I like Harvard Business Review Because…

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breaking promise, Harvard Business Review, HBR, promise, values

In September issue of HBR there is a case / article about a guy going off to an executive school paid by a company he worked for. He promised to get back to that company and work there for some time after the school will be over and he will get his degree. As it happens a lot in life, the guy got a job offer from some other company. The case was analysed by some experts, which argued a point if it was OK to break a promise and go accept that new offer. For me, not. No point in arguing anything, I think that whatever those experts say (as far as I can remember, one was in favour) did not agree with my values.

And in this (December) issue of HBR, I found this on page 27:

“…What on earth is happening? When did breaking one’s word become a subject that was actually debatable? When did it mutate into conduct that was acceptable? Does offering a bucket of self-satisfying excuses and incorrect rationalizations for that behavior alter the situation? What are we due for next? Is it OK to steal? Is it OK to lie? Is it Ok to commit a misdemeanor? A felony? Is adultery acceptable?  Right is right. Wrong is wrong.” Gene Bujoll, retired.

Gene, well said. HBR – shitty case, but nice come back with publishing that opinion. That is why I like you.

Relative Freedom – Sold!

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crowd, freedom, political correctness, politics, public, Snowden, stupidity, USA, values

Recent history showed us true nature of crowds, or to put it differently, of us. Single person had the guts to expose actions of one of the world powers, making himself a possible victim of the wrath of that same titan. I am sure that Mr. Snowdon was hoping for a different reaction of all the public – or if not different, then maybe a lot stronger. But we, crowds, have pretty much ignored him and as a consequence, we have ignored – or accepted – what is being done to us.

Why is so? Why don’t we care anymore about our rights (especially right to privacy) and freedoms? Why, through silence, we allow others to read our mail, follow our steps through the World Wide Web, peek at our shopping lists, save all we do? All this in the name of fight with terrorists… imaginary and real.

The USA played it very right, ignoring and downplaying the whole issue. But we, people, have helped them with this. First of all, as single people, we cannot prove – or find out – in what way we were followed or spied upon. Secondly, we possibly anyway expected that this is happening and therefore accepted the confirmation as old news. Thirdly, we maybe don’t care, as we are busy fighting crisis…

European politicians have reacted with political correctness and managed not to say anything of any real value, which could not be later withdrawn or interpreted in different way (the only black spot in all this is a story of Bolivian president airplane…). I think that they are much more personally annoyed (as they are the ones who definitely were spied upon) and wonder what dark secrets Obama now has managed to gather about them. On one side then they need to be careful with what they say (an Edgar Hoover effect), on the other too much money is at stake to do anything worthwhile about the fact.

So where are we, so-called average citizens? We have sold ourselves cheap. We have also taught all governments a valuable lesson – we are stupid and malleable. If issue is not sensational, if it is smartly downplayed, it will disappear. Same thing happened to organized thievery of saving accounts on Cyprus. Through our lack of resistance we only confirmed that anything can be done to us. That is the real outcome of this history.

And Mr. Snowden? I, for one, am thankful to him and I am amazed at his courage. But he will disappear in on pages of history, just as he will disappear one of these days from the cover pages of the magazines. Note that the stories written about him have an aura of sensational escape, barely touching the real issue behind it… Poor Edward. He acted out of his personal anger, miscalculating ignorance and indifference of crowds. We sold him too.

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adventure, experience, life, values

I could not agree more. Actually, many adventures will not make sense to other people not only because they don’t understand them. Sometimes it is because their set of values, beliefs, experience, courage etc will not even prepare them to understand. It is possible that they will – with time – but then it will be too late…

Company of Good People

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CEO, great company, Harvard Business Review, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, social responsibility, values

Admittedly, I am a bit behind in my reading of HBR, this is why I address November issue only now. I have read in it a series of articles about the Good Company, started by an article by Rosabeth Moss Kanter “How Great Companies Think Differently”, followed by an interview with CEO (now emeritus) of Infosys, Mr. N. R. Narayana Murthy and finished by few examples of today’s good companies (although in those examples each company was good in a different area). For clarity’s sake “Good” for ideas and companies described in those articles means one or all of the following: social responsibility, sustainability, protection of values, community engagement etc.

As much as I am all for this kind of organisation, I hate to say it, but it doesn’t exist. It is not organisation, after all, which is Good. It is (or those are) always people. In all cases those are the people who are strong, committed, consistent and persistent enough (accidentally, all of those are true leadership qualities) who managed to turn companies they have been running into good citizens, making money in the process. The best proof of this can be found in the interview: CEO Murthy had a vision of running India’s most respected company and he managed to do so for a long time. But one day some people in the Infosys behaved against CEO’s values, getting themselves fired for sexual harassment or being subject of various investigations. I have to admit that reading that interview I had a feeling that Mr. Murthy stepped down because he realized that he cannot control all the people (apparently over 130000 employees) he was responsible for. Maybe he couldn’t convince everybody that his good values are also theirs. Each person has its own code – and it is people who make or break the vision. Each example presented in those articles has a person, an individual, behind it. Rules and laws don’t make a good company, as we all know. If that would be so, most of the companies in existence today would deserve to be called “good”.

A strong CEO with strong values can mold his company into socially responsible organisation, serving to all as a beacon in the darkness, giving guidance to all in doubt. His positive values and culture can permeate through all levels of the company, so that they will last very long. But it takes one wrong decision betraying those values to start the erosion process. Especially if that decision is made up top. As Mr. Murthy said: “…Setting an example at the top is the best way to instill confidence throughout the company”. Unfortunately, that example can go both ways. New CEO can destroy (or start destruction process) af all that has been painstakingly built.

 

 

Leadership and Integrity

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character, Col. Eric Kail, integrity, leadership, The Washington Post, values

I came across a very good article by Col. Eric Kail here, in The Washington Post, a part of a series on Leadership with a capital L.

Integrity, at least for me, is mandatory in a leader or role model, especially in the way described in the article. I cannot imagine following someone who is many things or has many faces to many people. Consistency, such an important part of strategy, stems from that. How can you be consistent about your actions if you don’t have integrity? Sooner or later, you will give up and go astray.

As author says: “Our actions must mirror our words in all facets of life.” I wonder how many of us can say that it is really so. I am striving toward that goal, but I have to admit that I am not yet there.

I noticed that behaving in agreement with yourself tends to annoy a lot of people, as many of them are asking you to do something (especially at work place) which you would rather not do. They call it “compromise”. I call it treason of your own values. Each time I catch myself rationalizing my lack of integrity, I lose a piece of myself, but at the same time I hope that I am getting stronger, not weaker. That it is harder, not easier, to do this – to lose integrity – again. It is really frustrating sometimes…