Poisoning a Culture

Friday, October 12, 2007

I wanted to follow up on my blog from last week about the sexual harassment guilty verdict against the New York Knicks, including its head coach Isiah Thomas and its owner, James Dolan. Even though the conventional wisdom says that Mr. Dolan is in no jeopardy of losing his position (his father would have to fire him), nor is the parent company, Cablevision, likely to lose customers over this, no one should fool themselves into thinking “no blood, no foul.” Leaders who create and perpetuate a culture of intimidation, secrecy, and retaliation ultimately poison their own organizations. This happens because rather than attracting and retaining talent that can drive organizational performance, such a culture attracts and retains people who often are motivated more by self-interests than the interests of the organization. Sometimes it’s a matter of survival, in others a matter of ego. But when it happens with the people in positions of responsibility, the contamination spreads fast and wide.

What kind of talent is going to be attracted to such a work environment, especially when talent is in such short supply in most industries? Who would want to put up with such behavior? One profile is the talented person who takes a big salary with the intent of sticking it out for a year or two and leaving with their resume and bank account upgraded. Then there is the lesser talented person who gets hired because real stars have no interest in such shenanigans. And even more deadly is the person who actually agrees with such leadership practices. Add in those already in the company who feel their only option is to stick it out and so they withdraw as a means of survival. Let this dynamic go unchecked and the poisonous culture becomes more and more embedded in the organization’s fabric and mindset. Then see how ugly this is when new leaders attempt to administer a strong antidote.

I must confess two separate examples that came my way this past week made this story all the more extreme to me. One was the article on leadership in the October 1 issue of Fortune magazine that my colleague Rob Pasick passed on to me. Fortune teamed up with Hewitt and RBL Group to “conduct new research into the ways companies around the world are developing leaders and which are doing it best.” They identified nine best practices that these companies shared when it comes to developing leaders. I checked, “encourages a hostile work environment” wasn’t one of them.

Then on Wednesday I had the distinct pleasure of hearing Joe Dumars, NBA Hall of Famer and now general manager of the Detroit Pistons, speak on leadership at the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Small Business Conference. (Personal plug...I followed Mr. Dumars with a break-out session on how to develop your company's leadership pipeline. Videos of all the presentations are supposed to be eventually posted on the Chamber's website.)Mr. Dumars exudes integrity. (The NBA named its sportsmanship trophy after him.) His three keys to effective leadership? Have the conviction of knowing who you are; set the tone by letting your passion come through; and be the most unselfish person in the room. The irony that his back court team-mate for many years was Isiah Thomas was not lost on many in the crowd. Compare and contrast. That’s a lesson every leader should learn.