The 4 Pitfalls of Leading with Fear

The NFL’s Houston Texans have fired their head coach Bill O’Brien after a dismissal 0-4 start, even though O’Brien is the winningest coach in Texans history and won a playoff game in 2019. O’Brien has a fiery personality, can fly off the handle, and wears his emotions on his sleeve — turning anger on and off in seconds.

Whenever a leader leads with the fear of anger, there can be serious repercussions. And because this fear becomes rampant throughout the building, everyone in the organization behaves scared and frightened of their existence.

Now, we have all believed, leading by fear at times does produce results. Vince Lombardi, the Hall-of-Fame coach of the Green Bay Packers, is a shining example of fearful leadership producing results. But his style is often misunderstood. Yes, he had a fiery temper, yes, he would pray for patience, but Lombardi always led by demanding more, not simply by fear. He was tough-minded, loud and would scream at players. However, each could not be subjected to the same tirades.

Leading with fear creates four problems that tend to linger and create major challenges:

1. Leading by fear stops teamwork. Teamwork thrives when people are “in it together” and trying to accomplish a common goal. Unfortunately, when you have a fearful team member, they have a stronger, individual goal — to avoid the source of their fear.

2. Leading by fear divides the workplace. So what happens when you have not just one scared person, but a whole team? Sometimes, they form a collective that works to get things done at all costs.

3. Leading by fear stops open communication. When you lead by fear, people stop offering their opinions. Instead, scary leaders are stuck in a vacuum where they receive very little feedback.

4. Leading by fear kills confidence. Perhaps the most damaging consequence of fear-based leadership is that it destroys the confidence of a team. When somebody is constantly belittled, criticized, and discredited, sometimes their fear makes them begin to believe it’s true.

None of these traits was common with any Lombardi-coached team; therefore, it’s safe to assume he never led with fear. But when you breakdown the Texans from the first four games of the 2020 season, many of these qualities are evident.

We never want to see anyone lose his/her job, but while fear-based leadership might work in the short term, it’s never sustainable for us in the long.

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