1. Poor Confidence

Joe had no confidence in himself. Technically he was brilliant in finance, but he didn’t see the value that he brought to the organization. Whenever his boss said, “Jump,” Joe said, “How high?” He ran reports six different ways just to please the people around him. His self–esteem was really label esteem. He told me that if he lost his title of VP of Finance his career would be over. He had no idea that he was the reason he had been successful up to this point and that he had the talent to rebuild his career if it came to that. When the company went through a reorganization, Joe had to interview for a position, and he did a terrible job of explaining what he would bring to the future of the organization. He was let go.

2. Poor Communications

Beth was rude. She was the VP of Operations and probably knew more about operations than anyone else in the organization. That was the upside. The downside was every time someone gave her a suggestion related to operations she rolled her eyes and threw her glasses on the table. She cut people off in mid–sentence, and told them what to do and when to do it. Even though she had been handpicked by the president for this key position, she was demoted based purely on her inability to communicate effectively.

http://limsmedia.com/post/Why-Executives-Fail--Why-It%e2%80%99s-Important-to-Know%2c-The-Four-Root-Causes-for-Executive-Failure-By-Dan-Coughlin.aspx