Kathleen Brush - The Power of One: Youre the Boss

The Power of One:y oure the boss

Kathleen Brush

Copyright 2012 by Kathleen Brush

Smashwords Edition

ISBN :9781301033249

Table of Contents

Every leader plays a powerfully importantrole in society. Some will exert their power over a few, othersover many. Some will play a powerfully positive role. Many willplay a powerfully negative role. This some-positive, many-negativeratio is terrible.

One of the books reviewers asked that I addmore positive anecdotes. That made me smile. While I have changedthe names of people and companies in the anecdotes in this book,they are not spun from yarn. They are derived from decades ofexperiences and the analysis of dozens of companies. I write aboutwhat I see. I dont see a lot of managers playing powerfullypositive roles. I see what looks like an epidemic of partiallyskilled managers haunting the workplace.

Its not a new epidemic. Ive been aware ofit since I began working. For twenty years I was on the receivingend. For six years I was on the giving end, before stepping back. Ididnt like being a bad boss, but I didnt see how I could become afine boss with bad managers as mentors. Its not that there isntgood learning in knowing what not to do, because there is. Myproblem was my managers and their managers all had the same skills.Who was I to judge people who were obviously more successful than Iwas? Still, I could see that their skills and behaviors weredemotivating employees because they wasted employees time with baddecisions, their communications were inconsiderate, or they camefrom the do-as-I-say-not-as-I do-school. I repeatedly watched theconversion of smart hard-working employees into yes men, andothers who did what was required to collect a paycheck.

In 1994 I decided to see if there were betterways to lead employees. I traded in a nice income for some bigtuition expenses, a doctoral management program, and the chance tofill a dream of becoming a leader that motivates rather thandemotivates and a leader that plays a powerfully positive role.

Armed with my new skills I was now equippedto know just how bad managers could be and why their decisions andactions were damaging and wrong. Its one reason I can now detailthe anecdotes of my experiences with bad managers, and say withoutreservation, dont do this.

Many reviewers told me that they sawthemselves and their bosses in the anecdotes in this book. However,until they read about their situations they had been able topretend that they were making good decisions, or making reasonablemistakes, just like their mentors. They said they pretended evenwhen they could see outright or collateral damage from theirdecisions. One said he labeled all of the bad outcomes as par forthe course of being a boss who has to make hard decisions. He nowrealized how dumb this rationalization was, but he had learned thisresponse from his mentors.

Some say my experiences are biased because Iwas a turnaround executive for many years. Sure, I did a number ofturnarounds but many of my experiences were not in companies beingturned around. They were instead turnarounds in waiting. Thatsthe status of every organization with partially skilled managers.Mind you the leaders of these turnarounds in-waiting were offendedat this designation. Many of them denied this status even whentheir firms were reducing staff, declaring bankruptcy, closingoffices, or being sold for a song. I feel sure it is more difficultto get a boss to admit they have wealth-destroying skilldeficiencies than to get an alcoholic to admit they have aproblem.

My experiences in turnarounds (and thosein-waiting) have though biased me in another way. I cant beambivalent when I see bad managers in action. I know the powerfuland negative role they play on the employees they oversee, theorganizations that employ them, and the stakeholders they serve.Some may see bad management decisions and actions as innocuous,ordinary, and acceptable. I cant. Even if an organization canrecover from an adverse outcome here or there, theyll never knowthe chain reactions these little innocuous mistakes inspire.Besides maximizing stakeholder value is not something managers doon sunny days.

Managers that exert negative power are notplaying the powerfully important role in society that they aremeant to play. Thats why this book was written. The world needsmore leaders and role models that play a powerfully positive rolein society.

What if you had the power to make work aplace employees found rewarding -- even enjoyable? To help othersbuild their skills even advance their careers? To lead thecompletion of projects that make people feel proud? To grow abusiness that creates jobs for the community? To generate wealthfor employees, investors, and local businesses? To be respected andadmired as a role model? If you think it would be ideal, step up tothe plate and become a boss that is skill-equipped for the job.

What is a skill-equipped boss? For starters,its a boss who knows how to create and execute plans that cantlose not today and not tomorrow. Its a boss who knows how toinspire employees A, B, and C to complete those plans in good timesand bad. A boss who is prepared to manage the myriad of issues thatarise from working within an organizational system, filled withinterdependent departments, which is regularly affected by localand non-local industry and environmental forces. A boss who knowsthat each and every day she must demonstrate the skills that willearn her the respect of her team.

Maybe, though, youre content with missing askill here or there. Perhaps youre fine with employees who dreamabout nothing but leaving at the end of the day because that iswhat employees do. Maybe youre a boss who thinks there is nothingthat can be done to motivate an unmotivated employee. Perhapsyoure okay with not knowing why some products sell well and whyothers do not. Maybe you care about results, not respect, as thoughthey were mutually exclusive. Maybe 30,000-foot views of theenvironment, like a new political administration in China, or10,000-foot industry views, like new low-cost foreign competitorsare just too obscure for you. Maybe you just dont believe that afew skill deficiencies mark you as a manager who will exhibit thenegative power of one.

The Power of One: youre the boss aims toarm any boss (or an aspiring boss) with essential globally orientedskills that can earn him the admiration of others as a competentleader leaving positive marks on his patch in the world. It alsoaims to arm the reader with enough anecdotes on the negative powerof one that it becomes evident that a partially skilled leadershould not be content with his abilities and it is nothing toaspire to be.

Chapter 2: TheSkill-equipped Boss

Hard, soft, and composite skills.Management skills have traditionally been categorized as hard orsoft. Hard skills are skills of knowledge. Soft skills arebehavioral. Which are more important, skills of knowledge orbehavior? Its a silly question, similar to asking if its betterfor a leader to fail because she is missing hard skills or softskills. And fail she will. Leaders must have the requisiteknowledge to do their jobs and they must have the requisitebehavioral skills to apply this knowledge.

Take Lester the know-it-all behaviorallydeficient supervisor at Powell Motors. Lester was seated in hisboss office; it was performance review time. Before the managercould open his mouth, Lester said: Look I know my people skillssuck, so lets not even go there. Lets stick with assessing what Iknow. His manager though had to go there. The productivity inLesters department was abysmal. His team produced $75 in revenuefor every $100 spent on wages and benefits. Lesters knowledge ofmarine engines may have been recognized in his field but it wasirrelevant to the performance of his team. Lesters manager made itcrystal clear to Lester that he didnt distinguish between skillsof knowledge and behavioral skills (what Lester called peopleskills) when evaluating anyones performance. He evaluated results.Results came from people who had composite skills -- from peoplewho had the behavioral skills to effectively apply their skills ofknowledge.