📝 usncan Note: Why Some Leaders Create Chaos To Stay Relevant
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Some leaders intentionally create chaos and manufactured urgency to maintain their relevance and perceived indispensability.
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Leadership is supposed to provide clarity. People look to those at the top for direction, confidence, and calm. Yet in many firms there are leaders who seem to do the opposite. Instead of reducing uncertainty, they manufacture it. Meetings become emergencies, priorities shift without warning, and employees feel as if they are always on edge.
The truth is that some leaders create chaos not by accident but by design. For them, turbulence is not a problem to be solved but a strategy for staying visible. A calm environment risks showing that the leader is no longer essential. By keeping people unsettled, they ensure their own relevance.
The Power Of Manufactured Urgency
Every company faces real emergencies. Markets shift, clients leave, competitors innovate, and genuine crises demand attention. But manufactured urgency looks different. It is the drama of last-minute demands, shifting targets, and constant “all hands on deck” announcements.
These leaders thrive on the adrenaline of urgency. They reposition themselves as the only ones who can resolve the situation they helped create. In doing so, they reinforce their indispensability. Teams begin to associate their authority not with long-term vision, but with firefighting.
We in academia call this dominance signaling. By generating stress, leaders heighten dependence. Employees feel that only the person at the top can cut through the chaos. The paradox is that the very instability people dislike is what secures the leader’s place in the hierarchy.
Why Leaders Resort To Chaos
There are several reasons leaders may turn to this strategy. Some stem from insecurity. Executives who fear obsolescence may worry that stable systems will run without them. If processes are smooth, if teams are autonomous, what value do they bring? By keeping things unsettled, they prove they are still needed.
Others are motivated by habit. Some leaders built their careers in turbulent markets. They became known as problem-solvers during volatile times. When stability emerges, they unconsciously recreate drama because it is the only context in which they feel powerful.
Resource Dependence Theory provides another lens. The idea is that leaders gain influence when others rely on them to access scarce or uncertain resources. Chaos increases uncertainty, making the leader appear as the necessary broker of solutions. By amplifying risk, they reinforce their role as gatekeeper.
Of course, not all leaders who create chaos are calculating. Some are simply disorganized. Yet even unintentional disruption can morph into a mechanism of control once leaders realize it elevates their visibility.
The Cost To The Workplace
The short-term benefit of manufactured chaos may be relevance for the leader, but the long-term cost is heavy. Productivity declines because employees spend more time reacting than planning. Morale suffers as staff feel manipulated into constant urgency. Trust erodes when people sense that crises are exaggerated or avoidable.
Innovation is particularly vulnerable. Creative work requires psychological safety, the freedom to experiment without fear of constant upheaval. Chaos discourages risk-taking, replacing exploration with survival mode. Teams focus on getting through the week instead of thinking about the future.
There is also a reputational cost. High-performing employees who value stability often leave. They know the difference between genuine urgency and unnecessary drama. Over time, businesses that allow chaos-driven leadership struggle to attract and retain top talent.
Perhaps most damaging is the impact on succession. Chaos-oriented managers rarely develop others to take their place. To remain relevant, they cultivate dependence, not independence. When they eventually exit, the company is left fragile, without systems strong enough to function smoothly.
How To Recognize The Signs
Not every shifting priority signals manufactured chaos. Markets change and leaders must adapt. But there are patterns that reveal when turbulence is being used as a strategy rather than a necessity.
One sign is disproportionate urgency. Small issues are escalated into major crises, often accompanied by dramatic communication. Another is inconsistency. Priorities change frequently without clear rationale, creating whiplash among employees. A third sign is spotlight behavior. The leader positions themselves as the hero of every crisis, ensuring their visibility is constant.
Employees caught in this cycle often feel exhausted but unable to question the pattern. Challenging the person who seems to control the chaos can feel risky. That silence allows the dynamic to persist.
What Leaders Should Do Instead
The alternative to chaos is not complacency. Stability does not mean stagnation. It means building systems that reduce unnecessary uncertainty while leaving room for adaptation.
Leaders can start by focusing on clarity. Clear priorities reduce the temptation to manufacture urgency. When people know what matters most, they are less susceptible to distraction.
They can also empower teams. By distributing authority and building strong processes, leaders show that relevance is not about being the sole firefighter but about enabling others to succeed. Influence is earned through trust, not turbulence.
Transparency is another safeguard. Sharing the rationale behind decisions helps employees distinguish between genuine urgency and unnecessary drama. When teams see that changes are grounded in evidence, not theatrics, trust grows.
Finally, leaders should redefine relevance. Instead of equating importance with crisis management, they can measure impact by how well systems run without constant intervention. The most effective leaders are often those who make themselves less necessary day to day because they have built resilient structures.
Rethinking Relevance At The Top
The leader who creates chaos to stay visible is not unusual. Many firms tolerate it because the results, at least in the short term, look impressive. But over time the costs accumulate. The culture bends toward drama, employees disengage, and real progress is delayed.
Resource Dependence Theory reminds us that influence often rests on controlling uncertainty. Leaders who exploit this by generating instability may hold power, but they do so at the expense of their teams. The more sustainable path is to design workplaces where trust and clarity replace turbulence.
Relevance should not be measured by how often a leader rescues the company from chaos. It should be measured by how rarely the business needs rescuing at all.
