I have been trying to post an article about every week, but leading a five-week course titled, “Living a Life of Happiness and Peace of Mind” has been a major and very satisfying interruption. The class was excellent, participants were engaged and enthusiastic. In the coming weeks I’ll post some of the best of the material presented.
I was reading an article in Korn-Ferry’s News Magazine discussing a recent trend in top CEO’s complaining about employees’ shortcomings and lack of productivity, and then threatening employees with layoffs and pay cuts. Apparently, there are no mirrors in the executive washrooms of these companies. An organization’s lack of effectiveness, productivity and profitability is virtually always a sign of poor leadership.
Look at a company’s total financial results to learn how well top leadership is performing. Also, a formal, consistent program of giving and receiving feedback about individual team members’ strengths and blind spots is one of the very best tools for improving company quality and employee satisfaction.
The book about the demise of Merrill Lynch in 2008, “Crash of the Titans” by Greg Farrell provides a terrific example of just how effective leadership is or is not.
Greg Fleming lays the blame for the collapse of Merrill Lynch squarely on the executive team, including CEO Stan O’Neal, for their greed and ineptitude. According to Farrell, one of the ironies about O’Neal’s “leadership” was how O’Neal enjoyed an exceptional reputation for being a “decisive leader” even while Merrill Lynch was collapsing because of his poor decision-making.
O’Neal had a single criteria for every decision…how would the decision benefit him personally. That’s it. Wow! This gives new meaning to the term decisive! O’Neal’s blindness of greed and self-interest were in evidence long before Merrill’s collapse. Nobody had the guts to question him.
Whether we are working in a corporate entity, or with our family, respectful, open, honest communication and feedback help build strong, successful, cohesive groups.
Just think how Merrill Lynch could have helped avoid disaster in establishing and operating with strong values, looking out for the well-being of every single employee, client, and shareholder. What a difference it could have made in so many lives.
Even better, the bitterness, the finger-pointing, the resentments and hatred would have been replaced by appreciation, respect, admiration, and pride in working for a principled organization filled with the very best, trustworthy people.
Tom Searcy
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