The 7 Deadly Sins of Leadership: Sin #7 – The Wrong Bottom Line
December 16, 2014
A mid-size Ohio corporation was being featured in a professional publication. This corporation had a reputation for an excellent product. Their bottom line showed the result of good management and efficient production methods. The veteran journalist who wrote the article in the trade journal arrived for his appointment with the company’s CEO. During the interview, the journalist asked a simple question. “What is your product?”. to which the CEO responded, “Satisfied, mature and well-balanced employees“. The answer caught the journalist off guard so he rephrased his question. “What I was asking is what does this company produce?”. He received the same response.
The CEO elaborated by explaining that the particular “product” the company manufactured for the auto industry was only a tool to produce what the owners and leadership had established the company to produce, which was satisfied, mature, and well-balanced employees who were good citizens and provided a positive contribution to society.
In our first blog of this series, I asked leaders to focus on the purpose of their business. This Ohio company began with a very different purpose and they were very good at fulfilling their purpose. Employees retention was extremely high, the pay was competitive, and the benefits were first-rate. Employees’ families were treated like royalty, the content employees produced greatly, and whatever they produced, they took pride in and the financial bottom line reflected such.
When will many of our nations’ companies understand that great ideas, great teamwork, and happy employees produce more? Why are workplaces still filled with hypertensive bosses who use foul language to belittle and berate their underlings hoping that fear and intimidation will increase both production and quality? When do the blinders come off and the harsh tongue become silenced?
The majority of employees want their companies to succeed. Company success is the employees’ best hope for job-security, family provision, and a solid retirement. But, many employees consider their job to be who they are and what defines their life. When asked by a new acquaintance as to who they are and what they do, 9 times out of 10, they will reply with a job-related answer. Their job is their identity. Understanding that concept is foundational for a business seeking to hire well, to retain its employees, and to see strong returns on their investment. It is important to develop a culture that provides for the well-being of the employees.
History has witnessed and recorded the struggle between business management and the employee union. One can read of the great robber barons throughout history and cringe in anger and disgust at the calloused brutality of leadership motivated only by greed. I want to close the history book and start my own employee’s union in protest. Then, I’ll open a newspaper and read about the power-mongering and blatant disregard for quality and respect for a business by the unions willing to bankrupt a business just to prove their arrogance. I want to regurgitate my breakfast, feeling a similar anger and disgust at the obscene and often criminal union practices towards many fine companies. But let me say this: forcing ones’ demands for a better employee or a better work environment does not address the real issue of building true wealth in a culture of mutual respect. Therefore, one must hold both sides to high standards by choice, not force.
A simple but profoundly powerful sentence was spoken nearly 2,000 years ago. A sentence that could cure every abuse and correct the pathetic and failed practices in business, families and all of society. It’s called the Golden Rule. I am not referring to Buffet’s version. “He who has the gold makes the rules”. I’m referring to the original Golden Rule. Following it will turn your business and life into gold in many ways!
“Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do you even so to them.”
It works for a company in Ohio. Therefore, it will work for yours as well!
