When leaders blame everything except their leadership.

Heat doesn’t burn food — neglect does.

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The Story

At Nutrivolt Foods in Indore, the founder Rajesh Kulkarni, 46, constantly complained that “today’s youngsters lack commitment.”

But every junior left his team within a year.

Deadlines were unclear, meetings chaotic, weekends routinely stolen for “urgent” tasks.

One day, he snapped at a manager saying,

“This remote culture has killed work ethic!”

The truth?

Half his team resigned even before remote work existed.

The fire wasn’t the problem — the cook was.

Across the world in Copenhagen, Elina, 50, CEO of a clean-packaging startup, blamed AI tools for her team’s “falling creativity.”

In reality, she bulldozed every new idea with the same line:

“This won’t impress investors.”

Employees stopped suggesting anything.

Output dropped.

She blamed the tools.

Her board blamed her blindness.

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What This Reveals About Work Relations

When leaders blame:

• technology,

• the economy,

• the generation,

• the market,

• the system,

…for outcomes caused by poor leadership, they create a culture of fear and deflection.

People stop speaking.

Ideas stop flowing.

Trust burns fastest.

The truth is as old as the kitchen:

Tools reveal competence; they don’t create it.

Burnt outcomes come from untreated habits, not from the flame beneath.

The future belongs to employers who look at the heat, not the excuse.