Wherever you look it seems there is corporate or individual wrongdoing on an industrial scale. In business and professional life cynics could be forgiven for citing corruption, deceit, bullying and abuse as prerequisite ‘qualities’ for leadership!
Sadly this should come as no surprise. The vast majority of us fall into two camps –
‘takers’, who pursue selfish goals at the expense of others and occupy disproportionately
the positions of power and highest reward in all walks of life, or the
so-called ‘herd’, too scared, apathetic or blissfully ignorant to question or offer resistance! Many takers know it is too easy to manipulate
the herd and thus live a life of easy complacency – most of the time they away
with it since “evil happens when good people do nothing” (Edmund Burke).
There is compelling evidence that a third way is safer and comprehensively
rewarding on all counts, including financial and ego-related. What’s more the Internet era is destroying the
power of secrecy like a bushfire, smashing down boundaries and nourishing emerging
global generations with values of openness, sharing and empowered
democracy.
Combine this with rising indignation at avoidable suffering and
the obscene, indefensible, dramatically widening discrepancies between the ‘haves’
and ‘have nots’ and you have potentially career-, power- and wealth-threatening
conditions for the much of the anti-social elite.
It’s a good time to be a freedom fighter for positive values
– here’s why.
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In the UK this has been the week of the whistle blowers - people who highlight their organisation’s misdemeanours to their managers or (more often) to the outside world. Normally they are forced underground or have to go public because organisations have a predictably depressing track record in acting against wrong doing, whether individual or collective, and tend to ‘shoot the messenger’ by finding ways to punish them.
After all, turkeys never vote for Christmas, do they?!
Firstly we saw the publication of Sir Robert Francis’s
report into whistle blowing in the National Health Service (NHS), the 2nd
largest employer on the planet after the Chinese Red Army. The NHS is a dizzying hierarchy stuffed with
petty, mediocre, ‘target driven’ bureaucrats, and clever technocrats – wealthy,
highly respected top consultant doctors.
Many NHS doctors at all levels of seniority work incredibly hard and
under great pressure, but in the minds of a significant minority this only
serves to emphasise their Messianic self-importance. Those in some of the less pressurised
disciplines have pampered lifestyles and pick and choose their working hours. In addition to high NHS salaries they often
have lucrative posts at private hospitals and clinics. They are powerful beasts - difficult, if not
impossible, to manage, often supremely intelligent and with intimidating egos
and commanding reputations. A significant
minority exhibit Autistic and other anti-social tendencies. Their breadth of life and organisational experience
in fact may be quite limited, but their behaviour is nonetheless imperious.
A few months ago I saw one of those superbly satirical cartoons
that hits the nail squarely on the head.
It showed a white-coated senior consultant doctor on his daily hospital rounds,
accompanied by a dozen student doctors, all of them wearing white coats too and
holding clipboards. They stood around
the foot of a hospital bed whilst the consultant addressed the patient lying in
it. The caption read “Mrs Blenkinsopp, do
you mind the students listening in whilst I conceal the details of your botched
operation?”!
This week’s second whistle blowing story concerns the Swiss
private banking arm of HSBC allegedly helping wealthy private banking clients
to evade UK tax. Throughout the
financial crash of 2007-08, the subsequent recession and in recent years HSBC
has enjoyed a reputation as the most competent and ethical of the UK’s Big 4
banks. Former CEO and later Chairman, Conservative
peer Lord Stephen Green, a friend of Prime Minister David Cameron and,
extraordinarily for a career banker, an ordained minister in the Church of
England, resigned this week from a leading City of London advisory group
because he felt the focus on him and the tax scandal would detract from the
group’s role. Cameron was fiercely
questioned in Parliament and angrily denied that he or the Chancellor of the
Exchequer (Finance Minister), George Osborne, were aware of details of HSBC’s
support for illegal tax evasion. And the
whistle blower, Herve Falciani, who first reported his concerns to the UK tax
authorities in 2008 and got no response, gave an interview to BBC Business
Editor Kamal Ahmed in which he said there were more revelations to come. He told the BBC of the horrible personal
struggle of the last 7 years, which has included a jail sentence, and the
vilification of his personality – he flatly denied claims that he had sought
payment for data about tax evasion which HSBC claims he stole.
To be confronted with your, or your organisation’s shortcomings
is usually threatening. Some find it deeply threatening. To those in positions of money and power,
many of whom are vain, full of hubris and over-confident, it often represents loss
of face and potential loss of authority, even loss of income. So the temptation to either a) avoid dealing
with the revelations; or b) stamp on the whistle blower is usually very
high. Two weeks ago I highlighted
another example, the Rotherham child abuse scandal, in The truth may hurt, butseeking it sets you free. Last August I pointed
out some of the most common dysfunctional organisational behaviours in Humanweakness – a competitive advantage? In
November I highlighted how all of us, no matter how refined, educated and
sophisticated, respond to threat in How the brain works and why you should know
and Why selflessness is good business.
So with these issues in mind here are 8 actionable points
for staying out of trouble and improving your results, individually and
organisationally:
1.
Secrecy
is invariably a bad idea. Over the
years I’ve learnt it’s safest to assume people will find stuff out,
domestically, socially or professionally.
If they don’t find out they will often suspect, which can be even worse! So act accordingly. Intelligent disclosure is always the best
policy. Understand your motives for
wanting secrecy – are they really valid?
People will often bend over backwards to help you if you admit you’re
having difficulties, especially if you’re in a leadership position, since it
makes you more human so they can relate to you better. It can be the difference between success and
failure. You ain’t expected to have all
the answers yourself, or to act like a cyborg!
2.
The role
of leaders and bosses is to enable and empower others. This is enlightened self-interest. If you dedicate yourself to advancing others
you will receive far more than you give, and you will avoid one heck of a lot of
trouble, period!
3.
Giving is
always the healthy option. It’s far less
stressful and much more fun. DO NOT fall
for the cynical standpoint that all of us are as bad as each other so you
should not be so ‘naïve’ as to be selfless.
Humans are neurologically hard-wired to collaborate – the majority of us
respond warmly and reciprocally to anyone who does so, especially if they are
in a position of authority, and even more so in environments full of takers,
since it represents a sharply contrasting breath of fresh air and reassurance
that real human values still matter.
4.
If you
observe bad behaviour in positions of authority you can be 99% certain others
have seen it too. So don’t try to
tackle it on your own. Find out who else
knows and work out a common action plan.
You can guarantee that ‘cornered animals’ will fight; don’t let that
stop you, be brave, be smart and be patient.
Gather the facts and data. Behave
as if it is a court of law – the case must be proven on evidence, not emotion
or hearsay, and you will be subject to potentially brutal cross-examination, so
strength comes in numbers and cold, hard analysis. As I’ve often put it, revenge is a dish best
eaten dipped in liquid nitrogen…..
5.
Do not
keep your head down and hope it will go away. 99% of the time it won’t – it will get
steadily worse.
6.
Do not
fall for the self-limiting lie that there are no alternatives. Frankly that’s rubbish – it’s a trick our
minds play on us all the time because we’re afraid of change and
confrontation. Putting up with bad
situations is always worse than taking action to improve or exit from them,
though you must avoid impulsiveness.
7.
Always
seek advice and act in balanced moderation, after sober reflection. Righteous indignation is good and
healthy, counter to what many will tell you, and change does not have to be
negative, but you must ensure you are acting on rational grounds.
8.
Do not
lose heart, and do not give up. It
will probably not be easy, there may be brickbats, but it will be worth it in
the end. Life is not about avoiding
scars – that’s impossible. It is about growing and becoming a better
person.
Life is too short to put up with unhealthy, unhappy
situations caused by chronic bad behaviour.
If you do so you are stealing – stealing your own time, happiness and
potentially health, and stealing that of others around you who might also benefit
if you refused to accept the status quo.
Facing up to unsatisfactory situations and seeking change helps you, those
around you and your organisation to grow healthily and sustainably.
________________________________________________________________
I’m grateful you’ve taken the
time to read this post. If you find it helpful please share it. And make a
difference - be a smart giver and do something positive for others this week.
Pay it forward.
Recent blogs you may find
helpful include:
If this blog is
particularly relevant to you, your organisation, or to someone else you know, I
may be able to help or advise. I strive to be a smart giver – Adam Grant’s
excellent book “Give and Take” (2013) explains why smart givers are the highest
25% of achievers in all walks of life. They go out of their way to help others,
intelligently, without allowing themselves to be widely exploited. In this way
they inspire higher performance and create sustained new value through
collaborative exchange.
My business Resolve Gets Results provides commercial expertise,
leadership capabilities and in some cases financing to different sized
businesses with long-term growth potential. I work with a superb small team of
Board-level professionals, each a leader in their field with over 30 years’
business experience. We are based in the UK but have international business
backgrounds, in my case including 5 years in the United States, where I ran a
high growth machinery sales and service business.
You can find my contact details under the ‘Contact info’ tab
near the top of my LinkedIn profile.
Mark Ashton
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