7 No-Nos New Bosses Should Avoid

There’s been a lot of boss turnover of late. Last year, CEO exits hit a record, and 2025 has started in similar fashion, with a lot of new top bosses in charge of a lot of new teams. At the same time, the middle managers who remained after the productivity purges have picked up a slew of new direct reports. And the number of Gen Z-aged workers becoming first-time managers is rising fast, tripling over the last three years despite this group’s stated misgivings about taking on additional responsibilities.

But new bosses often make a ton of mistakes. According to advisory firm Gartner, 60% of new managers fail within the first 24 months, largely due to a lack of training in leadership and management. Those bad new managers can cost an organization millions—or more—in lost productivity, employee turnover, inflated expenses, and missed opportunities. “As soon as you’ve lost the trust of your team, it is incredibly difficult to build that back up,” says Stacey Perkins, career coach at Korn Ferry Advance. 

Here are some pitfalls to avoid as a new boss or as the boss of a new group of workers.

Don’t be a know-it-all.

Too often, bosses believe they have expertise in an area when they really don’t. That overconfidence can lead to bad decisions. “A know-it-all boss is a nightmare to most people,” says Kevin Cashman, Korn Ferry’s vice chairman of CEO and enterprise leadership. Organizations can quickly turn against managers who are unwilling to learn or listen to other perspectives or facts, he says.

Fortunately for new bosses, most employees offer new bosses a grace period during which almost no question is too dumb. A new leader should go on a listening tour to get as much perspective as possible about what is and isn’t working within the organization, says Radhika Papandreou, Korn Ferry’s president of North America. New bosses shouldn’t trust everything they hear, but they do need to listen. “Even if you are internally promoted and think you know what should be done, you have to look at decision-making with a new lens, as the boss,” she says.

Don’t make knee-jerk decisions.

New bosses are often under a ton of pressure to make an impact right away. Unfortunately, that pressure can lead to a lot of decisions they might ultimately regret. Experts say it often pays to hold off. This isn’t procrastination; it’s allowing yourself time to deliberate and gather information. Slowing down provides a chance to think more strategically and tune out distractions. Ironically, this slower thinking can make for better decisions in a fast-paced environment. “The more complex the decision, the slower we need to go,” Cashman says. Ask your teams to use the extra time for scenario planning, so you’ll have a better idea of the consequences of your potential decisions. “If something hits, at least you are prepared,” says Wolfgang Bauriedel, a senior client partner in Korn Ferry’s Global Technology and Digital practice.

Don’t say, “We did it this way at my old job.”

New bosses usually get hired or promoted for doing a good job in their last assignment. That experience can no doubt help, but it doesn’t mean that the same strategies and tactics will work in the new job. Worse, most direct reports at the new place really don’t like hearing how things were done at the old place. “You are no longer at Company X, you are at Company Y, and likely clueless,” Cashman says.

In general, save the stories about your professional heroics for a memoir or the speaker’s circuit. Cashman says your new teams will appreciate hearing how you learned from your own challenges and mistakes far more than they will how you tripled sales or doubled the stock price.

Don’t treat your people as mere cogs.

Bosses, even experienced ones, often view their employees as mere pencils—tools for accomplishing tasks. That’s a mistake, Cashman says, because spending time to find out what drives individual employees can make them feel more respected and engaged. That, in turn, can inspire them to achieve even more, which helps both the individual employee and the boss.

Don’t be too mean… or too nice.

Bluntness and directness have become trendy for bosses recently, and these are good styles to have in the toolbox. But there’s no reason to yell or be disrespectful. On the other hand, leaders who are too nice can be inefficient and can risk harming the organization. For many new bosses, there’s a fine line between being too authoritative and too friendly. “New bosses can often dull their personalities and not engage with employees, or they can be overly friendly and pleasing, and that leads to less respect,” says Sondra Levitt, a principal at Korn Ferry Advance.

The middle ground, Levitt says, is authenticity and honesty. Finding a balance is particularly important, because Gen-Z job candidates often have low regard for both bosses and companies that don’t seem authentic to them.

Don’t be vague.

Experts say clear communication is crucial to a leader's success and must be established early on. Being vague, especially in defining performance expectations, can diminish direct reports’ trust and confidence in a new boss. A Korn Ferry Institute report suggests that a clear understanding of purpose and goals increases employee engagement, which in turn promotes stronger performance and organizational outcomes. Trustworthiness is a top area of concern among new leaders, one they can counteract through active, clear communication. Bosses need to get to know their direct reports, and vice versa. 

Don’t micromanage.

New leaders often get caught up in details and lose sight of the bigger picture. Micromanagement can decrease growth potential, stunt departmental expansion, and raise managers’ risk of burning out, according to the National Institutes of Health. Levitt advises new bosses to establish a clear vision and goals, then empower teams to accomplish them. Instead of attempting to control every aspect of a project, bosses should learn about the strengths and weaknesses of their teams and inspire them to produce high-quality work. 

Learn more about Korn Ferry’s career-development capabilities from Korn Ferry Advance. 

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