Every organisation has two types of leaders. One quietly accelerates progress and capability across the business. The other quietly drains it.
At first glance they can look similar. Both may be competent. Both may have experience. Both may sit at the same table.
The defining difference is not intelligence or technical knowledge. It is attitude.
Coachable leaders lean in when challenged. They seek clarity, ask questions, and reset quickly after setbacks. They see feedback as fuel, not insult. They coach their people, share knowledge freely, and step willingly into discomfort because they understand growth is rarely comfortable.
Non-coachable leaders do the opposite. They are busy defending, justifying, and preserving what they already know. Feedback becomes a threat, not an opportunity. They withdraw when things get tough, blame external factors for underperformance, and resist ideas that are not their own.
This distinction matters more today than ever.
Research from McKinsey shows organisations that build coachable, adaptive leaders are 2.4 times more likely to outperform their peers.
Conversely, Gallup research reveals that 75 percent of employees who leave organisations cite poor leadership as the reason.
The cost of a non-coachable leader is not just personal stagnation, it is cultural erosion and lost talent.
Coachable leaders earn trust and opportunity. They create psychological safety, lift standards, and help their teams play bigger.
Over time, they become the leaders people want to follow and the leaders organisations choose to promote.
Non-coachable leaders eventually stall. Skill can take them only so far.
Attitude determines altitude.
At RDL, we see the difference every day. Our work is not about training leaders. It is about transforming the way they think, behave, and lead so they can build capability long after we are gone.
We help leaders remove defensiveness, embrace accountability, and build the confidence to lead without fear of judgement.
It is how we create leadership legacies, not reliance.
RDL’s Top 2 Tips for Being a Coachable Leader
1. Treat feedback as a privilege, not a penalty.
If someone is willing to help you grow, they are investing in you. Earn that investment.
2. Default to curiosity, not defence.
Ask why, explore possibilities, and stay open long enough to learn something valuable.
In the end, coachability is a choice.
Leaders who choose growth create growth.
Those who choose comfort create ceilings.
That’s RDL’s legacy – that’s the RDL difference.
Which one are you building today: a legacy of improvement or a legacy of resistance?
RDL, celebrating 20 years of creating leadership legacies
