“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” What is true of “men” in Edmund Burke’s famous quote is true of any social unit – communities, companies, governments. I believe most humans are good, and the vast majority are not intentionally bad. With a few exceptions (step […]
Culture
The killing of ethnic minorities anywhere is the killing of oppressed people everywhere.
The killing of George Floyd is unconscionable not just for its brutality and inhumanity, but for its inevitability. Because in societies whose actions value the lives of some less than others, oppression doesn’t start with a policeman crushing a neck. It takes deeper roots to lead to these kinds of outrages. Sometimes it is blatantly […]
Leading in Crisis (4) – Be open
Out of 7 roles of authority, business leaders currently rank last in public opinion of response to the Covid Crisis. Behind journalists. Behind government leaders. Why is that? My guess would be that it’s because most are doing a shocking job of listening to and looking after their teams. It’s really hard to look after […]
Being too nice to terminate someone’s employment creates bigger problems
I remember the first time I had to deal with a team member who wasn’t meeting the needs of his role. We’d gone through the support, the training, trying to find another role. But ultimately none of that worked. So I took the next step. Which was to sit on it for a few months. […]
Is your team telling you what they think or what they think you want to hear?
I had a tough decision to make, and I sought the advice of a senior member of my team. He told me what he thought. As he was more knowledgeable in that space than I was (or ever will be TBH), I went with his advice. It didn’t work out. As we reviewed what happened, […]