The Blame Game

A few years back our company was in a deep decline. Revenues were down and sales were extremely slow. The cause of the problem was poor decision making and a lack of understanding of our business. The general manager in charge of the largest division of our company made several decisions that accelerated the decline. As the Vice President, I was asked by the CEO if I would take over the division, and I gladly accepted the challenge.

I proceeded to implement a new strategy for the business and within several months we began to experience a significant turnaround. I made the best decisions I could, but not all of them proved to be successful—sometimes you learn through trial and error. When something I tried failed, I did not point to the prior leader as an excuse for my failure.

Leaders accept the blame when we fail and give the team the credit when we succeed.

As a nation we continue to endure an unemployment rate of 9.5%, crime, war, poor educational system, homelessness, foreclosures, etc. Politicians on both sides of the aisle claim to have all the answers. Meanwhile many Americans continue to suffer through one of the greatest downturns in our country’s history.

When asked why things are not turning around, our elected officials continually blame the prior administration’s policies and the mess they inherited. Even if there is truth in that position, it should not have come as a surprise. After all it was clearly evident that our nation was in trouble and none of our problems were hidden from those who said they had the answers to setting the country on a new course of prosperity. When it did not happen they merely blamed the prior administration. They were elected on the promise of “Change”.

If we are ever going to extricate ourselves from this morass, we as a nation need to come together and work through issues that continue to divide us. We must be willing to be held accountable for the actions we take and the decisions we make, not play the blame game.

True leaders hold themselves accountable for the results of the decisions they make, good and bad.

The lives of millions of Americans are at stake. Fear and anxiety continue to dominate the hearts and minds of those who do not see a future with much hope. If we continue to seek out our own interests and not those of all Americans, Democrats, Independents and Republicans alike, we will continue to decline. Remember, this economy is affecting us all.

Are you willing to be held accountable for the decisions you make?

Room To Grow

Like most men I know I am not really into taking care of plants. However, in my office I had a plant and for a long time it thrived and gave me a lot of visual pleasure. Over time I noticed that the leaves on the plant had begun to turn brown. I continued to water it, but to no avail. The leaves had a burned look and then began to wilt. I thought about whether I should throw the plant away.

One day a woman with a floral printed smock and a floppy straw hat came by my office bringing new plants. I asked her what she was doing and she said her company provides plants for offices and maintains them on a weekly basis. I asked her if she could take a look at my plant and let me know whether it could be saved. She took one look at it and told me the plant had outgrown the planter. All that needed to be done was to place it in a larger planter with new soil and it would recover. At my request, she placed it in a new planter with new soil and shortly thereafter the plant gradually showed signs of new life. Over the next few weeks the plant was back to full health.

As a general manager I was responsible for leading a team of over 70 salaried staff. Part of my responsibilities was to work with the various supervisors in evaluating the individual performance of their team members. During one such evaluation we were discussing one of our once-excellent employee’s work. We noticed that over the previous few months his performance had not been up to standard. In spite of our best efforts we could not turn him around and as such we had to make a decision on whether we would need to separate him from the company.

I kid you not, while sitting in my office one day I glanced at that plant that had once been dying and was now completely restored and thought of that employee. We brought him into my office and had a different conversation this time. The result was we determined that he had outgrown his position. He felt stagnated and unchallenged. It so happened that we had a manager’s position opening up that we believed he would be a great fit for, and would do an excellent job. We promoted him and sure enough he became one of our best managers.

When I look back, I think of what a shame it would have been to throw both the plant and employee out simply because I did not understand the importance of environment. As leaders it is our responsibility to mentor, coach, and challenge our employees to grow and play bigger within our organizations. When we do, we all win and we have the pleasure of watching the growth of our potential replacement.

Have you ever been in a pot too small or given someone an opportunity to grow, and how did it turn out?

A Lesson Learned

Stay "small in your own eyes"

1 Samuel 15:17

Recently I had to take my wife and daughter to the Oakland Airport. On the road leading to the airport, there is a golf course adjacent to the road where I got my first job. It brought back memories of one of the greatest lessons I have ever learned about leadership.

When I was about 14 years old I held a job as a ball picker on that golf course. The job entailed picking up range balls by hand with a ball retriever on the driving range. I worked with several other boys, two were my best friends. I was the fastest ball picker on the range, (dodging golf balls makes you very fast and nimble). One day I was called into the head golf pro’s office and he promoted me to Range Boy Supervisor which came with a whopping $.10 per hour raise.

Before the promotion, I got along with all of the other range boys. That all changed the day I became supervisor. My head suddenly grew about 3 hat sizes. Instead of working together, I began to dictate and threaten any range boy (including my friends), who did not meet my standards or obey my orders. It was not long after that I was called once again into the office of the head pro, but this time it was to inform me that I would no longer be a supervisor. He explained to me that all of the ball boys complained that my head was way too big for the job! I am lucky they did not bury me on the driving range.

That day I learned a very important lesson on how to treat people, and how to accept responsibility, that has served me well over the last 36 years. The lesson is, as a leader it is essential that you check your ego at the door. No matter what position you hold, humility is a characteristic one must possess if they are going to be great leader. It is not necessary to tell everyone that you are the boss and that you are in charge.

As the Northern California General Manager for a division of a fortune 500 company I led by these guiding principles: 1. give your team the credit when it succeeds, and take the blame when it fails, 2. do not ask anyone to do what you are not willing to do or learn how to do, 3. lead with compassion, 4. treat each member of your team as if they were the only one in the room, and 5. walk your talk.

When I lost my job as a range boy supervisor it was one of the best things that happened to me because I learned “to stay small in my own eyes”.

What are some of the important leadership lessons you have learned?