Dec 15 The Leadership Failure That Secretly Cost Organizations Millions in 2025
Why Tolerance Instead of Talent Is the True Barrier to Performance
Here’s the truth no one wants to admit: 2025 didn’t fail you, your tolerance did.
It wasn’t the market, the economy, remote work, hybrid arrangements, or competitive pressures.
The biggest obstacle to performance came from within your organization.
It came from what you allowed.
Every year, I see senior executives set ambitious annual goals and then quietly undermine them by tolerating behavior that contradicts the outcomes they claim to desire. They accept vague expectations. They accept inconsistent execution. They accept poor performance because they avoid conflict. They accept excuses because facing the truth requires courage. They tolerate people who drain results instead of developing or removing them.
By December, leaders reflect on the goals they missed. They blame external factors. But the core issue still lies within the four walls of the business.
Growth doesn’t stop because of circumstances; it stalls because of tolerance.
As you look ahead to 2026, you must confront a fundamental leadership truth: your results depend on what you refuse to accept.
Let’s analyze the actual cost of the behaviors left unaddressed in 2025 and what needs to change moving forward.
- The Consequences of Unclear Expectations Are Catastrophic
Gallup has shown for years that only about half of employees truly understand what is expected of them. That single gap accounts for billions in lost productivity.
Here is the insight no one discusses.
Unclear expectations are more than just a communication problem. They reveal a leadership decision.
When expectations are unclear, results become unpredictable. Teams put in effort but not in an effective way. Activity can actually slow down progress. Leaders often mistake an execution problem for a lack of clarity.
Executives often assume their expectations are clear because they have mentioned or implied them once. But expectations are not understood unless they are:
- Explicit
• Measurable
• Observable
• Consistently reinforced
• Connected to outcomes
If your team didn’t achieve the results you wanted in 2025, the first place to look is the mirror.
Ambiguity always causes missed goals.
- Poor performance is a team issue, not just an individual one.
The data is relentless.
- SHRM research shows a poor performer can cost up to three times their salary when considering rework, delays, and managerial oversight.
• Deloitte reports that teams operate 20 to 30 percent below full productivity when underperformance is overlooked.
• Harvard Business Review found that high performers are 35 percent more likely to quit when compelled to offset weaker colleagues.
Underperformance is more than just a minor annoyance; it results in financial loss, acts as a cultural toxin, and harms leadership’s credibility.
Executives tell themselves a story: “If I remove this person, I will not find anyone better.”
That belief is costly and often causes many leadership teams to stay stagnant for years.
Here’s the contrarian truth.
You can’t hire your way into excellence if you accept mediocrity when it shows up.
The longer you delay addressing underperformance, the more expensive it becomes. It also more deeply affects culture and signals to your top performers that standards are flexible, leadership is inconsistent, and their excellence is optional.
Waiting is never neutral.
Waiting always costs more.
- Accountability Is Not the Enemy. The Absence of Accountability Is.
People don’t resist high expectations. They resist unpredictable ones. They resist inconsistent consequences. They resist leaders who say one thing and do another.
When accountability is missing, teams create their own rules. They set their own direction. They establish hidden standards. They do their best, but best guesses are not always best practices.
Accountability isn’t punishment.
Accountability is clear actions.
It sounds like this: ‘This is what matters most. This is how success is defined. This is how we measure progress. This is how I will support you. This is what happens if commitments are not met.”
High performance cannot occur with low confrontation.
The two can never coexist.
- The Turning Point Begins with a Single Question
A senior executive I coached this year had a chronic underperformer on his team.
She repeatedly missed deadlines.
She frustrated her peers, and the organization missed its targeted goals.
He defended keeping her because she had institutional knowledge. He was concerned about replacing her, which could slow the team down, and about potential conflict.
So I asked him the question that ends avoidance and starts leadership.
What are you no longer willing to tolerate?
The room went silent. He finally understood the truth. He wasn’t protecting her; he was shielding himself from discomfort.
That moment changed everything. He set new expectations. He enforced consequences. The performance either improved or exited. The team immediately felt the lift.
Leadership breakthroughs never begin with a new strategy.
They start with a new standard.
- The Behaviors You Allow in 2025 Cannot Follow You into 2026.
If you want a different outcome next year, you need to redefine what is non-negotiable.
Here are the behaviors that must be eliminated if you want real growth.
- Missed deadlines
• Making excuses
• Activities that lack results
• Resistance to accepting responsibility
• Inconsistent follow-through
• Silence during essential meetings
• Low sense of ownership
• Poor preparation
• Emotional volatility
• Standards that vary based on the individual
Anything tolerated gets duplicated. Anything duplicated becomes culture.
Culture influences outcomes.
This is why my most requested workshops for senior executives are Having Difficult Conversations and Holding Your Team Accountable for Results. Not because leaders lack intelligence. They lack conditioning. When leaders develop this discipline, performance improves faster than any operational initiative.
- The Call to Leadership for 2026
If you learn only one thing from this entire article, let it be this.
Your goals for 2026 won’t fail due to the market. They’ll fail because of tolerance.
You must decide right now what will no longer be tolerated, what behavior will no longer be justified, what excuses will no longer be accepted, what standards will no longer be flexible, and which conversations you will no longer avoid.
An executive who clearly sets and consistently enforces expectations will outperform one who merely creates the most elaborate strategy deck.
Your strategy depends on the standards you uphold.
So ask yourself the question that will shape your year.
What are you no longer willing to tolerate in 2026?
When you respond to that with confidence, every aspect of your leadership will improve. And your results will come afterward.
- About the Author
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Sarah Hathorn, CEO of Hathorn Consulting Group, is the go-to-expert in working with leaders and companies to create successful corporate DNA. As an executive coach, consultant and speaker she collaborates globally with clients and brands such as Deloitte, McKesson, Kimberly-Clark, Sherwin-Williams, Home Depot and other leading organizations.
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