--- title: "New Research Says Your 'Well-Oiled' Leadership Team Might…" canonical: "https://www.metaintro.com/blog/well-oiled-leadership-team-might-be-the-problem" language: "en" author: "drashtigarach" published: "2026-06-05T08:59:11.000Z" modified: "2026-06-05T08:59:11.000Z" --- [Back to Blog](/blog) [Career Tips](/blog/tag/career-tips)[News](/blog/tag/news)[Skills](/blog/tag/skills) # New Research Says Your 'Well-Oiled' Leadership Team Might Be the Problem A 215-company study found long-tenured CEOs build less innovation unless challenged. Here is what a too-comfortable team means for your career growth. [![Drashti Garach](https://cdn.metaintro.com/rs:fill:40:40/q:72/plain/images/5719d740-e510-42bc-8017-e040d145f35f_1766029465094.png)Drashti Garach @DrashtiGarach](/blog/author/drashtigarach) [June 5, 2026](/blog/archive/2026/06)11 min read ![New Research Says Your 'Well-Oiled' Leadership Team Might Be the Problem](https://cdn.metaintro.com/rs:fill:1200:675/q:78/plain/images/kai.PFPhaPQ3.png) [https://x.com/intent/tweet?text=New%20Research%20Says%20Your%20'Well-Oiled'%20Leadership%20Team%20Might%20Be%20the%20Problem&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fwell-oiled-leadership-team-might-be-the-problem](https://x.com/intent/tweet?text=New%20Research%20Says%20Your%20'Well-Oiled'%20Leadership%20Team%20Might%20Be%20the%20Problem&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fwell-oiled-leadership-team-might-be-the-problem)[http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fwell-oiled-leadership-team-might-be-the-problem](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fwell-oiled-leadership-team-might-be-the-problem)[https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fwell-oiled-leadership-team-might-be-the-problem&title=New%20Research%20Says%20Your%20'Well-Oiled'%20Leadership%20Team%20Might%20Be%20the%20Problem](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fwell-oiled-leadership-team-might-be-the-problem&title=New%20Research%20Says%20Your%20'Well-Oiled'%20Leadership%20Team%20Might%20Be%20the%20Problem)[mailto:?subject=New%20Research%20Says%20Your%20'Well-Oiled'%20Leadership%20Team%20Might%20Be%20the%20Problem&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fwell-oiled-leadership-team-might-be-the-problem](mailto:?subject=New%20Research%20Says%20Your%20'Well-Oiled'%20Leadership%20Team%20Might%20Be%20the%20Problem&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fwell-oiled-leadership-team-might-be-the-problem) There is a comforting idea in business that the best team is a well-oiled machine, where everyone knows their role, the leader sets a steady rhythm, and nothing rocks the boat. But [new research](https://www.emerald.com/cg/article-abstract/doi/10.1108/CG-03-2025-0173/1361981/Long-CEO-tenure-independent-directors-and-R-amp-D) covered by [Inc.](https://www.inc.com/kit-eaton/think-your-leadership-team-is-a-well-oiled-machine-new-research-shows-why-that-might-be-a-problem/91355788) and published in the journal Corporate Governance suggests that smooth, settled leadership can quietly become a liability. A study of more than 200 of the UK's largest public companies found that firms led by long-tenured CEOs actually accumulated less innovation capacity over time, unless an independent board pushed back on their thinking. For workers and managers, the takeaway from [Metaintro](https://www.metaintro.com) is clear, comfort at the top can stall the growth that careers and companies both depend on. The finding matters because most career advice, from [top-down management](https://www.inc.com/alison-davis/top-down-management-may-be-out-of-style-but-heres-why-its-still-relevant-effective.html) playbooks to the classic call to [lead by example](https://www.inc.com/peter-economy/11-surprisingly-effective-ways-to-lead-by-example.html), tells you to find a stable team and a trusted leader and settle in. This research flips that instinct. The very stability that feels like a sign of health may be the thing that stops a team from questioning itself, trying new approaches, or developing the skills that keep people employable. Below, we break down what the study actually found, why a frictionless team can be a warning sign, and how to protect your own growth even when everything looks like it is running perfectly. ## What Did the Research Actually Find? The study was authored by Igbekele Sunday Osinubi, a financial researcher at the [University of East London](https://www.uel.ac.uk/), and published in [Corporate Governance](https://www.emerald.com/cg). It examined 215 of the largest listed firms in the UK across a full decade of data, measuring something the researcher calls R&D knowledge stock. That term refers to the accumulated sum of a company's research, internal know-how, and the skills of its workers. In plain terms, it is a measure of how much fresh thinking and capability a company has built up over the years, and it serves as a proxy for whether an organization is still inventing or merely repeating itself. The headline result was counterintuitive. Firms with only a long-tenured CEO at the helm showed reduced R&D knowledge stock compared with firms that also had strong independent directors on the board. Long tenure on its own correlated with less innovation capacity, not more. But when a long-serving CEO worked alongside an engaged, independent board, knowledge stock rose. The independent voices appeared to counteract the drift toward fixed thinking that can set in after years of the same person running the show. In other words, the same leader could be a drag on innovation or a driver of it, depending entirely on whether anyone was positioned to challenge them. The research also looked at what happens when a company hits a rough patch. When a long-tenured CEO led a firm through a performance shortfall, knowledge stock fell further, often because leaders cut long-term research spending to save money. Yet when independent directors were involved during those same shortfalls, the firm increased its knowledge stock instead. The pressure of underperformance, combined with outside challenge, pushed these companies toward innovation rather than away from it. That detail is important, because it shows the problem is not bad times themselves but how a settled leadership team responds to them when no one is asking hard questions. It is worth being clear about what this study is and is not. It does not claim that experienced leaders are bad, or that companies should churn through executives. The decade of data points to a narrower, sharper conclusion, that long tenure combined with isolation is the risky mix, while long tenure combined with genuine outside challenge is a productive one. For anyone trying to apply the lesson, the variable to watch is not how many years a leader has been in place but whether the people around them are still able and willing to push back. ## Why Can a Smooth-Running Team Be a Warning Sign? The mechanism behind the numbers is something most workers have felt firsthand. Over years, a successful leader develops a way of doing things that works, and the whole organization organizes itself around it. New hires are carefully taught the right way to operate. Company culture builds a powerful inertia. Before long, the team is efficient, predictable, and increasingly resistant to anything that did not originate inside its own walls. That inertia is comfortable, but it has a cost. A leader who has not been challenged in years can slide into what the article describes as not invented here thinking, dismissing new tools and approaches, including [technologies like AI](https://www.inc.com/stephanie-mehta/ai-slop-is-making-everyone-skeptical-here-are-3-ways-ceos-can-build-trust-in-ai/91345531), simply because they are unfamiliar. As we explored in our look at how AI is reshaping [middle-management roles](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/ai-reshaping-middle-management-roles-2026), the managers who thrive are the ones who keep questioning their own playbook rather than defending it. Some of that energy comes from rethinking structure itself, as Inc. has chronicled in its reporting on how [innovation is moving from hierarchies to networks](https://www.inc.com/shelley-huff/why-innovation-is-moving-from-hierarchies-to-networks/91335279). The same trait that made a leader successful in one era, deep conviction about the right way to operate, can become the exact thing that blinds them in the next. The danger is that none of this shows up on a performance dashboard right away. A team can hit every target, quarter after quarter, while quietly losing the habit of experimenting. By the time the missed innovation becomes visible, often when a competitor moves first, the gap can be hard to close. A frictionless team is not automatically a healthy one, and the absence of debate is rarely a sign that everyone simply agrees. More often, it means the team has stopped surfacing disagreement at all, which is a far more dangerous place to be than open conflict. ## How Does This Apply Below the CEO Level? The study focused on chief executives, but the author notes its conclusions reach far deeper into an organization. The same dynamic plays out with any manager who has run the same team in the same way for a long time. From above, that manager may look like a star, consistently hitting expectations and rarely causing problems. Underneath, their entrenched approach may be quietly discouraging their team from seeking new solutions, because the safest path for everyone is to keep doing what already earns approval. This is where the research becomes personal for anyone building a career. If you report to a long-tenured manager who runs a tight, predictable operation, you may be in a team that looks successful while offering you fewer chances to stretch, experiment, or learn. We have written before about the hidden [promotion bottleneck](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/ceos-dont-retire-promotion-bottleneck-mid-career-2026) that forms when leaders stay in place for years, and the same logic applies to skill growth, a stalled team can stall the people inside it. Recognizing that pattern early gives you the chance to act before your own development quietly plateaus. The fix the research points to is the same one it prescribes for boards. Someone has to play the role of the independent director, prompting the team to think differently, forcing consideration of novel ideas, and pressing for renewed goals. That someone does not have to be a board member. It can be a cross-functional partner, a mentor, an outside advisor, or even you, asking the questions no one else is asking. Learning to [bring sharp, well-framed challenges](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/board-presentation-wins-ceo-job-2026) to senior leaders is itself a career skill worth developing. The point is that healthy teams build challenge into how they work rather than waiting for a crisis to force it on them. ## What Does This Mean for Your Career? If you take one practical lesson from this study, let it be this, treat a too-comfortable team as a signal to invest in yourself rather than coast. The companies that lost innovation capacity did so because no one was applying outside pressure. You can apply that pressure to your own growth by deliberately seeking challenge, feedback, and exposure to ways of working beyond your immediate team. Start by auditing your environment honestly. Are you learning new skills this year, or repeating last year's work more efficiently? Efficiency feels like progress, but the research suggests it can mask stagnation. Building durable, transferable capabilities is what keeps you employable as roles shift, a theme we cover in our guide to the [career skills that keep you employable](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/2026-career-skills-stay-employable-constant-change) through constant change. If you cannot name something meaningful you have learned in the last six months, that is a useful warning, not a small one, and a prompt to start [future-proofing your career](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/5-ways-future-proof-career-every-industry-changing-2026) before the gap widens. It also pays to widen your inputs. Long-tenured leaders drift because their information narrows to people who already agree with them. You can avoid the same trap by building relationships outside your function, following developments in adjacent fields, and treating disagreement as useful data rather than a threat, the same kind of [critical-thinking habit](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/ai-tanking-critical-thinking-skills-employers-what-to-do-2026) employers increasingly say they want. The most resilient professionals borrow the independent-director mindset and apply it to their own careers, never letting comfort become the reason they stop growing. Over time, that habit of inviting challenge compounds into a real advantage, because you keep adapting while others coast on yesterday's strengths. ## How Should Companies Respond to These Findings? For leaders and HR teams, the study carries direct implications for succession planning. The author specifically flags that under a successful long-term CEO, a company may have quietly lost knowledge stock without anyone noticing. When that leader eventually departs, choosing a successor who brings genuinely fresh thinking can unlock growth the previous regime left on the table, especially if that new leader is encouraged to engage with independent boards or advisory panels. With [CEO exits climbing sharply](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/ceo-exits-jumped-20-percent-q1-2026-retirements-surged) in early 2026, more companies are facing exactly this choice right now. Succession, in this light, is not just about replacing a person but about deliberately reintroducing challenge that may have faded over the years. Smaller and privately held businesses can borrow the same idea without a formal board. A rotating advisory panel, regular outside reviews, or even structured devil's-advocate sessions can supply the friction that keeps thinking sharp. The goal is not to manufacture conflict for its own sake but to ensure that no leader, at any level, operates for years without being meaningfully challenged. As we noted in our breakdown of what an [attuned manager](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/attuned-manager-five-team-needs-2026) owes their team, the best leaders actively invite the pushback that keeps a group from going stale. For job seekers evaluating a potential employer, these signals are worth reading too. A company that talks openly about challenge, dissent, and reinvention is often a healthier place to grow than one that prizes harmony above all else. When you interview, it is fair to ask how the team handles disagreement and how often it changes its approach, because the answer tells you a lot about whether you will keep learning there. For more on positioning yourself in shifting workplaces, see our look at [adaptability and career growth](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/adaptability-beats-experience-career-growth-ets-report-2026), which makes the case that the ability to adjust now matters more than raw years on the job. ## People Also Asked ### Q: Does a long-tenured CEO always hurt a company's innovation? A: No. The research found that long CEO tenure on its own was associated with reduced innovation capacity, but that effect reversed when the CEO worked alongside an engaged independent board. The problem is not experience itself, it is experience left unchallenged. Strong outside input turned long tenure into an asset rather than a liability in the firms the study tracked. ### Q: What is R&D knowledge stock in simple terms? A: R&D knowledge stock is a measure of the accumulated research, internal know-how, and worker skills a company has built up over time. Think of it as a firm's reservoir of fresh thinking and capability. The study tracked this figure across 215 large UK companies to gauge how innovative each one had become over a decade of operation. ### Q: How can I tell if my own team has stopped growing? A: Watch for the warning signs the research highlights, consistent results paired with little experimentation, resistance to new tools, and a culture where disagreement is rare. If your team hits every target but you are not learning anything new, that comfortable stability may be quietly limiting your development and your future options. Ready to level up? [Metaintro](https://www.metaintro.com) delivers the insights, tools, and network to accelerate your career. 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