When an executive doesn’t know how to influence other people, the person is ignorant in that area of being a business leader. That’s not good, but it can be overcome.

When an executive thinks he or she has all the answers on how to lead people and has nothing left to learn, the person is arrogant.

When ignorance and arrogance overlap, the executive has no hope of becoming an effective business leader. A person with an open mind can overcome ignorance through training. We all learned to drive didn’t we? But when an executive simultaneously doesn’t know how to lead AND thinks he or she is already a great leader with nothing left to learn, the organization has a big problem on its hands.

This requires a two-step process to solve the situation. First, the executive has to drop the arrogance. Second, the executive has to work hard to learn critical skills in the area in which he or she is ignorant. Only when both of these things happen can there be genuine hope for the person to become an effective business leader.