The Ten Commandments for Business Failure - Don Keough [18]
Only by accident did I learn that even though he was performing very well, he was afraid of me. He was intimidated by just the process of coming into the headquarters and taking the elevator up to my office. I changed this dynamic by going to him, picking him up, and bringing him back with me to Omaha. He had to get to know that there was nothing to be afraid of, from me, or from the headquarters building. This individual went on to a highly successful career.
There is a great deal of difference between an environment of creative tension in an organization and a climate of fear. Creating a good working environment is hard work. It requires sensitivity to the mood and spirit of an organization, but it pays off. It’s no accident that many firms consistently listed on Fortune’s list of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in America are also consistently among those delivering the best shareholder return.
An environment of fear, on the other hand, requires so little effort I really think it must be quite tempting. You don’t have to understand anything to inculcate it. Just scream, throw tantrums. Dress down people who make mistakes in front of other people. Embarrass them. Be rude. Act like a two-year-old. Sadly, there are plenty of managers who do. They’re even proud of the outrageous demands they make on their underlings—proud of treating the help badly. In my opinion not one of them is “creative” enough to justify it, even if they are editors of fashion magazines or directors of motion pictures or one of the hottest new turnaround artists in industry. Bad behavior is bad behavior and inexcusable. We all can remember times when we lost our cool, where we have been unfair, but in each instance we diminished ourselves. I can’t deny that sometimes you’ll get short-term success and even publicity.
In the early 1990s, the media heaped loads of praise on the newest tough turnaround hero, Al Dunlap, aka “Chainsaw Al,” the self-styled “Rambo in Pinstripes.” He fired a flock of people and pared every expense to the bone. BusinessWeek pointed out that Al had anointed himself as America’s best CEO. Quite a few business reporters seemed to buy the hype. That was just before he drove a fine company called Sunbeam into the ground in 1998.
To completely isolate yourself, put yourself first in all things. When there is credit to be taken, take all of it. When there is blame to be taken, take none of it. If the spotlight of public attention turns toward your company in a friendly way, leap into that light and leave your employees and associates and everyone else who might have given you a helping hand way off in the wings somewhere. After you have taken all the credit for some corporate accomplishment, in the unlikely event that you harbor some feelings of guilt, you can easily assuage those by sending your hardest workers a nice Christmas poinsettia or a holiday turkey. Small engraved crystal paperweights with the worker’s name and a “thank you” over your signature can also be quite touching.
Hogging the limelight is not an absolute guarantee of failure, but it does contribute to that extreme isolation that can make great success very difficult.
Among some of the most successful people I’ve known well and worked with I’ve found there is often a self-effacing quality—an avoidance of the spotlight. If you read Warren Buffett’s annual letters to his shareholders you can’t cover more than a couple of paragraphs before you find him lavishing praise and great credit on someone else. Likewise, Herbert A. Allen of Allen & Company is similarly eager to make others in his company the stars of any favorable publicity. It is only when things go wrong or are not as good as they might have been that both of these men take center stage to assume responsibility.
In all walks of your life, talk only to those who agree with you,