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By Root 631 0

be difficult because you have to wend your way through layers of managers, each of whom might be tempted to bring you his own version of the truth. Therefore, avoid the process entirely. Don’t step out into the marketplace. Don’t even go out into the hall. Get all your information, preferably in summary form, from your trusted staff. They are there to tell you what you need to hear and to filter out what you don’t need to bother about. And even if you look in the mirror and know that you’re not totally wonderful, or if you have a spouse who has the annoying habit of reminding you that you are mortal, do you want to hear that from people at work? Certainly not. Keep them at a distance.

Cowed directors will also help enhance your isolation and probably your pay package. Even with stricter regulations regarding independent directors, whatever they are, it’s not too hard to remind them of why they should be grateful to you. With cowed directors and solid isolation from the stockholders, you should really have no trouble with your pay, but a word of caution. Shareholders and various government entities are taking a harder look at top executives’ tying pay to performance. Goodness! What a mistake! Even If you fail miserably, you should not be punished for your mistakes. In fact, your first order of business, before you ever do any work, is to make sure that you are compensated royally no matter what happens to the business. Keep any and all potential critics out of your way.

“It’s a rare person who wants to hear what he doesn’t want to hear.”

—Dick Cavett

“Think not those faithful who praise thy words and actions but those who kindly reprove thy faults.”

—Socrates

PUT OUT A SIGN: DON’T MAKE THE BOSS MAD. BRING ME NO BAD NEWS.

Adolf Hitler did this rather well. His secretary, Martin Bormann, quickly learned to bring the führer only pleasant tidings. Indeed, in any organization you can usually find some “good news” and someone who will happily bring it to you if it ushers him or her into the inner luncheon circle. On the other hand, I’ve personally found that it pays to be paranoid, getting bad news to the top quickly so that you can quickly take steps to avert disaster.

Charles Kettering, the great engineering genius who helped steer General Motors during its glory years, said, “Don’t bring me anything but trouble. Good news weakens me.” I don’t know that I’d go quite that far, but the simple truth is that all progress in an organization has to, by definition, stem from the effort to solve a problem, which means, of course, that you have to know about the problem before you can get to the bottom of it.

You have to work at it.

When I would visit parts of the Coca-Cola world, the local managers would often meet me at the airport and take me to the three local customers where Coke was a huge success. But I wanted to see stores that were not on the list and would sometimes just stop the car and jump out to go into an outlet. I also wanted to sit down and have direct conversations with employees. I’d say, “Here’s what’s on my mind. What’s on your mind?” I think I usually got pretty straight answers because I’d often hear the same concerns from a number of people.

It’s instructive that during World War II, Winston Churchill created a special office whose sole duty was to bring him bad news. He wanted the unvarnished truth, no matter what it was. Hitler, on the other hand, thought he was still winning the war until quite late in the conflict. If you want to be an effective leader, you have to find ways to break out of the isolation and bunker mentality that many bosses find so tempting.

“A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world.”

—John le Carré

CREATE A CLIMATE OF FEAR. It’s so easy. It’s built into every high office with the power to hire and fire, and it can happen without your even knowing it. I remember when I was in my first job that involved managing a number of salesmen for Butternut Coffee. Periodically they were supposed to come in and report to me and discuss the situation in their region.