re going to take two days to get clear before we move,” they often look at me like I’ve suggested a nap during a fire drill.But slowing down isn’t the same as stopping. It’s like sharpening an axe before cutting wood: a small pause that makes the next action exponentially more effective.Without this pause, speed becomes self-defeating. The team burns out, strategy fragments, and problems multiply faster than they can be solved.
Third, Real Accountability — The Kind You Can’t Enforce
Ask a CEO if they want accountability, and they’ll always say yes. But what they usually mean is oversight: more reports, more dashboards, more ways to catch mistakes after they happen.True accountability isn’t about enforcement. It’s about ownership. It’s a culture where people take responsibility because they choose to, not because they fear consequences.This kind of accountability can’t be mandated. It grows when leaders:
- Model vulnerability instead of perfection.
- Admit mistakes publicly.
- Invite dissent rather than punish it.
- Treat every failure as a source of learning, not shame.
It sounds simple. It is not. Because it requires leaders to give up the illusion of control — and trust their people instead.Organizations rarely ask for this because it feels intangible. You can’t put “trust and ownership” on a balance sheet or timeline. But when it’s missing, everything else — strategy, execution, innovation — grinds down under the weight of fear and compliance.
Why They Don’t Ask
If these needs are so fundamental, why don’t leaders ask for them?Because they require deep, personal work. It’s easier to request a new process or structure than to confront:
- How we’re contributing to the very problems we complain about.
- How our leadership habits ripple through the organization.
- How our own fear limits what’s possible for our teams.
Organizations avoid asking for what they most need because it demands vulnerability. And vulnerability is risky — especially at the top.But here’s the paradox: when leaders finally name these deeper needs, they unlock a kind of strength that can’t be faked. The team stops playing defense. Innovation stops being a buzzword and starts being a way of life. People feel seen, heard, and trusted. Results follow naturally.
Asking the Better Question
The shift begins with a single, powerful question: Instead of “What do we need to do?”, ask “What do we need to face?”Face the elephants in the room.Face the uncomfortable truths about how your team really operates.Face the fact that lasting change doesn’t come from new tools or processes — it comes from who you are as leaders.When organizations make this shift, they stop playing whack-a-mole with symptoms. They start addressing root causes. And they stop chasing the next big thing because they’ve built something even better: a foundation strong enough to weather whatever comes next.
The Takeaway
Every organization has two lists:
- The list of things they say they need.
- And the quiet, unspoken list of things they actually need but don’t have the courage to name.
The first list gets you motion.The second list — if you’re brave enough to face it — gets you transformation.The real work isn’t in what you do.It’s in what you’re finally willing to see.
With respect,
Ed Gurowitz
About Edward M. Gurwitz, PhD.
A respected neuropsychologist, author, and consultant, Ed brings over 50 years of experience in personal and organizational transformation. He is trusted, engaged, and deeply insightful—with a rare ability to balance strategic vision with an awareness of the dark side of leadership and change.
Check out Ed's iLumn8 Partner Page