The grueling fight to elect Kevin McCarthy as House speaker came to a close on Saturday after the California Republican made several concessions to the GOP’s ultra-right faction. Despite a win in hand, McCarthy’s efforts to secure the speaker’s gavel have weakened his authority, diminished his power, and emboldened the party’s ultraconservative sect, which could create dysfunction and chaos as he tries to lead a party with deep fissures.
McCarthy agreed to several demands from GOP hardliners in the run-up to his appointment, including a rules change that would allow just one member to call for a vote to oust the House speaker and another that would allow caucus members to serve on the House Rules Committee. The attempts to mollify a small but vocal faction have drawn concern and criticism from McCarthy’s GOP peers. “For the House to function, the Speaker has to have authority, and this demonstrates the next Speaker, whoever it is, doesn’t have the authority to manage the House,” an anonymous GOP senator told the Hill.
While the House gridlock was unprecedented, making it the longest contest to become speaker in over 160 years, such clashes are not uncommon in the corporate world. Take the C-suite rebellion at Disney that led to Bob Chapek’s ouster in November: After a series of missteps, including his handling of the company’s pandemic response, reluctance to challenge Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay'' bill, billions lost on streaming, and mounting tension with fellow executives and board members, the former CEO was replaced by his predecessor, Bob Igor. His dismissal was reportedly stimulated by Disney’s chief financial officer Christine McCarthy who warned board directors that the company was off course under Chapek's leadership.
Workplace conflict is inevitable in leadership ranks and can even be valuable when executives openly debate, share ideas, and disagree to drive results. But a toxic, misaligned C-suite can lead to productivity loss, stall progress, and create confusion that reverberates throughout the company. In Chapek's case, his hesitation to address Florida’s law restricting discussions of gender and sexuality in elementary schools led to employee walkouts and reprimand from current and former executives and left his lieutenants scrambling to assuage worker concerns. With McCarthy, the House could not resume business until a Speaker was elected, and he will likely face challenges to government funding, raising the debt ceiling, and threats to ESG disclosure rules and investing requirements.
“Being a CEO isn't about making tons of decisions,” Dick Patton, a partner at executive search firm Egon Zehnder and co-head of its CEO practice tells Fortune. “It's about helping others make tons of decisions.” As corporate governance shifts from shareholder primacy to a broader ecosystem of stakeholders, CEOs must effectively engage their many stakeholders, including direct reports. In the political sector, it quickly became clear that McCarthy failed to engage disgruntled GOP members early on, forcing him to hastily negotiate concessions during the Speaker vote. Those concessions, in turn, required that he renege on negotiations already made with the majority Republicans who backed him in earlier voting rounds, setting up the risk for future clashes with them. Republican Sen. John Cornyn aptly noted, "If it’s this hard to elect a Speaker, imagine how hard it’s going to be to pass any legislation."
Patton stresses the importance of leaders being adaptive without becoming chronically reactive, especially when there’s potential for undermining. Successful leaders are also willing to make unpopular decisions and decisively stand their ground, demonstrating an ability to guide the company through disruptive periods, securing long-term respect and C-suite alignment. McCarthy’s willingness to bend to ultraconservatives seems to have hurt his standing with more moderate Republicans like Texas Rep. Tony Gonzalez and South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace. The two expressed reluctance to approve a rules package for the 118th Congress, though it ultimately passed with a slim majority on Monday.
Finally, leaders should prioritize building trust over likability. “I know people who I don't particularly like, but I do trust. That is a deeper impression of somebody than popularity,” Patton says. Employees at high-trust companies report 74% less stress, 50% higher productivity, 76% more engagement, and 40% less burnout than people at low-trust companies, according to a 2017 study from the Harvard Business Review.
Back in D.C., McCarthy is already facing a bumpy start, and his tenure is poised to be a challenging one with continued infighting. Whether he emerges victorious will rest on his own ability to adapt to the far right’s curveballs, while maintaining the trust and respect of the remaining GOP House majority.
