Global Study Finds One-Third of Corporate Managers Lead With Fear, Approach to Leadership Costing $36 Billion In Productivity

Industry Leader Margot Faraci Surveyed Emerging Corporate Managers to Uncover Larger Workplace Trends

NEW YORK, Nov. 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A new landmark global study found one-third of emerging corporate leaders in the U.S. are primarily motivated by fear, creating work environments that cost the economy $36 billion annually in lost productivity.

The Love Leadership Survey of nearly 2,500 respondents, commissioned by experienced executive leader, author and speaker Margot Faraci and conducted by New York City-based First & First Consulting, a leading research and analytics firm, determined that 36% of leaders under 55 years old, roughly 1.3 million in total, were found to be leading through fear.

Fear-based leaders are those who responded in the survey that they either always or often experienced anxiety, micromanagement, imposter syndrome, anger, unwillingness to receive feedback, hesitancy to speak up, complacency and quiet quitting. These leaders lose 10 hours a week in productivity for their companies, equivalent to $28,750 a year per leader, or $36 billion annually.

"These findings are enormously consequential for global businesses," said Faraci, who brings 20 years of experience in leadership management in high-pressure industries like financial services and tech. "An entire generation of leaders is creating a workplace culture marred by systemic fear and this culture is causing a massive loss of productivity, to the tune of billions of dollars a year. To break this toxic cycle, we need leaders to turn away from fear and embrace courage, honest communication and compassion."

Highlighting the extent to which fear-based leaders have a negative impact on their workplaces, Faraci's study also found that:

• 90% of fear-based leaders reported witnessing a decline in employee productivity.
• Nearly 40% of fear-based leaders strongly believe that stress can be positively harnessed.
• Almost 50% of fearful leaders noticed a drop in performance from their teams while nearly 60% acknowledged their direct reports are 'unhappy with their job.'

The survey, however, did reveal promising opportunities to reverse this trend, with eight out of 10 leaders having a positive view of compassion and vulnerability in the workplace.

Faraci, informed by her extensive experience researching management trends and corporate leadership style, architected the study, which targeted managers ages 24 through 54, working in corporate offices with 500+ employees across the U.S., UK and Australia. The study was conducted through Pollfish and captured 2,486 responses from August 25 through September 13, 2023.

About Margot Faraci

Margot Faraci is a speaker, leader, author, and coach – with twenty years of experience covering issues around corporate performance, working as a leader for change in a range of industries, from financial institutions like CBA and Macquarie Bank, to tech companies like seek.com. Margot's transformative Love Leadership campaign seeks to empower emerging leaders, enabling them to analyze and abandon established patterns of fear-based leadership, allowing them to tackle many modern business concerns.

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SOURCE Margot Faraci