#477 Why Leaders Fail When They Lack Context - article by Niels Brabandt
Why Leaders Fail When They Lack Context
Article by Niels Brabandt
Leadership credibility can be built over decades and destroyed in seconds. In today’s digital environment, where every statement can be amplified instantly, the ability to understand and communicate with context has become one of the most critical leadership competencies.
In this leadership analysis, leadership expert Niels Brabandt examines what happens when leaders speak without sufficient context and why the consequences extend far beyond public embarrassment.
Context is the foundation of leadership credibility
Context is not simply background information. It is the framework that allows leaders to interpret complex realities accurately. Leaders who lack context risk making statements that appear uninformed, contradictory, or disconnected from reality.
As Niels Brabandt explains, leadership decisions and public communication do not exist in isolation. They are interpreted through the lens of organisational culture, economic realities, historical context, and stakeholder expectations.
When leaders ignore this reality, they risk undermining their own credibility and damaging their organisations.
Why leaders lose context as they become more successful
One of the most overlooked leadership risks is the gradual loss of context that often accompanies professional success. As leaders advance, their daily experiences diverge from those of their employees, customers, and stakeholders.
This separation can create blind spots. Leaders may underestimate financial pressures faced by employees, misunderstand operational realities, or misjudge the social and economic implications of their statements.
Niels Brabandt emphasises that this is not a moral failure. It is a structural risk inherent in leadership progression. Without deliberate effort, leaders become increasingly disconnected from the realities they are responsible for managing.
The organisational damage caused by leadership statements lacking context
When leaders speak without context, the consequences extend far beyond reputation. Organisations face measurable and immediate business risks.
High-performing talent may choose not to join the organisation. Existing employees may leave. Recruitment costs increase. Employer branding weakens.
Leadership communication is not merely symbolic. It has direct operational and financial consequences.
Decision-makers must recognise that every public statement made by a leader represents the organisation.
Why self-reflection is the most important leadership safeguard
According to Niels Brabandt, self-reflection is the single most important defence against losing context. Leaders must actively seek diverse perspectives, engage with people outside their immediate social and professional circles, and remain open to feedback.
Self-reflection is not an abstract concept. It is a practical leadership discipline.
Leaders who actively engage with diverse stakeholders maintain situational awareness. They make better decisions. They communicate more effectively.
Professional communication structures are essential
Organisations must support leaders with professional communication structures. Internal communication teams, external advisors, and structured review processes ensure that leadership communication is informed, accurate, and strategically aligned.
Leadership communication must be treated as a strategic function, not an afterthought.
Leadership requires responsibility, awareness, and humility
The leadership lesson analysed by Niels Brabandt is clear. Leadership authority does not exempt leaders from the need for context. It increases their responsibility to understand it.
Leaders who maintain contextual awareness build trust, attract talent, and strengthen their organisations.
Leaders who fail to maintain context risk undermining everything they have built.
Conclusion: Context is not optional in leadership
In the modern business environment, context is not a secondary consideration. It is a core leadership competency.
Leadership without context is leadership without credibility.
Leaders who prioritise self-reflection, professional communication, and contextual awareness position themselves and their organisations for long-term success.
Niels Brabandt
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More on this topic in this week's videocast and podcast with Niels Brabandt: Videocast / Apple Podcasts / Spotify
For the videocast’s and podcast’s transcript, read below this article.
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Niels Brabandt is an expert in sustainable leadership with more than 20 years of experience in practice and science.
Niels Brabandt: Professional Training, Speaking, Coaching, Consulting, Mentoring, Project & Interim Management. Event host, MC, Moderator.
Podcast and Videocast Transcript
Niels Brabandt
Oh, he didn't say that. Or did he? Did they? Do you know these moments when you think, "Oh, please tell me they haven't said that." Please no. And you think, "Okay, that was my weaken in the communications department." Sometimes you have these moments where leaders say something and suddenly it goes viral and everything goes downhill from there. And we have one of these moments we're going to talk about today.
Niels Brabandt
When leaders lack context, it certainly, almost certainly goes downhill from there. Maybe you know these moments where someone gives you advice and you know, "Hey, walk a mile in my shoes," because then you probably know what I'm doing and then you wouldn't say anything like that. Or someone gives you advice without knowing the details, or anyone making a brash statement without having expertise in the industry. It's extremely important that you know that when leaders lack context, usually this is becoming a problem pretty quickly.
Niels Brabandt
And I'm going to talk about a real-world case today, which of course means I'm quoting real-world cases here. And under the Fair Dealing Act, Fair Use Act, and in the UK and the US and the German Zitierrecht, meaning quotation rights, I have the right to show these original sources here. This is just to prove that I'm not making stuff up.
Niels Brabandt
So when leaders lack context, what is the issue with that? And we have someone who is called Jim Ratcliffe. Sir Jim Ratcliffe. And when you now hear "sir," you think, "Okay, he's British." Correct. He's British. The situation is he made a statement. And when Jim Ratcliffe makes a statement, he can be quite controversial, but is usually not known to be the person who goes as a TV pundit around the world. He's a wealthy British person, an entrepreneur, a billionaire as well. And when Jim Ratcliffe said something, you now wonder, which topic did he pick? Because some topics are rather delicate or rather difficult to deal with, especially on a public platform. And he decided to talk about immigration. And when you now think, "Oh, please, please, please, please no. Please, please not again." He did something like, "Oh, we all the okay, here we are. You are on the right path here."
Niels Brabandt
So what he said, and I'm showing you the source before because otherwise you probably think I'm making this up. Let's just think you are a British person, born and bred in the UK, and you have to state an issue that you see with immigration. And maybe there are certain words where you say that is something you should say, and there are certain words where you say this is something you probably should not say. What he decided to say is that, and I quote, "UK has been colonized by immigrants."
Niels Brabandt
Let that sink in. The UK has been colonized by immigrants. And when you now think, "Well, when it comes to when it comes to colonizing countries, isn't the UK historically pretty on the frontier of doing that?" Yeah, exactly. So first, of course, choice of words awful already.
Niels Brabandt
And when you now think, "Why did this go viral? Why is this so relevant to many people?" It's quite simple why this became relevant, because he's also the owner of Manchester United, a world-known football club, extremely successful in many years. And ManU, as it's briefly named, Manchester United, of course, has an outreach because many people in the UK watch football. And after he made that statement, including his context of owning Manchester United, very quickly it went viral from there. And of course, it went downhill from there as well.
Niels Brabandt
And now we have to look at the facts. We have to look at the facts and think, "Okay, what did he say? Was he right somewhere, or wasn't he right somewhere?" So when we look at the facts and someone says, "Okay, I'm the owner of Manchester United, and my statement is that immigration is awful," or "immigrants colonized the UK," as Jim Ratcliffe said here, then. Well, of course, someone said, "Okay, maybe we take a look at your football team, how this would look like without immigration." And someone did a bit of Photoshop here and just to make it a bit more easily accessible to just look at the picture and know how the team would perform without immigration.
Niels Brabandt
So when you're watching on YouTube right now, you see the picture. It's a picture where you basically see there are only two players in the usually starting 11. And then in the starting team, the main team, 9 out of 11 are non-UK citizens, are immigrants. So 9 out of 11 would be gone. And pretty safe to say when you only play with 2 against 11, you probably lose. And especially on the picture you see, these are two field players, so there's no goalkeeper. So without a goalkeeper, you can't start the game. There you are. So it's a massive issue when you say immigration is awful.
Niels Brabandt
And now you think, "Okay, probably he said something and then we have to deal with it, but it can't get worse from there." Well, maybe it can. So let's just say what could be worse than saying immigration is awful or immigrants colonized the UK? And now you probably think, "Oh, please don't tell me that he's an immigrant himself." Well, here we are. He's not an immigrant to the UK, but he immigrated somewhere. So where did the billionaire immigrate to? And now you probably want, "Oh, please don't tell me. Please don't tell me it is." Yes, it is. He immigrated to Monaco.
Niels Brabandt
And of course, that has one part of that is the tax reason. And this pretty much ticks all the boxes of how wrong how much context can you lack making a statement when making any statement? When you say immigration is awful, the immigrants colonized the UK, awful already. When you're an immigrant by yourself from a country that colonized half of the planet, there's always an important aspect when you make statements. You need to have the context of your own nationality, and you cannot just pick things you like. You can't do cherry picking.
Niels Brabandt
I'm born and bred German, and Germany has the darkest pieces of history, the darkest history of planet Earth. And we all like to have the upsides of our passport, which we, by the way, only coincidentally got when we were born in some country. You get a certain passport. You didn't work for your passport. You just got it. You got it by being born somewhere. So when I go somewhere, I have a German passport. Many people immediately assume, "Oh, hardworking, highest quality German engineering and whatnot else." And of course, love to take that.
Niels Brabandt
But we still have to see there's an omnipresent German guilt. Anyone is guilty of what happened during the Holocaust. And you can't say, "Oh, that wasn't my generation." No, I take all the positive sides, but I don't take the negative ones. Because when you pick the positive ones, people could ask, "So how many hours did you work when people became famous for great quality in the 1950s?" Oh, yeah, 60, 70, 80 hours a week. No paid holidays. Oh, you're working six days a week. Yeah. No, today, four days, 35 hours a week. So you can't cherry pick what your nationality is.
Niels Brabandt
Context means you need to know your own national identity when you play that card, or you don't play that card at all, which can also be your take. But when you go to Monaco and now, of course, we also have to see the other side of the game. And now someone says, "Oh, Monaco, they only go there because they don't pay taxes." That's nonsense as well for a very simple reason. When Mr. Ratcliffe, when Sir Jim Ratcliffe moves to Monaco as a billionaire, when you look into different sources, his net worth is somewhere in between 17 to 21 billion British pounds.
Niels Brabandt
So when he lives somewhere in Monaco, he probably spends a million pounds or a million euros in this case, somewhere. The VAT alone, and when you look at the VAT, the VAT in France, it's 20%, 10%, 5.5% or 2.1%, as far as I remember, spending in different tiers depending on what you buy. Even if you only take an average of that, most likely he leaves 50,000 to 100,000 euros of VAT alone within Monaco. That is more than most of the working people, most of people who go to work make in six months or even in the whole year. So don't come along with the, "Oh, the billionaire doesn't pay taxes."
Niels Brabandt
Here we simply have to see when you are in for the freedom of movement, that comes with all the consequences. You cannot say, "Hey, we need to find immigration amazing," except when someone immigrates to pay less taxes. Then it's all awful. That's nothing you can do. And in my opinion, immigration is massively necessary for a very simple reason. Our birth rates are too low to keep the country running. And that, by the way, happens in any industrialized country. In most industrialized countries, the birth rate of a couple, any kind of couple, is somewhere in between 1.2 to 1.6 children per couple. And you don't have to be massively mathematically gifted to know when two people become 1.6 to 1.2, then probably social welfare is going downhill at record speed.
Niels Brabandt
And one solution to that is qualified immigration or non-qualified immigration. Qualify them on site or qualify them where they live, and then they can immigrate once they move to your country, etc., etc., etc. All of that is an option. It is extremely important that you need to see that context always means things are either complex or complicated, most likely both. So the Monaco aspect is massively complicated. And by the way, with certain aspects, Jim Ratcliffe in the interview was massively right. He said the cost of energy is too high, three, four times higher than other countries. It harms the people. It harms the economy. And he said you can't have a great economy when 10 million people in the UK sit on benefits. And that's true. However, some people work and still get universal credit because their salary is too low. So there are different approaches to that. So they are not just all lazy sitting at home. But you need to know the details. When you lack context, someone is going to call you out and you're going to embarrass yourself in public. And by the way, when he says, "Oh, the economy isn't in great shape," there is one aspect that massively harmed the UK and the UK economy. The UK economy, proven by science, grows slower compared to other economies due to one aspect, and that is called Brexit. And who was a massive and vocal supporter of Brexit? Jim Ratcliffe. So when you say you harm the economy, you are part of that harming game. You are part of that harming game. I'm not going to blame you to move to Monaco because, and now very important, that's an opinion, not science.
Niels Brabandt
In my opinion, you cannot just take the whole screw people with taxes, like drill the screw deeper and deeper into their income, and then you say, "Oh, someone who makes £100 pays probably £30 in taxes, and someone who makes 100 million pays 50 million in taxes." That is, of course, not possible because there isn't there is not possibly any kind any kind of option that you get anything in return which is worthwhile. And I don't say any penny needs to be worthwhile and get spent back on you. But when you spend an enormous amount on corporate taxes, personal taxation, social welfare, social contributions, income tax, and whatnot else, all the taxes you pay towards the state, in my opinion, you cannot simply say someone on that income level needs to pay 50, 60% taxes. That's my personal opinion here. So it's extremely important that when you see something like Brexit and you supported that, you need to own it and you need to be able to stand up to that and either defend it, which you can't, scientifically speaking, or it happens what happened here. The BBC shows up and fact-checks your statement. And the BBC, by the way, gave a very balanced view here. They said he was right about the figures that there are basically 10 million or 9 million people on benefits. However, there are people who work, still get universal credit due to low income. And there are, of course, issues with energy costs. He was absolutely right on that one. But when he said colonized the country, absolute utter nonsense. Absolute utter nonsense. We really have to put it that way. And when leaders lack context, the damage happens with other people very quickly. Not only do you stir the pot with anti-immigration sentiments, which very quickly lead to violence against people who really try to contribute to society, it also harms your own organization.
Niels Brabandt
Right now, there will be people who say, "Look, I applied for a job in your business, but with that leader, no, thank you. I hereby revoke my application." So you lose talent. Some people would sit in interviews and they say, "Look, I just read this. I really wanted to work with you, but under these circumstances, no." So you lose people after you spend all the effort. Other people will say, "I'm not going to apply for a job at your place." Or people who are within your organization say, "I was on the brink, sitting on the fence. Should I leave? Shouldn't I?" And now, after that statement, "Yeah, I leave. Thank you." So you will have higher turnover, lower recruiting success, and at the same time, you have higher recruiting costs for replacing the people leaving and spending more money into advertising, to actually getting people on board wherever you try to find talent. And on top of all of that, very quickly, your brand will be connected with that anti-immigration xenophobic statement where people simply say, "Look, especially when people are reasonably well qualified, they often say, 'I'd like to have I'd like to have an environment where I can be safe and sound, where diversity plays a role.'" And I do not even mean diversity only from gay people, lesbian people, transgender people, bisexual people, LGBTQIA+ community. I mean that I don't get discriminated against by age or by origin or by skin color or by my status of the family or when I suddenly have a sick family member I have to take care of or when I have three children instead of two that I suddenly have to work two hours less and get discriminated against for that. People very quickly jump to conclusions and say, "I think I do not want to work for you." And that is something where you have to be unambiguously clear. You need to have the context.
Niels Brabandt
And very important here, and because I know that immediately someone will yell into my inbox and say, "Oh, this is one of these bloody billionaires. They all just inherited everything. It's just inheritance. Rich family and he stayed rich." Wrong. Context here as well. Jim Ratcliffe grew up in the suburbs of Manchester. Father was a carpenter. Mother worked in accounting in a company where back in the days, minimum wage was so low or nonexistent that you hardly could make ends meet. So he really worked his way up. So don't tell people who worked their way up. And quite frankly, I come from a public service family. I'm working 60, 80 hours every week, most likely even more. I worked my way up in this economy as well. So no one is going to talk down on people who really worked their way up. We can discuss about these inheritance rich people and how to deal with them on a fair basis. But even there, many people work very hard to where they are. Of course, inheritance is an issue. Give you that. However, when people work their way up, don't tell it's all just gifted for them. It's the result of decades of work.
Niels Brabandt
So when you now say, "Okay, what to do right now?" Because many people say, "I have probably one of these leaders. What should we do?" Because you want to prevent that the damage actually happens before it occurs in public. So what do you need to implement right now? Step number one, of course, is you need to get people to the level of self-reflection. And that means you need to get people either into coaching or training or any kind of other means, professional means, not the cheap online class. I can't repeat this often enough. This self-reflection must be led by professionally qualified people on the matter.
Niels Brabandt
Because one aspect happens, the more wealthy you become and the better your situation is, by time you lose the context, how other people's life actually works. You probably saw the interviews on TV where people at the age of 80 who own a house were asked, "What do you think a house costs today in London, in Berlin, in Madrid, in New York City?" And they were off by factor 10 to 15 too low quite often. So when you hear the statement, "Oh, when I was your age, I already owned a house. Why do you still rent?" Well, because back in the days, the house cost 1% of what you paid you fossil. That's usually the answer. So it gets nasty pretty quickly.
Niels Brabandt
So the self-reflection means, and I'm in the fortunate situation, my circle of friends is pretty diverse due to me going to electronic music clubs. And when you now think at your age, yes, at my age, it's my big hobby. I do electronic music ever since I'm 14 years old, and I will not stop doing so. So my circle of friends, probably the youngest people are 18. The oldest one I know this specifically is 72, and that's a pretty wide range. There's absolutely anyone in there from working class to double doctorate, being born rich and stayed rich. And all of them are in there. So I'm in the lucky situation that I have a quite diverse circle of friends, and I travel frequently. And that means I see many different circumstances, many different people, and that gives me a wide range of insights.
Niels Brabandt
However, I'm not blaming anyone if you don't do that, because job choices are, of course, part of our life choices. And when you travel more, you see more. That gives you more insights. I don't blame you if you don't. If you prefer to stay within your circle of friends in your village, perfectly fine. However, just reflect on what other circumstances might there be. Simply do not say, "This is me, and everything must be the same as I think." And especially leaders, when you step into the public eye, people will judge you when you do something which massively lacks self-reflection. The awareness for that needs to be there before you step into the spotlight. And this awareness can be given to you by coaching or simply by looking into the world and actually dealing with it.
Niels Brabandt
I can tell you a couple of things. When I was raised by my parents, a couple of things I didn't find great. When I wanted to have my first personal computer, my father said, "Go get a job during your holidays. School has enough holidays." So I worked in a three-shift system in a factory in the local village. And my family, family of public servants and teachers, when you suddenly work in a three-shift shift in the local production facility, it's a very different world. It's a very different way of communicating. It's also a very different way of how conflict is resolved and how people talk to you, with you, or even at you. And that gave me insights into people's lives, which I found very valuable today. I can tell you at the age of 14, I didn't find that great. I simply wanted to have my computer and play computer games. However, today I know that my father taught me, "If you want to have more money, you have to work for it." And that's an extremely important lesson which cannot be taught early enough.
Niels Brabandt
When you are now in an organization where you say, "How can we prevent harm from a certain size?" You have a professional communication organization, either as an external one, as a supplier, or you have an internal comms department, communications department, because only then you can be sure that you do things right. And when you do it the way we discussed right here, including the self-reflection and the awareness, then everything will become way better from there. And I wish you all the best putting that into action in your organization. And when you now say, "I think I need a couple of more details on that," yeah, let's get into communication. Let's just talk.
Niels Brabandt
So first, of course, when you're watching on YouTube, feel free to like this video. Feel free to, best is to subscribe to this channel. Put the little bell on there so you see every new episode so you don't miss anything. Put a comment in there. Also leave a review when you do. If you like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Five Stars, thank you very much for doing so. Recommend this podcast and videocast amongst friends, colleagues, anywhere you like, online and offline. Looking forward to seeing that. Thank you very much for doing so.
Niels Brabandt
You can, of course, follow me on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or you go to my website, nb-networks.biz, and then you see what I do for a living. And of course, when you now say, "Hey, I really got something," and I know the vast majority of people still contact me on that path of communication, I can understand why. People say, "Look, I have something, but it's within my organization." When I post this on YouTube comment section, anyone will know who I am and also where this happened. Feel free to send me an email. And anything, of course, is fully confidential. nb@nb-networks.com. Looking forward to hearing from you there.
Niels Brabandt
When you now want to have live sessions, yes, we have them, but you have to sign up for one thing, for the leadership letter, expert.nb-networks.com. As soon as you sign up there, you will only receive one email. No worries. Every Wednesday morning, it's 100% content at free guarantee. I'm looking forward to seeing you on there. In every email you receive on the Wednesday morning, you have full access to all the articles and podcasts, more than 400 in the English and German language. And you always see the date, the time, and the access link for the next live session. We at least have one live session every month, so I'm looking forward to seeing you there.
Niels Brabandt
You can, of course, also follow me on social media, connect with me on LinkedIn. Don't do the follow thing. Connect with me properly. I'm looking forward to being connected with you. Follow me on Instagram as well. Like me on Facebook or simply subscribe to my channel on YouTube.
Niels Brabandt
I'm looking forward to being in touch with you there on every channel. When you contact me, I get back to you within 24 hours or less. So no worries. You will always have a quick answer, no matter on which channel you contact me. I'm looking forward to being in touch with you.
Niels Brabandt
The most important thing, however, is always the last thing that I say: apply, apply, apply what you heard in this podcast, because only when you apply what you heard, you will see the positive aspect that you obviously want to see in your organization. I wish you all the best doing so. Get things into action. Get the awareness and the self-reflection. Everything will be better from there.
Niels Brabandt
At the end of this podcast, as well as at the end of this videocast, there's only one thing left for me to say: thank you very much for your time.