“The meeting room lock is broken!”

The CEO exploded.

Shouting.

Threats.

Completely disproportionate anger.

A display of authority before the meeting had even begun.

At that moment, I already knew how the meeting would unfold.

When a CEO personally turns a broken meeting room lock into the company’s biggest issue of the day, it doesn’t mean they are close to the business.

It usually means the business has lost its focus.

Because healthy organizations share one fundamental characteristic:

Everyone knows their role.

The facilities team fixes the lock.

Managers lead their teams.

Executives make decisions.

And the CEO protects what matters most:

the company’s direction.

When leadership spends its energy on emotional outbursts and theatrical demonstrations of authority, the real problem is rarely the lock.

It’s usually something much deeper.

Decision-making.

Culture.

Trust.

Leadership.

Customer focus.

Strong leaders don’t need to prove they are in control.

Their organizations already know it.

Calm leadership is not a sign of weakness.

It is often the clearest sign that a company knows exactly where it is going.