Now that corporate America has kicked me to the curb, I'm finally working for someone I can respect: myself. From the time I began my career in 1974 until my recent [thanks, Bain & Company] layoff this past June, I reported to 27 managers at 6 companies over 37 years.
Among this rogues' gallery can be found some truly dysfunctional people who couldn't have managed their way out of a damp paper bag. There were also some otherwise decent people who truly devoted themselves to their job, but just did not have the skills or the personality (or in some cases, the desire) to be managing people.
There were also a few who were - eventually - terminated for workplace malfeasance, although for those of us who endured their Reign of Error, it was too little, too late. I also worked for several high-enough-functioning substance abusers who made no secret of their heavy drinking, drug use, and impairment.
Some of these folks were good managers in terms of "managing up": impressing the people above them by "delivering" the required desired numerical results. This may have endeared them to the middle and upper managers to whom they reported, but working for these metrics-obsessed people was a hard slog. They didn't care one iota about our "career path" or job satisfaction. Just get back to your desk and grind out more revenue.
Two people emerged as leaders: people I would have followed off a cliff. People of impeccable character and unassailable integrity that loomed like leadership giants in a land of Lilliputian managers scurrying around the halls (or more likely, hunkered down n their office with the door shut) studying spreadsheets and worrying about their bonuses.
Follow along below the leadership void for more...
As Colin Powell once noted:
Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible.
While corporations blather on about "people" being their most important "resource", leaders look at people and see potential. Managers look at people as a source of endless risk. They might do a poor job, losing us customers. They might exhibit problematic behavior in the workplace. Worst of all, they might not generate enough revenue for me to get my bonus at year's end.
Leaders, on the other hand, recognize individual differences, and work with each person's strengths to elevate them to reach - and exceed - their potential. Leaders can build teams of quirky people and enable them to ahieve amazing things. Leaders know that Antoine de Saint-Exupery had the right idea when he said:
If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.
Try doing
that with a spreadsheet.
Looking back on my career with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, it's no surprise that some of my most significant accomplishments were achieved during the time that I worked for these two excellent gentlemen. What made them different? Here's my best guesses:
They believed in us. Whether they had hired us or "inherited us", they saw the goodness, the intelligence, and the potential in each of us.
They believed in customer service. They believed that our customers deserved the best that we could provide, and they removed roadblocks from our paths to enable us to focus on the clients and on the work, not on internal systems and processes.
They didn't micromanage us. They trusted us to do our jobs without constant monitoring and reassurance. They understood that, if we did our work and won repeat and referral business from our customers, the good financial results would follow.
They shielded us from corporate bullsh*t. While the "managers" loved to regale us with tales of how much pressure they were under to deliver results, the leaders shielded us from the extraneous noise and dealt with their challenges privately.
They set the bar very high... and moved it upward. "Excellence" was a moving target. The celebration of the previous quarter's results or new project wins or achievements was a reminder that, as well as we'd done, they knew that we were capable of all that and more.
They fought for us. In an age of tight budgets, they fought to get us raises, promotions, and perks. While the "managers" were all too willing to throw people into the volcano to make their numbers, the leaders found ways to protect good people during tough times.
The led by example. They didn't need "core values" reminders. They didn't need to certify their ethics and integrity. They lived their values every day, in full view. We didn't just want to follow these leaders; we wanted to be them.
Two out of 27. Not great, but I wonder whether today's workers will find any leaders in their midst as corporations staff management ranks with MBA graduates and "yes people" who are willing to "report the numbers" rather than leading.