What leaders DO: cut through the BS
by Miki SaxonDon’t you just love it when a CEO charts a course that proves his belief in the intelligence and common sense of his employees? I’m not talking about a
small company with a couple of people, but media powerhouse Tribune Co. with its 20,000 employees.
Everyone who works knows what a typical employee handbook is like—a dense morass of legalese, incomprehensible to almost anyone without a law degree. But not at the Tribune.
The handbook is a mix of corporate earnestness, surprising folksiness and common-sense rules, free of the antiseptic training-module language that has become a part of corporate human resources culture…He wanted the handbook to “reflect our new culture, one that is more direct than its predecessor.”
I love it. Randy Michaels, the new head of Tribune broadcasting, was the primary author, but it couldn’t have happened without the Zell’s full backing. Here are some of the choice contents
“Rule #1: Use your best judgment.
“Rule #2: See Rule 1.
“That’s it. That is the one hard and fast rule. Unless a serious mistake was made when you were hired, you have pretty good judgment.”
“4.2. Working at Tribune means accepting that sometimes you might hear a word that you, personally, might not use. You might experience an attitude that you don’t share. You might hear a joke that you might not consider funny. That is because a loose, fun, nonlinear atmosphere is important to the creative process.
“4.3. This should be understood, should not be a surprise and is not considered harassment.”
“7.1. If you use or abuse alcohol or drugs and fail to perform the duties required by your job acceptably, you are likely to be terminated. See Rule 1. Coming to work drunk is bad judgment.”
“18.1.1. Under normal circumstances, Tribune will not snoop in your e-mail or track your internet usage.
“18.1.2. Remember that cyber-slacking is not good judgment.”
The lawyers interviewed for the article predict dire consequences—not surprising considering what they’re paid to produce the unreadable versions.
I especially like rules one and two. Want more? Check out the Tribune’s core values.
Do you think that Sam Zell’s approach will be duplicated by other CEOs?
Your comments—priceless
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January 25th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Miki- sadly, I don’t think Zell’s approach will be duplicated because we, as a society, are drowning in the threat of legal action. The odd couple posts and comments of http://www.greenerassets.com and http://www.businessandblogging.com seem to have something to do with this: they deal with how bad actions by certain companies have resulted in environmental and personal damage which fuels the poor, protective communication between companies, employees, and customers. Employee handbooks are great examples because they generally are designed to legally protect a company versus being informative and helpful to the employee. Whatever happened to doing what is right?
January 25th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
I think that lost of people do right, unfortunately a lot do wrong out of ignorance, stupidity or malice aforethought. (For a great example of sheer stupidity see http://www.rampupsolutions.com/blog/index.php/2008/01/24/corporate-culture-stupidity/)
Yes, the threat of legal action may drive protective communication, but it’s also the only thing that keeps many companies from doing whatever they feel like with no worry about the repercussions.
With Wall Street’s focus on quarterly results there’s no reason to assume that the people In charge, whose jobs are on the line, are going to do right and possibly get fired for it.
January 26th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Miki- I’m all for justified legal action. There must be a balance. Is Sam Zell’s company known for doing the right thing in all areas? If so, these are the types of companies that people should be informed about (through our blogs, media, etc) and buy products from- that’s how WE “vote”. You seem to do that. Once again I go back to the idea of developing information that enables people to make informed decisions. Do you have examples of places where you go to get deeper levels of information on issues and companies-issue/rating sites? My example- which I know you object to in terms of policy-is the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (www.hjta.org). I like them because they really do act as a watchdog on local government schemes to increase taxes, through fees and misuse of designated funds, and inspire me to write emails to legislators that have proven to make a difference.
January 26th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
If I want a watchdog I want one that’s impartial and not grinding a particular ax. Zell took Tribune private very recently so there’s no way to know how that plays out. I’m sure that everyone who doesn’t agree with the Tribune media’s editorial policies will tell you that they do the wrong thing.
I’m not nearly as anti tax as you seem to be, but I have a large problem with how the money is spent. We could turn our country around if GWB hadn’t spent billions upon billions on a BS war that had no basis in reality—in my opinion.
Most people think a company is doing right if they agree with the decision—unfortunately, there really is no independent yardstick.
Read my post tomorrow on a company at the apex of hypocrisy, IMHO. But since the actions aren’t in the US most people will say ‘too bad’ shrug it off.
February 5th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
[…] leaders we have to trust and empower others to do their jobs. At Leadership Turn, the article What leaders DO: cut through the BS describes a great example of this. At media giant Tribune, they have thrown out the legalistic […]
April 7th, 2008 at 12:15 am
[…] January offered up kudos to Sam Zell for his approach to changing Tribune’s corporate culture, including a clear, […]