WHEN WE KEEP PROMOTING THE WRONG PEOPLE — AND ACT SURPRISED WHEN EVERYTHING GOES TO HELL
Let’s cut the polite bullshit and get right to it:
If we want to fix safety, culture, risk — the whole damn mess — we’ve got to stop pretending we don’t know where the leak is.
We’re promoting people for all the wrong reasons.
And the trade — hell, entire industries — are bleeding because of it.
Not because these folks are bad.
Not because they’re lazy.
But because the system is built on a lie:
“If you were good at your last job, you’ll be a great leader.
”or“
If you stick around long enough, eventually it’ll be your turn.”
That’s the bar.That’s the whole promotion pipeline.
WHEN EXACTLY DID WE TEACH THEM TO LEAD?
Be honest.
When did anyone teach these new leaders:
- How to listen without dismissing?
- How to read a room boiling under pressure?
- How to earn trust instead of demand it?
- How to build a culture that doesn’t collapse the second a storm hits?
Never.
Not once.
But we’ll hand them a crew, a budget, a stack of KPIs, and a false sense of competence…and then wonder why morale is tanking and people are one close call away from disaster.
THE SUITS BELIEVE THE OPTICS
I’ve been in more rooms, yards, substations, and boardrooms than I can count.And here’s the shit no one wants to admit:
Executives believe the charts.
They think the spreadsheets tell the whole story.
They look at a green box on a dashboard and assume everything below the waterline is solid.
Meanwhile:
- Culture is fraying.
- Psychological risk is piling up like storm-damaged wire.
- Physical risk gets ignored until there's a body on the ground.
- And the boots are carrying the burden while the suits admire the “optics.”
Let me be real clear here, in the plainest language I’ve got:
The optics are lying to you.
They’ve always been lying to you.
THE HARDEST PILL TO SWALLOW
Here’s the punch in the throat:
When you build a strong culture, everything else — EVERYTHING — gets better.
Performance climbs.
Innovation happens.
Turnover drops.
People stop operating from fear and start working from pride.
Profit rises because nobody’s wasting their energy surviving a toxic environment.
That doesn’t come from longevity.
Or “he’s good with numbers.”
Or “she always hits her deadlines.”
That comes from actual, boots-on-the-ground, human-as-hell leadership.
THE COST OF BAD LEADERSHIP IS EVERYWHERE
You’ll never find it on a balance sheet.
No accountant is putting “psychological damage” or “crew trust erosion” on a quarterly report.
But you’ll see it in:
- The guys who stop speaking up.
- The crews who whisper instead of warn.
- The tailboards where no one believes a damn word being said.
- The spike in near misses.
- The gut feeling that something’s off — and no one has the spine to say it.
Bad leadership doesn’t show up in dollars.
It shows up in funerals.
TIME TO CALL IT WHAT IT IS
If safety matters…
If culture matters…
If your people matter more than the optics you brag about…
Then stop promoting survivors.
Stop promoting spreadsheets.
Stop promoting warm bodies who “earned their turn.”
Start developing leaders who carry people with them, not drag them behind.
Leadership is not a reward.
It’s not “he’s been here longer” or “she knows the system.”
Leadership is the razor-edge between life and death in this trade.
And right now, too many companies are handing out dull knives.
WAKE. THE. HELL. UP.
If you want a better company — a safer workforce — a culture people actually believe in:
Then stop promoting the wrong people
and start investing in the right ones.
Because leadership isn’t part of the game.
It IS the whole damn game.
Kevin “Lum” Robinson | Lineman Bull$hit™
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WHEN WE KEEP PROMOTING THE WRONG PEOPLE — AND ACT SURPRISED WHEN EVERYTHING GOES TO HELL
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