Executive Gaslighting: When Operational Denial Masquerades as Strategy

In the upper echelons of the corporate world, gaslighting occurs when leadership denies the operational reality of their team. It involves shifting the blame for poor results onto professionals, when those results are, in fact, a direct consequence of a flawed strategy and a lack of resources.

This style of leadership is not merely inefficient; it is ethically corrosive. When a manager ignores objective facts, such as contradictory instructions, a lack of qualified leads, or dysfunctional tools simply to maintain a narrative of control before the Board, they are practicing a form of "denialist leadership" that bleeds the company’s value dry.