You Don’t Have an Engagement Problem. You Have a Leadership Consistency Problem.

Jun 2

You can usually tell a lot about a company’s culture long before anyone says a word.

Recently, I was sitting in a car dealership waiting for a salesperson to return with paperwork.

While he was gone, I noticed a whiteboard inside a glass office.

The top salespeople’s names were written in blue marker.

Everyone else’s names were written in black.

That whiteboard told me everything I needed to know about the culture.

The stars were visible.

The middle was invisible.

And that’s exactly what happens inside many organizations.

Leaders spend most of their energy focused on the top 10% and the bottom 10%.

Meanwhile, the 90% quietly carries the culture every single day.

The reliable people.
The consistent contributors.
The employees who show up, do the work, and rarely demand attention.

Over time, many of them stop feeling recognized, developed, and connected.

So organizations respond the only way they know how:

And for a short time, people feel energized.

Then Monday morning arrives.

The same pressure returns.
The same communication patterns return.
The same leadership habits return.

Because employees don’t experience culture through initiatives.

They experience culture through leadership.

Through feedback.
Through tone.
Through trust.
Through consistency.
Through whether they feel safe contributing.

And no engagement initiative can fix leadership inconsistency.

That’s The 90% Advantage.

When people feel seen, trusted, and valued, they stop simply working.

They start taking ownership.

And ownership changes everything.

Hassan Waheed

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