During the past week of panicked news about the latest turn taken by the cancerous credit crisis, stories of this one being potentially worse in some ways than the Great Depression have fanned concern. Of course, it only stands to reason that it would turn out to be the same week I found myself reading Cormac McCarthy‘s “The Road,” a physically and spiritually exhausting post-apocalyptic journey of a search for salvation and hope. A disorienting coincidence.
As the novel’s subjects struggle through their ash-strangled new world, they come upon pointless remnants of the one that is no more. Their travels are punctuated by horrific encounters with ghostly figures, like themselves, wandering through the devastation. “The frailty of everything revealed at last,” one of them observes.
It’s true: everything really is frail. It comes down to trust – the character to bear it honorably, the ability to have faith that others do so. Without that ashes could well be our legacy to our children.
So, how are we managers and our organizations doing? Let’s take a brief look:
No separate compartments. You will often hear private peccadillos of public figures dismissed as irrelevant to the work the person does. I don’t buy that. You may engage in different activities in your private and public lives, but you are the same person, and those separate actions are evaluated by the same personal judgement and executed by the same moral character.
In this light, please see this WSJ piece by Nathan Koppel about we high-speed low-drag business types and civic duty. Some years ago, in a highly charged, politicized case attracting tremendous national attention, a Marine was prosecuted for his role in a controversial executive branch initiative. His attorney struggled mightily to select a jury of people who were completely ignorant of the case. This was difficult due to the tremendous publicity it received, but he claimed that otherwise his client couldn’t receive a fair trial.
Members satisfactory to the defense attorney were seated in the jury, which nevertheless convicted the Marine. During the appeal process, he dismissed the jury’s verdict as the product of people whom he viciously belittled as isolated ignoramuses – the very type he insisted on having judge him. One thing at the least can be said for them: they did their civic duty.
Now, please take a moment to view this article by John Phillips at his eponymous blog which he uses to address legal issues in the workplace. It is well worth your time to see how he relates the stunningly unethical behavior alleged to have occurred within a major US government agency with concerns you should be sure to review about your own workplace. If business, trade, growth, and ever-increasing wealth and welfare depend, at bottom, on trust, what do we get in its absence? Who is responsible for its presence?
What about the private characters of the individuals referred to above has penetrated into their public performance to produce deleterious effects on their work – and the welfare of all of us?
The end of the era of the great leader? Speaking of trust, perhaps it is time to stop investing it irresponsibly in a false faith in superlative individual leadership – particularly in the persons of star CEOs. Please see this piece by Peter Galuszka, from BNET, about how boards in the financial industry need to step up to their duties. Peter emphasizes technical skill in this single complex field, but the matter extends beyond that issue and that industry to the ability and willingness to fulfil one’s fiduciary duty.
According to this WSJ article, companies are beginning to become more particular about ensuring that pay – including severance pay – is tied to performance. That’s great, but boards cannot reduce their supervisory duties to simple incentive programs. They have to understand and approve of what’s going on in their companies; they have to direct. Please read this and Peter’s pieces and see what you think.
We’ll be picking up the current leadership discussion again on Monday – see you then!
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Today’s tip: Speaking of supervising, according to another Peter Galuszka piece in BNET, CEOs need to do a better job of it with respect to their own senior management teams. Please read the piece, note what it reports (from an external study) as the specific strengths and weaknesses of these C-level teams. See if you agree with the assessments, or even with the assumptions about what these managers should be doing, and with Peter’s suggestions.
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