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February 27, 2007
Modern Corporate Leadership: A Dinosaur's View
Jerome Alexander, author of the book 160 Degrees of Deviation: The Case for the Corporate Cynic, tells IMT readers that accepting responsibility speaks volumes about character — an individual's and an organization's. Yet today responsibility and character no longer seem important, he writes.
Thirty years ago, when I was first promoted into management, an executive gave me some advice that I really took to heart. I was so impressed by his speech that I have shared it with every first-time manager that I have had the privilege of promoting or hiring. His advice went something like this:
When you are first promoted into management, three things will happen: 1) you will get some money, some power and some responsibility; 2) you will enjoy the money, but your lifestyle will change and the novelty will soon wear off ; and 3) you will enjoy the feeling of power until you notice that you are constrained by rules and that there a lot of people with a lot more power and authority than you. You will get some responsibility, but guess what? That will never go away! In fact, if you're good, the responsibilities will only increase
Being responsible for the activities of others should be a humbling experience. I believe that the ability to accept responsibility speaks volumes about an individual's character. The same is true of corporate character: it is the reflection of the character of its leaders and managers.
Many of today's corporate officials believe that they are at the helms of world-class organizations, each of which would qualify as the best place to work in America — and they've spent enough money on consultants to prove it!
There is never a problem accepting responsibility for good press. But when survey results on employee morale speak otherwise, some of these same officials appear dumbfounded. Others simply devalue the statistics as representing the views of the usual suspects — a few disgruntled employees and those who do not understand "the big picture" of a competitive global economy. Still others will scramble to delve into the survey results to nullify the sampling techniques or discredit the authors. Sad to say, but this cycle will repeat itself through new surveys every few years because of the one item most frequently overlooked during the postmortem process: the character of the corporate leadership itself.
In my 30 years in middle management, I have seen this time and time again. During the last several years, however, I have noticed a disturbing change for the worse. In this age of "lean" processes, downsizings, mergers and decentralized management, I believe that the once-good character of many corporations as reflected in their executives and managers has been replaced with a new character of irresponsible, self-serving and egocentric technocracy. The once-revered characteristics of solid corporate leadership have been replaced with a Hollywood-esque image of celebrity replete with pompous arrogance. Many responsible managers have been replaced with rude, fast-talking, "buzzword-spouting," acronym-using facilitators of the latest trendy programs. They are leaders in name and title only. Character seems no longer important. Responsibility has been pushed far down the organization chart to the lowest levels. Isn't that the latest fad?
The rank-and-file employees, on the other hand, still come to work with implicit trust that their managers are acting in the best interest of the company and its employees. They believe that those in positions of leadership should be responsible and of good character. Further, they believe that the corporation should be of good character. Their trust and loyalty cannot be taken for granted. They are beginning to feel betrayed.
Employees' perceptions about the corporation's leadership only seem to be important if they have an effect on "results" or become embarrassing (as in the case of an attitude survey). Instead of seriously considering the root causes of these negative perceptions, some consultants' gimmicks will usually be employed to make the workforce "feel better" about their lot. Is that a responsible way of dealing with issues?
Worse yet is when some new form of "corporate religion" is forced upon employees to prove how wrong minded those perceptions are. Insulting the intelligence of the rank-and-file and good solid managers is no way to influence change.
Many employees are losing respect for their superiors as well as the corporate system that created them. Many corporate leaders have become so removed from day-to-day operations that they no longer have a clue as to what is really happening within their organizations, and therefore, other than for short-term profits, they no longer feel responsible for anything else. Many line managers have taken their cues from the top and perpetuated all of the bad characteristics that they believe will serve their own agendas and careers.
I recently spoke with the vice president of operations for a $100 million multi-plant manufacturer. When I asked about his responsibilities, he shot back that he was responsible for holding his subordinates responsible. What does that say of his character?
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Jerome Alexander MBA, CPA, is the author of the book 160 Degrees of Deviation: The Case for the Corporate Cynic (Llumina Press, 2002).
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10 CommentsThis is a very good article. Having worked all my adult life as a worker and not in management, I was very aware of the difference in leadership. The individual I respected the most for his leadership ability was a man of exceptional character. He led by example and expected the workers to be accountable for there actions but did not dwell on it.
One time, years ago, I collected money from the employees and ran a survey with questions about the supervisor's ability. He was hands-down winner when the survey was done. He was kind of shy about collecting the prize, but I was pleased that the workers had spoken.
Dale Westrick.
February 27, 2007 5:55 PMA good article all around. One of the few that see the issues and tells it how it is.
Character and integrity, responsibility and accountability are missing in most of the organizations. We all feel more comfortable to hide and band in "teams" where we follow orders and have no responsibility. We follow "visions" that become nightmares too fast. We follow systems rather than logic, we ask the computer software to do the thinking for us and foresee the future in 6-Sigma and standard deviation percentages trying to ignore jobs lost, deteriorating medical coverage, erosion of our wages and business moving South or East (far East that is).
The fish stinks from the head, they say, and the only way not to feel the stench is to put your head higher up your own bum or in the sand. It becomes the new American way. Corporate America follows American Interests and not American Values. The Values are for us to follow and for them to sell. Better sell them to the Chinese than to us.
You tried to sell them in Iraq and they're not buying it.
It blows my mind to know that we spend over $150,000.00 a day for the war while our people struggle with medical insurance, job losses and sink faster into poverty than ever before. This is also management and responsibility.
February 28, 2007 3:50 PMOne correction. That is $150,000,000.00 a day.
or $150 MILLION per day.
Wow!!! This is one of the articles with the most incite into business leadership today that I have read on this Blog. The decline of ethics and the run to the latest and hottest buzz words by management and leadership can best be seen by an old timer who saw that it can be better. Make no mistake, I'm not saying that we need to return to all of the past, but some return to doing what is right as opposed to what is popular would surely be a benefit. The attempt to make everyone a team player and everyone responsible for the success of an enterprise seem like a really good idea, but when things go wrong responsibility is not shared, everyone is looking for a place to put blame. The buck must stop somewhere and top management is that place and you better hope it is staffed by people of principal so that "what" did it is determined, not "who" did it. The Iraq war is a terrible waste in lives and dollars, but do you really think that all the elements of poverty and health care would go away if those dollars were not being spent? If you do have that belief, why were they not spent some three years ago when there was no Iraq war? It is not as though the funding for the war was taken from those programs, it was never there and we only seem to look at it in that fashion when we look to support the folly of the spend on the war.
The most ironic thing about the entire article surfaces in the last few lines, Jermome Alexander is a MBA, CPA. He is graduate two of the most criticized professions mentioned on the Blog by the engineering types who frequent it. How can this member of the enemy that has destroyed the fabric of US manufacturing have such skill and incite? Perhaps the engineers need to look soulfully in the mirror and realize the enemy lie within and I'm looking at 'em!!~!
March 1, 2007 4:38 PM
I think I just read the most pathetic line about leaders just now: "Leadership is a lot like faith...you can't see it, but you know it's there."
If the LEADER's last resource to convince the others to follow is to ask them to have faith, we have to return to middle ages and, closer, maybe to communism to see that that approach failed. What a pile of junk.
People will follow if you can tell them something they don't know, if you give them an example they can follow, if you give them hope, prosperity and structure.
To summarize, you have to give them results. When you come home from work, drained and tired, after you gave it all you got, you have to be able to say that it was worth it, and that your leader was there with you every step of the way.
Some people might have been managers all their life and if a few yes-sayers eulogized them and kept telling them how great they were and their "visions", they really start to believe it. Then they retire and give their 10 cents' worth of hate for engineers.
March 2, 2007 10:03 AM
