How Leadership Confusion Can Derail Great Product
Often, when working or interacting with some founders/ co-founders, and you ask about the vision or goal of the venture, you often hear interesting and sometimes exciting answers. After a couple of weeks or months and you ask the same question, you will likely get a different a different response than before. Some other times they say things like, uhm, “you know this is a startup we need to change fast”. I keep asking myself, does being a startup really mean that we should continuously change focus?
Anyways, I realised it’s not so different in larger enterprise on the continent as well. So many times when speaking with leadership you hear statements like, “we need to play in that space” or “our competition is doing it and we need to do it as well”. But when probe further into the vision, it becomes shocking thatt’s often not clearly defined.
But why is it so important that leadership need clarity? Why does confused leadership pose so much risk for the success of a product or a venture. In the next paragraphs I will be sharing some of the most interesting and intriguing things i have found out in my short career.
Building digital platforms on the continent requires more than just solid product development—it demands clarity, focus, and cohesion from the leadership team. This article draws on my experiences in the tech ecosystem in Africa to explore how leadership confusion derails products and, more importantly, how we can avoid these pitfalls.
The Impact of Confused Leadership on Product delivery
Building digital platforms requires more than just highly skilled teams, lots of funding or even outsourcing to the best companies, it demands clarity of purpose, focus on the end goal, and cohesion from the leadership team. As we explore together, I will touch on a few impact confused leadership often has on product delivery
Lack of Clear Vision and Direction
Great products often start with clarity of purpose, clarity of purpose births a strong compelling vision that guides the delivery of a successful product. In the words of Ebi Atawodi, she says and i paraphrase “your product vision should be aspiration that excites you each day you set out to achieve the vision”. While this is simple to say and write or even quote, more often than not, it’s easier to derail. When you realise the market is demanding for a whole lot of things, deciding on what really matters and keeping to the vision becomes harder to do.
I once received a call from a recruiter about a fintech company that, while not widely known, was excelling in its niche. They wanted me to join their team to help build a new product. After researching the company and meeting with their leadership, I learned about their current product, their new vision, and the problem they aimed to solve. Excited by the challenge, I signed on.
As we started building, I noticed confusion within the team. Questions arose like: "How does this new direction align with our overall vision? What happens to our existing customers? Should we discontinue our current product for this new one? What does the next phase of the company look like?" It became increasingly clear that leadership wasn’t fully aligned on why the business was pivoting.
Over time, I realized the new product was being built not out of necessity, but because it was a trendy concept in fintech, with some larger companies discussing similar solutions. Then, about three months in, another fintech company raised a major funding round, nearing unicorn status. This led to yet another shift in our focus, as leadership abandoned the current project to chase a different opportunity. And so, the cycle continued.
In the end, the company burned through significant funds without delivering a solid product. The original customers left, and even the best team members moved on. This experience highlights how critical it is for leadership to have a clear, well-communicated vision. Without that, chasing trends leads to failure, no matter how tempting new opportunities may seem.
Inconsistent Decision-Making
Indecisiveness or constantly changing priorities can create chaos for any product team. from the earlier story, the problem with the leadership was more about consistently changing priorities, For others it is consistently not making decisions when due. while both seems to be contrasting, it is important to be able to strike a balance between not making decision or consistently changing priorities.
When you are operating in a highly competitive and fast-moving market, indecision can be costly, as delaying decisions leaves teams stuck and opportunities lost. Austin Yang argues that "fast and okay decisions beat slow and great decisions," emphasizing the need for leaders to act swiftly rather than risk the higher cost of hesitation. Indecision, according to Yang, is essentially a choice to maintain the status quo, which can be detrimental in such environments.
Jeff Bezos' decision-making matrix provides a useful framework for balancing speed and deliberation. He categorizes decisions into Type 1 (high-stakes, irreversible) and Type 2 (reversible, low-risk). For Type 2 decisions, Bezos advocates for quick action, aligning with Yang’s view. However, for Type 1 decisions, Bezos emphasizes a more cautious approach. The key is understanding when to prioritize speed and when thoughtful deliberation is necessary, ensuring no decision leads to inaction.
Poor Communication
Another interesting trait of confused leadership is poor communication. Poor communication can range from no communication, insufficient communication, miscommunication or confusing communication.
The four variants of poor communication mentioned above may seem similar, they are significantly different but with a common outcome—Confusion.
While insufficient communication leaves teams with fragmented information, causing confusion about priorities and slowing progress, the absence of communication (no communication), keep the teams in perpetual darkness, hanging in there hoping for some form of direction that unfortunately never comes. No Communication paralyzes decision-making and halts development. In the case of miscommunication, inconsistent or unclear messages are passed down,and the end result of this is misalignment between teams, which in turn becomes the fertile soil for resource wastage and a delivery of fragmented product. Even when communication is present but lacks clarity, teams are left guessing, which often leads to avoidable mistakes and inefficiency.
Lack of Alignment Within Leadership
Leadership alignment within a product team is crucial for any organization’s success. When leaders are not aligned on strategic goals, priorities, or decision-making processes, it creates confusion and inefficiencies across the entire product development cycle. Teams receive mixed signals, often working at cross-purposes, leading to delays, missed opportunities, and products that lack cohesion. A unified leadership ensures everyone is working towards the same vision, empowering teams to execute with clarity and purpose. Without this alignment, even the most talented teams can flounder, as miscommunication and shifting directives cause constant rework and demoralization.
A clear example of the consequences of misaligned leadership can be seen in the downfall of Pivo, a Nigerian fintech startup that initially showed great promise. Despite raising significant funding, internal conflict between the co-founders over priorities and management decisions led to the company’s closure. This highlights how unresolved leadership disagreements can paralyze a product team, erode investor confidence, and ultimately derail a company’s growth. For any product team to succeed, especially in competitive markets, leadership must be fully aligned, presenting a clear, cohesive strategy that drives the entire organization forward.
How to Avoid Leadership Confusion in Product Development
To avoid leadership confusion in product development, several key strategies are essential. First, establishing and consistently communicating a clear vision is crucial to keeping teams aligned with the company’s goals. Regular check-ins and constant reiteration of the vision throughout the product lifecycle ensure everyone stays focused. Second, fostering consistent decision-making helps maintain momentum. While flexibility is important, leaders must commit to decisions and communicate any necessary changes clearly to prevent confusion within the team.
Open communication is equally critical, ensuring that information flows both ways and teams are empowered to share their insights. Leadership alignment is also key—leaders must regularly collaborate to ensure they are unified in their approach, as internal conflicts at the top can cause delays and confusion across the organization. Lastly, empowering teams with the autonomy to innovate is vital, but it must be balanced with clear guidance to ensure that their efforts align with the overall product vision. This balance drives both creativity and strategic focus.
Finally,
The tech landscape is teeming with potential, but without clear, consistent, and unified leadership, even the most innovative products can struggle. The challenges we face—regulatory hurdles, fragmented markets, and emerging user needs—make clear leadership more critical than ever. Leadership confusion doesn’t just cause delays; it erodes the very foundation of the product, leading to missed opportunities, wasted resources, and ultimately, failure.
As product leaders, it’s our responsibility to ensure that we establish and communicate a clear vision, make consistent decisions, prioritize effective communication, align within our leadership teams, and empower our teams to innovate within a structured framework. Only then can we build products that not only survive but thrive in Africa’s fast-evolving and high-potential markets.
In the end, it’s not just about avoiding pitfalls—it’s about fostering a culture of clarity, cohesion, and purpose that drives the success of every product we build.