Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Powell's Prescient Wisdom Echoes my Recent Troubles

Gosh, wish my recent boss had read this stuff..

Ironically, by procrastinating on the difficult choices, by trying not to get anyone mad, and by treating everyone equally "nicely" regardless of their contributions, you'll simply ensure that the only people you'll wind up angering are the most creative and productive people in the organization.

 I know I'm being a bit self-glorifying by putting that there, but you get the lesson he's conveying. Question : did Powell figure this out the hard way? What was his Aha moment?

Here's another cool one. Echoes my recent troubles. I stopped asking for permission and started asking for forgiveness after taking action because my old boss loved to micromanage. A good idea or a good solution was one that originated from him. So sad to behave that way in your mid-fifties. When a person brings a problem to you, what he's really saying is, my priorities have changed and I need time for this, not "solve this". Duh! Sure, you might have experience that directly applies or know of someone who can tap the case in the right place..

The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership

One of Welchi's tidbits that Gail Denter violated : "Make the organization chart as flat as possible."

By contrast, what I observed was that people were being rewarded for a**-kissing and yes-manning with hierarchy in the org-chart. What a sad state of affairs. Powell says "A tip : Don't invest in such companies."

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