06/18/2026
There is a question I rarely hear leaders ask.
Do you know what your lowest-paid employee actually makes?
Not their title or performance rating, but whether they can cover an unexpected expense, afford housing, or recover from a financial setback.
Most leaders don't know. Not because they don't care, but because the distance between the boardroom and that reality is rarely examined.
That distance has consequences. It shapes how employees experience leadership, how trust is built or broken, and how long people are willing to stay engaged before they quietly start looking for the door.
This is not only about pay. It is about whether leaders are willing to understand the full impact of the decisions they are making and take responsibility for what those decisions create across the organization.
Bias lives in that distance. In the assumptions we make about what people need, what they can handle, and what they deserve. In the processes, we never question because they have always worked for us.
The organizations doing this work well are not waiting for a crisis to examine that gap. They are building leaders who understand that the distance between their decisions and their employees' reality is not a management problem. It is a leadership problem.
If you are ready to take an honest look at what that distance is costing your organization, send me a message.
*Image from my visit to LinkedIn's Toronto office