Higher Performance Insights | ONE BAD APPLE

July 8, 2025
higher performance insights

How a single leader can sink your team (and how one good one can save it)


Last month, a superintendent I work with shared what happened during her presentation of the strategic plan to the board. Twenty years of experience, proven results, polished presentation, and promising data.


Halfway through, one executive team member sat back, arms crossed, occasionally checking his phone. A board member started shuffling papers. By the end, three others had adopted the same disengaged body language.


What should have been an energizing strategic discussion devolved into polite nods and no real commitment.


That same week, a university president I consult with described identical dynamics in her executive team meeting. Different building, same pattern: one person's negativity was infecting the entire senior leadership.


This painful parallel revealed a leadership truth that research confirms: one person can significantly impact your team's performance by as much as 30-40%. But one person can also save it completely.


The Brutal Science: Your Star Leaders Might Be Your Biggest Problem


You've hired brilliant people. Advanced degrees, proven results, impressive credentials. But here's what organizational behavior expert Will Phelps discovered when he planted one "bad apple" into 44 different work groups:


Performance dropped 30-40% consistently.


It didn't matter if the person was:


  • The Skeptic (aggressively questioning every initiative)
  • The Withdrawer (withholding effort on strategic planning)
  • The Pessimist (negative about every proposal)


The result was always the same: One leader's negative behavior infected the entire team.

"I'd gone in expecting that someone would get upset with the slacker or downer," Phelps said. "But nobody did. They were like, 'Okay, if that's how it is, then we'll be slackers and downers too.'"

Your leadership team isn't choosing to underperform. They're unconsciously mirroring the energy around them—what neuroscientists call "emotional contagion."


Where One Leader Changes Everything


However, one group in Phelps' study remained energetic and produced excellent results despite the presence of the bad apple.


The difference wasn't intelligence, experience, or positional authority. It was one person who understood what MIT's Human Dynamics Lab calls "belonging cues"—micro-signals that create a sense of psychological safety.


This leader didn't take charge or give motivational speeches. Instead, he did something much simpler:


When resistance emerged during budget discussions, he leaned forward, made eye contact, and responded with genuine curiosity. Not fake positivity, but authentic interest that "took the danger out of the room."


Then came the pivot: "That's an interesting concern—what would you suggest we do differently?"


Result? Even the resistant member, almost against his will, found himself contributing constructively.


The Neuroscience Behind Leadership Infection


MIT's Human Dynamics Lab studied hundreds of executive teams using "sociometers"—devices that measure micro-interactions between leaders. Their finding changes everything:


You can predict team performance by focusing on how leaders interact rather than what they say.


The five factors that drive executive team performance:


  1. Everyone talks and listens in roughly equal measure
  2. High levels of eye contact and energetic gestures
  3. Direct communication between all members, not just with the CEO
  4. Back-channel conversations and side discussions
  5. Members who explore outside the team and bring information back


Notice what's missing from this list? Degrees. Experience. Strategic expertise.


Belonging cues matter more than credentials.


The neuroscience is clear: simple safety signals reduce cognitive load in decision-making, which in turn increases strategic thinking, drives innovation, and creates breakthrough results (Edmondson, 1999).


Your leadership team dynamics are literally working for or against your mission.


The Executive Infection Gap: When Smart Leaders Create Stupid Results


Every negative interaction in your cabinet costs you:


  • Faculty who disengage because they sense leadership division
  • Students who suffer when initiatives fail due to leadership dysfunction
  • Community members who lose confidence witnessing leadership conflicts


The research is concerning: 30 seconds—that's how long it takes for negative energy to spread in executive meetings


  • If one senior leader checks out, others follow unconsciously
  • When leadership teams can't create safety, organizational initiatives die


Allowing negativity to spread among your senior team affects every student you serve.


From Infection to Connection: The Framework That Works


❌ The Typical Approach (Actually Destructive): Hope the resistant leader comes around


Cabinet meeting scenario: Your executive team member constantly questions every initiative, rolls their eyes during presentations, and makes dismissive comments. You address it privately, but nothing changes. Other team members start to disengage.


Result: Strategic planning stalls. Good initiatives die. High-performing leaders start looking elsewhere.


✅ The Breakthrough Approach (Game-Changing): Respond to resistance with curiosity and inclusion


Same scenario, different response: When the executive team member questions an initiative, you lean forward and say, "You're raising important concerns—help us think through what success would look like from your perspective." Then pivot: "What do the rest of you think about these points?"


Result: The resistant leader feels heard instead of dismissed. The team stays engaged. Opposition turns into constructive problem-solving.


The ROI of Executive Team Belonging


The numbers prove leadership safety wins:


  • School districts with high-functioning leadership teams see 23% better student outcomes
  • Campuses with psychologically safe executive teams show 45% higher innovation rates
  • Simple safety interventions can improve leadership team performance by 30-40% in weeks


Your leadership team dynamics aren't just "nice to have"—they're driving every outcome in your organization.


Transform Your Leadership Team Starting Today


The Executive Safety Test:


Step 1: Record your next cabinet/executive team meeting

Step 2: Count belonging cues vs. safety threats among leaders

Step 3: If threats outnumber cues, your leadership dynamics are creating the problem


Three Daily Practices:


  1. Lean forward when team members raise concerns
  2. Respond to resistance with "What am I missing?" and actually listen
  3. Create micro-moments of safety in every executive decision


The Leadership Team Safety Discussion Protocol:


For your next executive team meeting:

  • Have each member share when they felt most and least safe to speak the truth in recent meetings
  • Compare responses—what patterns emerge among your senior team?
  • Practice responding to resistance with curiosity instead of defensiveness
  • Identify any leaders who might be unconsciously spreading negativity
  • Remember: resistance usually signals important information, not disloyalty


The Choice Every Leader Must Make


  • You can manage resistance or mine wisdom from it.
  • You can hope that negativity will dissipate or actively foster a sense of belonging among leaders.
  • You can let one senior leader infect your team or become the person who transforms it.


You cannot do both.


The most brilliant superintendents and presidents consistently choose connection over control among their senior teams. They've learned that executive safety isn't soft—it's strategic. They've discovered that belonging cues among leaders aren't touchy-feely—they're performance drivers.


Because leadership team safety is simple. Simple safety scales throughout the organization. Scalable safety creates sustainable performance for students. And sustainable student performance is what brilliant leadership actually looks like.


The Hidden Factor Behind High-Performing Teams


Here's what I've learned from working with hundreds of leadership teams: The difference between teams that foster belonging and those that spread disconnection isn't just about individual awareness—it's about Team Intelligence (TQ).


When MIT studied executive teams, they discovered you could predict performance by ignoring what leaders said and focusing entirely on how they interacted. Teams with high TQ naturally create the belonging cues that prevent negative infection and amplify positive energy.


The TQ Advantage:


  • 40% faster problem resolution in complex situations
  • 27% higher team member satisfaction and retention
  • 35% more strategic objectives achieved on time


The breakthrough teams I work with understand that one resistant leader doesn't have to destroy team performance. When teams develop TQ, they learn to respond to resistance with curiosity, mine wisdom from opposition, and transform potential "bad apples" into contributors.


Ready to Transform Your Team Dynamics?


Stop hoping negativity will disappear. Start building the Team Intelligence that naturally creates belonging cues.


The first step is understanding your team's current TQ. In just 5 minutes per team member, you can discover:


  • Where negative infection is most likely to spread
  • Which cognitive perspectives are missing from your decisions
  • How to leverage resistance as strategic information


Discover Your Team Intelligence → https://www.higherperformancegroup.com/team-intelligence-assessment


Because when you can't create safety among leaders, you can't create results for students. However, when you develop TQ, one person can truly make a significant difference.


Want More Battle-Tested Leadership Tools?


Find this article with bonus material at higherperformancegroup.com/blog, including Leader {CORE} Leader Guides for leading timely discussions on this topic and dozens more with proven strategies to transform teams.


Be the First to Know: Join Our Mailing List! Get Higher Performance Insights in your inbox and keep learning to lead Higher Performance Teams and Systems.


References:

Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350-383.

Pentland, A. (2012). The new science of building great teams. Harvard Business Review, 90(4), 60-70.

Phelps, W. (2006). A longitudinal study of the influence of team diversity on group performance. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2006(1), B1-B6.



Higher Performance Group helps campus leaders transform highly talented but average-performing teams into breakthrough leadership systems powered by Team Intelligence. Because individual brilliance is the ceiling—Team Intelligence is the breakthrough.


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Higher Performance Insights | AI Won't Kill Education—Education Will

By HPG Info • September 30, 2025
The New POWER Model To Break Through Your Institutional Stranglehold What if I told you that right now, as you read this, a 16-year-old with a $47 smartphone is getting a better physics education than students at $80,000-per-year private schools? And what if the real threat to education isn't the technology that makes this possible—but the army of insiders desperately protecting their preferences? Picture this scene, happening in your institution right now: While a teenager in rural Kenya outscores Ivy League applicants using AI that costs $47, your innovation committee is on month six of debating whether ChatGPT should be "allowed" in classrooms. Who's really in that room? The union rep protecting job security. The department chair defending territorial boundaries. The IT director gatekeeping technology budgets. The compliance officer citing policies written in 1987. The parent board members clutching their own college experiences like religious texts. Notice who's missing? Students. The ones we claim to serve. The uncomfortable truth: Every disrupted institution dies the same way—not from external threats, but from internal antibodies attacking their own cure. The Resistance Playbook -The Seven Horsemen of Educational Stagnation 1. The Union Wall: "This wasn't collectively bargained" 2. The Compliance Shield: "State standards don't allow it" 3. The Equity Trap: "Not every student has access" (while ignoring that current inequality) 4. The Safety Theater: "What about screen time/data privacy/cheating?" 5. The Budget Fortress: "We don't have funds" (for $60/year AI that replaces $50/hour tutoring) 6. The Committee Quicksand: "Let's form a task force to study this" 7. The Tradition Anchor: "We've always done it this way—and look at our alumni" Each of these sounds responsible. Each is actually sabotage. Your Counter-Intelligence Manual: The POWER Framework P - Preempt with Pilot Programs The Resistance: "We need district-wide consensus first" Your Move: Start with 5% of students as an "experimental pilot." Call it "action research." Make it opt-in. Document everything. Power Principle: Small wins bypass big resistance. By the time committees notice, you'll have data they can't ignore. Real Example: A principal in Texas started an AI tutoring "study" with 30 struggling math students. No announcements. No permissions beyond standard research protocols. Results after 60 days: 73% improvement in test scores. The school board that would have said "no" suddenly wanted it district-wide. O - Orchestrate Unlikely Alliances The Resistance: Traditional power brokers uniting against change Your Move: Build a coalition of the overlooked: · Parents of struggling students (they're desperate for anything that works) · Young teachers (they're already using AI secretly) · Local employers (they know graduates aren't prepared) · Students themselves (give them a voice before they vote with their feet) Power Principle: When students and employers align, bureaucrats lose their cover. Tactical Nugget: Create a "Future Ready Task Force" with 60% external stakeholders. Internal resisters can't dominate a room they don't control. W - Weaponize Their Own Data The Resistance: "Our current approach is working fine" Your Move: Deploy the Mirror Strategy: · Pull your institution's own strategic plan (look for "innovation" and "21st-century skills") · Document the gap between rhetoric and reality · Present AI as fulfilling THEIR stated goals Power Principle: People can't argue against their own published commitments. Script for Your Next Meeting: "I'm confused. Our strategic plan says we're committed to personalized learning. Here's a solution that delivers exactly that for $60 per student. Help me understand why we wouldn't want to achieve our own goals?" 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Higher Performance Insights | YOUR CLIMBING WALL DOESN'T MATTER

By HPG Info • September 23, 2025
94% of enrollment decisions ignore your amenities. You just spent $50 million on a new student center—rock wall, meditation pods, juice bar—the whole package. Your board loves it. Tours showcase it. Marketing splashes it everywhere. You're certain this moves the needle. Here's the thing: Fresh amenities matter. But they're not why families choose you. The disconnect is devastating. While you're unveiling architectural renderings, students are having panic attacks about unemployability. While you're celebrating meditation pods, families are calculating whether bankruptcy hits before or after graduation. That beautiful climbing wall? It's proof you might not get it. The Amazon Lesson Every Leader Needs Jeff Bezos built the world's largest retailer with a philosophy your board would call insane: "We are not competitor focused. We are customer focused." Imagine announcing at your next cabinet meeting: "We're done tracking peer institutions." They'd check your temperature. Yet, institutions that spend 30% or more of their strategic planning analyzing competitors lose enrollment 23% faster than those focused on actual student needs. That climbing wall? You built it because State College has one. That honors program? Because Regional U launched theirs. You're playing defense in a game your students aren't even watching. The $20,000 Truck That Explains Everything A startup called SLATE just entered the most crowded market imaginable—electric vehicles. Tesla, Ford, and GM are all fighting for attention. Their launch video mentioned zero competitors. No range comparisons. No horsepower charts. Instead, one line: "Chris thinks new cars are too expensive and too complicated." That's it. One problem. One enemy. Done. Result? Millions of views. Servers crashing. Pre-orders flooding in. 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Every peer institution fought over rankings—moving from #47 to #45 was the battle cry. 🏆 She asked different questions: "What do students actually fear?" Answer: "Graduating unemployed with six-figure debt." New promise: "Job by graduation or we pay your loans for a year." Applications up 30%. Zero climbing walls mentioned. 💡 The Superintendent Who Stopped Playing Michigan superintendent. Neighboring districts bragging about test scores. She asked parents: "What keeps you up at night?" Answer: "My kid crying Sunday about Monday." Her response: "If your child dreads school, we've failed—regardless of test scores." State officials questioned her priorities Neighboring districts called her "soft" Enrollment up 18% in declining demographics Parents moving specifically for her schools She never mentioned competitors. Not once. The "What They Actually Want" Revolution Stop asking "What makes us different?" Start asking "What do they actually need?" What K-12 Students Want: Teachers who see them (not test scores) Friends without competition toxicity Decent sleep To personally matter Hope for their future What College Students Want: Professors who know their name Skills employers actually value To change majors without adding years Mental health support today (not 6 weeks) Friends, not networking competitions Proud parents without going broke What Nobody Wants: Your climbing wall Your ranking changes Your strategic plan Your competitive analysis They want transformation, not amenities. 🎯 The Framework That Actually Works Forget SWOT analyses. Use CARE: C - Core Problem: What actually keeps them awake? A - Against Declaration: What will you publicly fight? R - Real Evidence: What changes in week one? E - Emotional Truth: What feeling do you deliver? Your Million-Dollar Blind Spot "But State University just built a new rec center, so we need..." Stop. 🛑 Stanford studied 10,000 enrollment decisions: 8% mentioned other schools 94% mentioned actual problems 0% mentioned climbing walls You're solving for the wrong variable. 📈 The College That Gets It While universities build amenities, one college president asked students directly: "Why do people drop out?" Answer: "Credits don't transfer, and we waste time and money." Solution: "100% transfer guarantee or 100% refund." No facilities upgraded. No amenities added. Highest enrollment growth in the state. 🚀 The Transformation Question Stop asking: "What facilities do our competitors have?" Stop asking: "How do we move up in rankings?" Stop asking: "What's our differentiator?" Start asking: "What do families actually need that everyone else ignores?" When you answer that, you don't compete—you matter. Once you stop building climbing walls, you start building futures. Once you stop tracking competitors, you start seeing humans. You stop competing. You start transforming lives. 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