Oh what great examples are presented to kids these days.

Some of the worst types of hypocrites are thriving.

The first are all the ‘leaders’ who turn out to be crooks—Dennis Kowalski, Jeffrey Skilling, Bernie Madoff and a host of other hedge fund managers—to name a very few.

Then there are those who don’t practice what they preach; worse, they preach from very high profiles and at very loud levels.

I hate using political examples, but they’re the most prevalent.

One such is former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who acknowledged having an extramarital affair even as he led the charge against President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky fiasco—which was also hypocritical.

But the bottom of the barrel are folks such as Senator John Ensign, a ‘leader’ of Promise Keepers, an organization which, among other things, promotes a teenage abstinence policy of education, who chose to screw around (pun intended).

Gone are the days when kids listened wide-eyed and respectful to the words flowing from political, business and parental lips.

These days the kids listen, and then check out the actions of the bodies attached to those lips, either directly or by Google.

It’s not about the sex; sex and power having gone together since time immemorial. And it’s not even about who lied when caught. Almost every human lies about sex, including the kids.

A few centuries ago when I was young there was a saying, “People in glass housed shouldn’t throw stones.”

So before you become a ‘leader’ for any cause or attitude, do make sure that your own actions conform to what’s expected of those who follow you.

But be warned; reasons, excuses and apologies don’t cut it with today’s cynical youth.

And if you’re thinking of following, Google the person and make sure that their actions conform to your own standards of ‘acceptable’.

(Be sure to check out Biz Levity’s irreverent look at the Ensign scandal.)

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There was an interesting, if cynical, article in the Kansas City Star on teams.

“That’s how some corporations have come to think of themselves. As teams up against a lot of other teams in a never-ending season of profit and loss.

And those on the payroll, why, they’re members of the team.

Remember when the worker bees were simply referred to as employees, whereas everyone else was in management?

The relationships haven’t changed. Only the terminology.”

And in far too many cases it is only words.

University of Missouri-Kansas City sociology professor Deborah Smith says, “Workers aren’t stupid. They know this is a gloss.”

Also true, people aren’t stupid.

In large companies each person is a member of multiple, distinct teams. The teams nest, much like the dolls you see.

The smallest team is composed of the immediate people who work together, several similar teams form a group, several groups form the department and multiple departments form the company.

No matter the corporate culture, each team is a product of the manager’s MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™)—the source of it strength or its hypocrisy.

The article presents the idea of teams as a management sop to the masses; a sop that shows its true colors when things go bad and there are layoffs.

I disagree. I’ve known too many people who’ve been laid off and still have strong, positive feelings for the various teams they were on, but it was totally dependent on each manager.

So the next time you’re thinking about how to improve your team building, start by looking in the mirror and asking yourself this question, “If my manager treated me as I treat my people would I want to be on his team?”

Image credit: scx.hu

Image credit: NASA

Everybody has a box.

That’s right and no matter how hard you try you’ll never really think outside it.

Heresy? No.

The idea that boxes are bad is a function of how you interpret them.

It’s not the box that matters, but its size and how you address that.

Steve Jobs’ and Steven Spielberg’s boxes are immense, far larger than most, yet they both continue to enlarge them.

And therein lays one of the secrets of a creative organization.

It’s not about encouraging your people to “think outside the box,” it’s helping each to understand their box and how to enlarge it.

Because that’s how it works.

As soon as you get outside your own box, a new one forms. Once you totally use up its content and find its sides you go outside that box, a new one forms and the process begins again.

If you work at it, this process continues throughout your life—although some never start it and some get comfortable in a certain box and retain it.

But the most wonderful thing about boxes is that it’s always your choice—within your control to make it happen.

There will always be a box, but with effort you can enlarge it enough to encompass galaxies—and even entire universes.

It’s all yours for the choosing.

Have you hugged (and enlarged) your box lately?