Speed as a Shield: How Bad Leaders Shift Blame to Teams to Protect Bad Strategy

Bad executives use speed as a shield.

When a product flops, when an initiative fails, when customers don’t care—what happens? Do leaders take responsibility for a flawed strategy?

No. Instead, they blame execution:

• “We weren’t fast enough.”

• “The teams didn’t deliver.”

• “We need more velocity.”

Speed is easy to measure, easy to enforce, and easy to weaponize when things go wrong. It’s the perfect scapegoat.

Speed Matters—But Only in the Right Direction

Execution matters. Speed matters.

But speeding in the wrong direction doesn’t get you ahead—it gets you lost, faster.

Most teams don’t decide what to build. They don’t define why it matters.

That responsibility belongs to leadership.

And if the problem was never worth solving, no amount of speed could have saved it.

But instead of questioning their own decisions, bad leaders double down on speed:

• More velocity.

• Faster sprints.

• Shorter cycles.

All in service of what, exactly?

The Real Question Isn’t Speed—It’s Value

Yes, execution is critical. But when leaders use speed to shift blame, it’s not about improvement—it’s about avoiding accountability.

Because if the team just needs to “go faster,” nobody has to ask the harder question:

Were we ever running in the right direction?

🚀 What Do You Think?

Have you seen speed used as a shield in your organization? How did it impact decision-making and accountability? Share your thoughts in the comments.


*Note, I am not saying all leaders/execs do this. It is very common though.