Alan Weiss’s Monday Morning Memo® – 5/2/16

Ross Douthat closed his colum in the Times on Sunday with the lines from King George III in Hamilton: “You’ll be back, time will tell, remember that I served you well.” I recall in my political science studies a professor challenging us to prove that a benevolent dictator wasn’t actually the best form of government. “Benevolent,” of course, is in the eye of the beholder (or on the back of the oppressed).

I’ve found that there is no perfect leadership style. Authoritarian leaders have performed well, as have consensus-builders. The environment, other personalties, nature of the business, and strategy all contribute to the melange. The frantic and the flâneur are probably both poor choices.

People don’t leave companies, they leave people—their boss. I’ve seen people with poor environments and cloudy futures stay because their boss is so charismatic and compelling, and others with strong career tracks and stock options take off becaue their boss is the devil incarnate. Most organiztions don’t look for these patterns, even on exit interviews!

Of course, when the leader is not readily “leavable”—an elected official, the family business owner, a vital course’s professor—we need other solutions or simple forebearance. Just as we decided not to go back to King George in America, we can decide not to return to a boss or influential person who is stressful and annoying. Otherwise, all we have left is whining. And life is too short for either.

When one has much to put in them, a day has a hundred pockets..

— Frederic Nietzsche

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