ISSUE #004 | THE LEADERSHIP CONTRARIAN
As I’ve been writing these newsletters, a few of you have replied with a thoughtful question:
“Why The Leadership Contrarian?”
It’s a fair question.
Especially in a world already crowded with leadership voices, frameworks, podcasts, and hot takes.
So today, I want to answer it clearly - and honestly.Not as a branding exercise.
Not as a clever label.
But as a conviction that has been forming in me for decades.
Because the name isn’t the point.
The problem it points to is.
The Formation Gap
We are living in what I’ve come to call The Formation Gap.
It’s the growing divide between:
- The complexity and responsibility of the world we’re now living in
- And the formation of the people expected to lead through it
In plain language:
The world is demanding more from leaders at the exact moment we’ve invested least in forming them.
We’re navigating what feels like a once-in-a-century reset - economic instability, institutional strain, fractured trust, and relentless technological acceleration.
And most leaders I work with say some version of the same thing:
“I’ve never led in conditions like this before.”
They’re right.
Most haven’t.
This isn’t just hard leadership.
It’s unfamiliar leadership.
And unfamiliar pressure exposes what hasn’t been formed.
Three Forces Creating the Gap
First, we’re living through a major historical reset.
Whether you call it a super-cycle or simply a season of upheaval, long-standing systems are being reorganized. Volatility isn’t a glitch - it’s the environment.
Second, we’re in a Post-Trust Era.
Trust has fractured between people, institutions, organizations, and leaders. Authority has been detached from character. Influence from stewardship. Credibility from responsibility.
That’s not just cultural noise-it’s a leadership crisis.
Third, speed now outpaces formation.
Technology delivers answers faster than wisdom can develop. Certainty is rewarded. Discernment is not. Reaction moves faster than reflection.
The result?
Leaders carrying weight they were never formed to bear.
That is the Formation Gap.
Why “Contrarian”?
Because in the Formation Gap, much of what passes for leadership today isn’t just incomplete.
It’s actively harmful.
What makes me cringe isn’t ambition or excellence - it’s the shortcuts we excuse in their name:
- Leadership reduced to tools and tactics
- Speed and optics prioritized over wisdom and character
- Short-term wins valued over long-term stewardship
- Conflict avoidance disguised as empathy
- Performance optimized at the expense of endurance
- And the quiet assumption that success requires sacrificing marriage, family, faith, or integrity
Let me say this plainly:
A leader who builds a thriving company while destroying their home has not succeeded.
That failure has simply been normalized.
Most leadership development teaches partial leadership.
Some focus on systems, execution, and metrics.
Others emphasize culture, relationships, and emotional intelligence.
Both matter.
Neither is sufficient on its own.
Because in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world, leaders without a formed inner life eventually break things - systems, relationships, and trust included.
Formation-First Leadership
This is where I take a contrarian stand.
Formation-First Leadership insists that leaders must be formed across three dimensions at the same time:
- Tactical competence - clear systems and execution
- Relational capacity - the ability to develop and unify people
- Inner formation - discipline, discernment, emotional regulation, and moral grounding
Formation-first leadership looks slower at the beginning.
That’s intentional.
Unlike reactive leadership, it compounds.
It builds leaders who can scale responsibility without losing themselves - or the people they love along the way.
In a Post-Trust, high-speed world, leadership that endures must be whole.
That’s the hill I’m willing to stand on.
Why Me?
This isn’t a theory I arrived at in a classroom.
It’s the result of a lifetime of formation, leadership, coaching, and lived experience.
What became clear to me years ago is this:
Access to real leadership formation is unevenly distributed.
Large corporations invest heavily in their senior executives.
But founders and owners of $2M–$20M companies often carry enormous responsibility with almost no formation.
They’re smart.
They’re capable.
They’re committed learners.
But without experienced guidance, growth becomes fragmented, and the cost shows up as burnout, team dysfunction, stalled growth, and strain at home.
Formation-First Leadership exists because the leaders carrying the most weight often receive the least support.
It also exists because I believe leadership carries moral weight.
Leadership failures don’t just affect profits.
They affect families, teams, communities, and lives.
And I reject the lie that leadership success requires sacrificing what matters most.
I know - personally - that it’s possible to build thriving companies and a thriving home.
I’ve lived it.
Why This Newsletter
When someone recognizes the Formation Gap, the next question becomes unavoidable:
Who has actually lived this, studied it, coached it, and proven it over time?
That question is what this newsletter exists to explore.
Not with hype.
Not with shortcuts.
Not with easy answers.
But with honesty, formation, and long-view leadership.
That’s why I chose the name The Leadership Contrarian.
Not because I want to be provocative.
But because I’m unwilling to normalize leadership models that quietly destroy people while applauding results.
Your Turn
If any part of this resonated with you -
even a sentence,
even a tension you’ve been feeling -
Would you reply and tell me?
What part of leadership today feels misaligned for you?
Where do you sense the Formation Gap showing up in your life or work?
I read every reply.
In the future we’ll begin unpacking what formation actually looks like in practice -and how leaders can begin closing the gap without adding more weight to an already full plate.
Until then -
Stay grounded.
Stay growing.
And God bless,
- Michael Redman
Half a Bubble Out (aka: HaBO)
Business Consulting | Leadership Coaching
