The Leadership Crisis Sabotaging Your Business — And How to Fix It

This Isn’t a Story About Customer Service

It’s a story about agency —
or more accurately, what happens to human beings when they have none.
And leaders everywhere should take note.

Bell is just the backdrop.
The real lesson is about conscious leadership, organizational culture, and why so many workplaces are undermining the very people they depend on.

The Context That Matters

I, along with my husband and a caring community member, have been helping our neighbour — a 91-year-old woman who recently lost her last family member in Canada, her son.

She is confused. Grieving. Vulnerable.
And completely unable to navigate the labyrinth that is modern telecom bureaucracy.

One of the many tasks we took on for her was setting up — and eventually cancelling — a simple landline.

A landline.

For a woman who doesn’t use a cell phone and cannot learn how.

This should have been easy.
It was not.

Where the Nightmare Begins

Setting up a basic phone line for a 91-year-old woman with dementia is, apparently, impossible unless you put it in someone else’s name.

Canceling TV and internet she never used?
Also impossible.

So we paid $140+ each month
—for a phone she might get one call on, and the safety of calling us.

A technician finally arrived — unannounced — in her room, after promising they’d call me first.

Terrifying for anyone, let alone someone confused and grieving.

He set up the phone.
Said it was ready.

Except it wasn’t.

For ten days, it didn’t work.

Another two-hour call revealed the installer never communicated completion to the head office, so they could complete the setup.

Hours and hours of labour on our end — hours a 91-year-old could never navigate.

We talk about “protecting seniors from exploitation.”
Try navigating Bell.

But the real kicker came later.

The Cancellation Attempt(s)

When we moved her again — this time to a facility with no need for a landline — I tried to cancel the service.

I tried cancelling online.
You already know the punchline.

You can’t.

(Because upselling grief is easier on the phone.)

So I used chat.
Explained — truthfully — that the woman whose account I managed no longer needs it as she moving to a care facility who already has a phone solution.

Could someone call me to cancel?

Sympathetic chat.
Probably AI.
No call.

That was the third time.

So I was forced to make a phone call — again.
3 → 6 → 9 → Cancellations.

Almost immediately:
the pitch.

“She’s an elderly woman moving to care facility. She doesn’t need the phone,” I explained.

She kept pitching.

I said — with the restraint of a devil at this point —
“I just need to cancel.”

She hung up.

Called again. Without a word.
She hung up again.

Finally, someone new.
Relief.

He launched into another pitch.

Finally, exhausted, I’m not proud of this, but I said bluntly:

“She died.”

He apologized.
He began the cancellation — finally.

And then — unbelievably —
he pitched me another service for her.

I said:
“Can you use it when you’re dead?”

The conversation was over.

The Leadership Lesson Hidden in the Absurdity

This isn’t a “bad customer service” story.
It’s a human agency story.

Because that employee wasn’t cruel.
He wasn’t heartless.
He wasn’t even choosing to pitch me.

He had no agency.
No discretion.
No autonomy.
No ability to make a human-centered decision.

He was trapped in a script. And a call that was being recorded.
And when your organization traps people in scripts…
you destroy your culture.

This is exactly what happens in workplaces where:

• Employee empowerment is replaced with fear
• Judgment is replaced with compliance
• Humanity is replaced with performance metrics

This is where the crisis lies.

Not in telecom.
In leadership.

In every organization that removes agency from the people they rely on to represent them.

Conscious leadership doesn’t just invite agency —it requires it.

7 Conscious Leadership Strategies to Build Real Agency on Your Team

1. Give Decision Rights — Not Just Tasks

Tasks create dependency.
Decision rights create leaders.

If your team needs permission for everything, expect bottlenecks, frustration, and customers who walk away.

2. Remove the Fear Tax

People follow scripts when they fear blame.

Tell your team:
“You will never be punished for trying to solve a problem.”

Courage grows in safety.

3. Replace Gatekeeping With Guardrails

Guardrails guide.
Gatekeeping suffocates.

Define what must be protected —then let people make waves within those boundaries.

4. Ask for Thinking, Not Just Doing

When someone brings you a problem, ask:

“What do YOU think we should do?”

You’ll unlock more brilliance than you knew you had.

5. End the ‘Not My Department’ Culture

Teach your team to say:

“Let me take this on and get you an answer.”

That single phrase transforms trust, speed, and culture.

6. Celebrate Initiative — Even When It’s Messy

If you reward only perfection, you create performers.
If you reward initiative, you create innovators.

And innovators don’t need scripts.

7. Share the Why — Not Just the What

Purpose fuels autonomy.
When people understand the mission, their decisions elevate with it.

The Real Lesson

Disempowered employees can’t lead.
Disempowered leaders can’t create impact.
Disempowered organizations break trust and burn out their customers.

If you want a team that leads with humanity, judgment, and ownership…don’t build a Bell inside your business.

Build agency.
Build trust.
Build conscious leadership.

That’s how you make waves.

Ready to deepen your influence?

Ready to influence with curiosity?
Download the 4C Framework of Influence and learn how to build trust, inspire action, and stay in the sweet spot between curiosity and overstep.
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Because conscious leaders don’t avoid tough conversations—they lead them.

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