In this segment Mark Crowley argues that effective leadership hinges on an innate "caring gene"—a disposition toward the well‑being of others. Citing Gallup research that only about 30% of the global population possesses this trait, he suggests many current managers lack the necessary wiring to be supportive, caring leaders. Using a pizza‑to‑chicken analogy, he explains that when an organization must shift its core offering, leaders who resist change (the "pizza guys") either need to be retrained and coached or ultimately removed from leadership roles. Crowley emphasizes the need for hard decisions: coaching those willing to learn new skills, while letting go of those who cannot adopt the caring, adaptable mindset required for future success.
Chapters
I don't know that you can evolve everyone who's in a leadership role today. In other words, some people just don't have the wiring to be the caring, supportive manager that we need. And so if you change the model— so this is sort of a weird example, but if you have had a pizza restaurant for 50 years or 100 years and you suddenly see that people are not eating pizza, but they're eating chicken, Well, if you go to the guy who's been spinning pizzas and swirling them in his one finger and you say to him, hey, we need you to start to learn chicken. Some people are going to go, well, I'm a pizza guy, so I don't really want to do that. Or they're going to say, I don't know if I can get there, but I'll try. The first group, you probably won't ever get them there. So I think you're going to see some disruption if we buy into the idea that this is the model, this is what we want. Some people are going to have to leave leadership roles and management roles. In order for the right people to get into them. And Gallup has actually shown, this is a surprising number, that really only 30% of the world's population has that caring gene. And so— 30%, you said? 30% of all human beings. What I mean by the caring gene is this idea that the success and joy and happiness and well-being of other people is of interest to me too. Right. It's not just about me. So if I'm a manager and I'm really only caring about my career, my recognition, my pay, my opportunities, then I'm really not going to be an advocate. So you're not going to be the right person for leadership going forward. So I think we're going to have to make some hard decisions. Once you make the decision that we're going to go from pizza to chicken, then you have to teach people how to make chicken and you need to, you know, coach them and support them and make them feel safe in learning how to make chicken. But if they continue to resist making chicken, you're going to have to say this isn't really for you. That's gonna have to be a tough outcome from this.
