Leaders: Filters, or Funnels?

A lot of leaders think their job is to pass along everything they hear from above — every update, every “urgent” task, every new initiative.

They mean well. They want to keep their people informed. But that kind of leadership turns you into a funnel, not a filter. And funnels create chaos.

When you push everything straight down the chain — unfiltered, unprioritized — your team ends up drowning in noise. They spend their time reacting instead of executing. Morale drops. Focus disappears.

Great leaders do something different: they filter.

They take in all the guidance, the demands, the chaos — and they separate what matters from what doesn’t. They translate priorities into plain language. They protect their team’s time, attention, and energy.

That doesn’t mean hiding information. It means applying judgment.
It means saying, “This is important — focus here.”
And sometimes it means saying, “Ignore that — it’s not ours.”

Filtering takes courage. It’s easier to just forward the email, share the slide deck, or parrot the talking points. But real leaders absorb confusion and deliver clarity.

A funnel passes on noise.
A filter creates signal.

So the next time you’re tempted to “keep everyone in the loop,” ask yourself:
Are you being a filter… or just a funnel?

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Charles served over 27 years in the US Army, which included seven combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan with various Special Operations Forces units and two stints as an instructor at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He also completed operational tours in Egypt, the Philippines, and the Republic of Korea and earned a Doctor of Business Administration from Temple University as well as a Master of Arts in International Relations from Yale University. He is the owner of The Havok Journal, and the views expressed herein are his own and do not reflect those of the US Government or any other person or entity.

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.