|
|
|
|
Permission to reprint articles
All articles appearing on this site are copyrighted by Contented Cow Partners, LLC.
Permission to reprint is hereby granted to all print and electronic media provided that the contact information at the end of each article is included in your publication. Additionally, please mail one copy of your publication to: Contented Cow Partners, LLC, 7847 Glen Echo Road North, Jacksonville, FL 32211. E-mail electronic publications to Richard@ContentedCows.com.
Thank you.
Permission is also granted for reasonable editing, including article title and industry-specific examples.
Please call 800-940-7006, or e-mail, if we can help in any way.
Download images:
The authors - lower resolution
Book Jacket - high and low resolution
Return to Editor’s List of Articles
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
How to Succeed in Business Without Getting a Big Head
By Richard Hadden and Bill Catlette
Beth climbed the ladder the hard way. No meteoric rise like J. Pierrepont Finch, the main character in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”, who made it from mailroom clerk to Chairman of the Board in 2 ½ hours and eleven musical numbers.
And all the way up, Beth made careful note of what she did and did not respect in those she called “boss”, vowing never to be like the ones who were more impressed with their position than with what they brought to the enterprise.
However, comma….
As a Director, the memory of those bigheaded bosses had begun to fade, and by the time her business card proclaimed her Vice Presidentness, she had to throw out all of her old hats. They didn’t fit anymore.
Beth became overly concerned with issues of status, getting her title just right, office amenities and position, and “appearances”. People were invited to join or not to join meetings based on their position on the org chart, rather than by what they might contribute to the meeting. When the Executive Committee proposed giving performance-based bonuses to all salaried employees, she fought the plan vigorously, saying bonuses were a perk reserved for managers, and she wanted to keep it that way.
She lost.
People called her Queen Elizabeth behind her back. They stopped confiding in her.
Some sought transfers to work for other managers. Her influence in the company dropped at about the same rate as her department’s productivity and morale. As far as we know, she’s still there, trying in vain to impress with her rank, but she’s not happy.
Have you seen managers like Beth? Do you ever see one in the mirror?
In his new book “Somebodies and Nobodies”, author Robert W. Fuller, former president of Oberlin College in Ohio describes the characteristics and costs of “rankism”, which he describes as indignity and humiliation experienced at the hands of a higher-ranking person who abuses his or her power. Our thanks to a Fresh Milk reader for suggesting we read Fuller’s book.
We agree with Fuller that there’s nothing wrong with the concept of rank and power, but question the wisdom of those who abuse it, and thereby abuse the very people who are the source of that power.
Why? Besides the obvious, it’s pretty clear that people at work just don’t respond well to folks north of them on the food chain “pulling rank” just because they can. Lording one’s position over the workforce does nothing to motivate. And in today’s business environment, any leader who’s not trying to motivate the increasingly lean workforce to produce more and better stuff is suffering from, well, rank stupidity.
And yet, we see it everywhere.
We see it in doctors who get a little dizzy with the very real notion that their skills have the
power to save people’s lives. Now, pay attention. We didn’t say “all doctors”. We are referring to those who abuse their power and snap at nurses and other healthcare professionals trying valiantly to do their jobs in partnership with those doctors. And to those who haven’t yet figured out that, like it or not, “patient” is synonymous with “customer”.
And we won’t just pick on doctors. We can also point to corporate executives who expect their “subjects” to bow and scrape before them, without ever bothering to earn the respect they so voraciously crave. Airline pilots who sense that because they spend a few hours a week at 39,000 feet they are closer to “Him” than everyone else. Civil Service bosses who have done their time, and now want a little payback. Private security guards who didn’t have any power in previous jobs, and now kind of like the feeling.
(An interesting aside. Since the Transportation Security Administration took over security operations at American airports, we haven’t seen the abuse of power that was once commonplace, when a private “security agent” could keep you from your flight for looking at him wrong. The new TSA agents have been much better trained to treat passengers as the paying customers they are. At least when I am subjected to “random acts of footwear inspection”, the TSA agents are generally polite and professional about it.)
So, what’s wrong with rankism in the employment relationship? I mean, somebody has to be in charge, right?
Well, for one thing, rankism exacts a cost, without returning any commensurate value. While we don’t know of anyone who’s measured the dollar cost (someone probably tried once, but someone higher up told him to stop), you can be sure those costs are substantial, and they come from lower motivation, greater resentment, and the distraction that comes with looking for a job elsewhere, or just standing around the break room whining about it.
Today’s workforce is less impressed (and less moved) by arbitrary position power. Instead they respond to leaders who provide real, tangible, and palpable leadership, folks who help make their jobs easier, more meaningful, and allow them to contribute more to the enterprise. CFO’s take note – this stuff is FREE!
Again, there’s nothing inherently wrong with being the boss, and enjoying some of the privileges that come with the added responsibility. But most people have a pretty good sense of where to draw the line between reasonable and obscene.
For instance, when was the last time you heard someone say, “My boss is so down-to-earth. I hate that.”
I’m writing this on the way back from a client engagement in Berlin, a city that knows more than its share about the abuse of power. One of the employers that came up during our seminar here was Swedish-based H&M, a budget clothing retailer with a store on nearly every downtown corner in Europe, and about 40 in the U.S.
Recently listed on Fortune magazine’s list of Great Employers in Europe, H&M has developed an egalitarian corporate structure. It’s hard to tell an executive’s office space from anyone else’s, and business cards bear only names and contact info, no titles. I’d find that a little hard to work with (I want to know if I’m dealing with someone from payroll or purchasing), but it seems to work for them.
And before you think this is just a European phenomenon, it’s not. Intel, Kingston Technology, and even some non-hi-tech companies would challenge you to identify their execs by examining their cubicles…or their behavior.
We don’t know if these outward displays of equality have a huge impact on employees’ motivation or not, but we suspect they don’t hurt.
What we do think carries some real weight with employees is a leader who:
- Remembers employees’ names and birthdays, but forgets past mistakes.
- Has the personal integrity to make sure they’re earning the extra money and privileges that come with the job.
- Stays grounded by spending lots of time with employees further down the line.
- Gives back, by sharing some of their good fortune with their employees when they’ve earned it, or need it. Come on, have your team over for a barbeque once in a while. Take ‘em to a ballgame. And pay for it with your own money.
- Lets their team have the spotlight, and gives credit for contributions.
- Knows that a leader’s true value comes from the people he or she inspires and develops.
- Takes pains to find out what’s important to their employees, rather than spending all of their time talking about what’s important to them.
- Remembers where they came from.
- Pitches in when it would help. And stays “out of the kitchen” when it wouldn’t. Jack Brennan, CEO of the investment firm Vanguard Group, has been known to get down in the pit and work the phones on busy days. And we bet he’s good at it.
Please print the following attribution for this article: Bill Catlette and Richard Hadden, co-authors of Contented Cows Give Better Milk, help clients clobber the competition by having a focused, fired up, and capably led workforce. They deliver powerful conference keynotes and leadership training. They can be reached at 800-940-7006 (+1-904-720-0870 from outside North America) or www.ContentedCows.com.