How the Integrated Leadership Framework Can Help Fix the Cannabis Industry
Amongst other things, cannabis is currently undergoing a severe crisis of leadership. As an industry, we harp on bad leadership all the time, but to me, the risks associated with this deficiency are much more grave than what’s typically touched on: the extra expenses related to high turnover or a loss of reputation in the eyes of consumers for poorly run companies.
Don’t get me wrong, these are important to consider, but the real risk is the complete, permanent alienation of cannabis professionals — so bitter and cynical from experiencing one toxic environment after another that they end up giving up on cannabis altogether and exiting the industry. I see far too many signs of this when I speak to people who have been in the industry for a significant amount of time. Almost nobody has positive experiences to share — just endless negative experiences caused by poor leadership.
What exactly defines leadership? Most of our focus is on companies making strategic moves in the industry — who’s growing most quickly, capturing the greatest share of restricted markets, or operating the largest cultivation footprint. Leadership is about so much more than being able to make strategic decisions — although that is also critically important, and something many companies struggle with.
Just as important of a measure is how well leaders manage their people — because ultimately, a company is only as good as the folks it’s composed of. And in this regard, cannabis companies are performing terribly. From my observations, this failure stems from a collective lack of emotional intelligence (“EI” or “EQ”) in the cannabis leadership space.
If the cannabis industry collectively can’t learn to improve leadership skills, there will be an exodus of veteran-level knowledge holders. This will set the industry back many years and be a major loss for consumers and companies alike. So, how do we fix this? I believe it starts with understanding EQ.
