A wave crashing on the beach captures just the last few moments of an epic journey that started as a small ripple in the open ocean.

CEOs and other organization leaders are often invited to look over high-profile projects in the days leading up to their launch. What may seem like benign feedback for them has crashing effects on the employees at the receiving end who must drop everything and scramble to address it.

These leaders are oblivious to the waves they’ve created.

Involving leadership much earlier in the process can help keep waves in the ocean and out of the corporate world. Keeping waves in the ocean is the responsibility of not only leadership, but on those who manage the project.