So very true. I once worked at a company where one of the Vice Presidents took obviously sadistic pleasure in torturing people below him in the company hierarchy.

He even said to me once in private, with a smirk on his face, “I love scaring the hell out of people. Watch how I can make them shake when I threaten their ability to support their family. It feels good to have this much power.”

Adult bullying—particularly in the workplace, where people are often terrified of losing their source of income—is a serious problem and society has to stop ignoring it. You may be “the boss” but that does not give you the right to brutalize and abuse the people who work for you. –Father and Husband, Seattle

This comment is from an NYT op-ed piece on about bullying and Lady Gaga’s official unveiling of her Born This Way Foundation at Harvard.

Sadly, the comment isn’t outlandish or even a recent phenomenon.

A memory dating back to the late Seventies is of a VP whose favorite pastime was forcing the managers under him to run layoffs a few days before Christmas; he really got off on that.

Last year Stanford prof Bob Sutton published Good Boss, Bad Boss about how power makes us focus more on our own needs and wants and less on others, also to act like the rules apply to others and not to us.

Based on new research Sutton has added more material on what he terms “power poisoning” to the recently released paperback version.

“Alas, recent developments suggest that staying in tune with the people you oversee is even more difficult than this book suggests. And the other disturbing effects of wielding power over others are even worse than I thought.”

Worse than Sutton thought? That, indeed, is a scary statement and one that should get your attention.

Bad Bosses are the source of bad cultures; there is absolutely no way to separate them.

Bad cultures are the source of bad results; there is absolutely no way to separate them.

This makes it simple for you to know if you have a case of power poisoning, as well as how severe it is.

Look at the results of your organization, whether team, department, division or company.

Just yours, not in combination with the rest of the company or in light of the economy or any other of the dozens of rationalizations available.

If you can actually do that you are at least half way to being able to counter the poison and reading Good Boss, Bad Boss will actually be worth your time.

Image credit: B Garrett

It is useful to occasionally take the time to understand the origins and path of something that is truly shocking—or should be—and the role culture plays in it.

The worst first: San Bruno, California 2010 where a gas line in exploded killing eight people, destroying 38 homes and causing significant additional damage. According to employees, there was “…a pervasive corporate culture where employees were discouraged from reporting safety problems and feared retaliation if they did.“ If what employees say is true, and evidence is mounting that it is, management at PG&E should be thankful they aren’t in England where they would probably be charged with corporate manslaughter.

There is no penalty for maiming or killing careers and corporations. In fact, the guilty parties are often rewarded with copious amounts of cash, stock and other goodies. Such is the case of Jeff Kindler, ex CEO of Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, and Mary McLeod, his hand-picked head of HR. Together they trashed a powerful culture and brought Pfizer to its knees. Although Kindler was fired, his “exit package of $16 million in cash and stock, another $6.9 million in retirement benefits, and various other forms of stock compensation” makes you wonder what a hero would receive upon leaving. Fortune’s in-depth story is fascinating reading for workers and a powerful lesson for anyone in a management role, no matter the level.

Finally, an excellent analysis of the challenges faced and solutions used  by Jamie Oliver when he found that he had to change a community’s culture before it would change its eating habits (documented on Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution) as applied to changing corporate culture.

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedroelcarvalho/2812091311/

Toxic corporate culture isn’t limited to corporations; you can find it anywhere you care to look. Toxic culture doesn’t involve just one specific set of actions; rather it is a permissive atmosphere in which various negative and destructive actions are accommodated.

What happens when a leader uses a culture of fear, intimidation and retaliation to enhance results and gain good press? Exactly what happened to the Atlanta school system.

Goldman Sachs’s toxic locker room culture has been written about and condemned for years, but nothing really changes. Earlier this month a federal judge refused to reconsider Goldman Sachs’ efforts to force arbitration on the women who filed a class action suite against the firm. I hope they win the suite, but I doubt that even that will have much effect. No matter how large the damages they would be a drop in the bucket for Goldman.

I frequently hear women complain about guys hitting on them at conferences and, to be fair, I’m hearing more often from men asking how to handle unwanted advances from women. In a recent post on the subject Tim O’Reilly, whose company produces tech conferences such as Oscon, talks about the problem and states that such actions won’t be tolerated and that’s good. But the tone of the post is mild, calling actions such as stalking and unwanted sexual advances “a no-no” and saying, “If we hear that you are that guy, we will investigate, and you may be asked to leave.” MAY be asked to leave? Shouldn’t anyone proven to have acted in any of the manners mentioned be TOLD to leave and, if the actions are severe enough, barred from future events?

Any organizational culture that is permeated with “toxic leaders,” those who “put their own needs first, micro-manage subordinates, behave in a mean-spirited manner or display poor decision making” has a problem. Just ask the US Army, which is considering using 360-degree evaluations in its command selection process to weed them out.

Rather than leave you on a downer or with a bad taste in your mouth, take a look at the first article in a series from Fast Company on how good companies build positive cultures. The first example is MailChimp and includes CEO Ben Chestnut’s 5 Rules for a Creative Culture. If the rest of the series is as useful as the MailChimp example it will be well-worth following.

Enjoy!

Flickr image credit: pedroCarvalho

Dozens of articles and blog posts appear daily detailing the value of a good corporate culture, while others describe the difference between good and bad.

But, as the old saying goes, one picture is worth a thousand words and a real-time look at the effects of bad or dysfunctional cultures is a word picture you won’t soon forget—not those that are obvious, but the subtle ones.

Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype is all over the news, with very few good things being said. Why is that? Why are so many people so sure that it’s not a positive move?

“The big established groups [inside Microsoft] are allowed to prey upon emerging teams, belittle their efforts, compete unfairly against them for resources, and over time hector them out of existence.” –Ex-Microsoft executive Dick Brass

Another story in the news is that of the I.M.F. managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn. One item that stands out in interviews with various people is the sense that his alleged actions are nothing new; and that the ethical structure of the I.M.F. culture is severely split between the executives and the rest.

“There are a lot of controls in place when it comes to the staff, but not for the leadership.” –Katrina Campbell, a compliance and ethics expert at Global Compliance.

Finally, we have the continuing dance between the short-term culture of Wall Street and too many public corporation CEOs who say what Wall Street wants to hear and then expect their operating managers to find a way to make it happen no matter the consequences.

If more CEOs were publicly forthright about their businesses, what factors slowed growth and the time required to get growth back on track, they’d create that reprieve and start building long term value. Instead, CEOs demand their teams do whatever it takes to make the quarter, setting in motion changes that make future growth that much harder to achieve.

Three examples of the damage bad culture can do.

What others can you add?

Image credit:  MykReeve on flickr

According to Clate Mask, co-author of Conquer the Chaos, bosses who do these five things are on track to kill their culture.

1. Hiding the numbers
2. Hoarding the decision-making
3. Withholding praise
4. Bottling up the strategy
5. Talking down to employees

In fact, all five aren’t necessary; any one of them can mortally wound your culture.

Over the years I’ve heard probably every justification for these, and similar, actions, but the MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) involved is the same.

The basis of a great culture is found in the boss’ philosophy about employees.

If she believes that people are intelligent, motivated and honestly want their company to succeed and hires accordingly, then the above actions make no sense.

If, however, she believes that people are stupid, lazy and don’t care those same actions become logical.

It is the wise boss who knows to look in the mirror before doing stuff to her people that she wouldn’t allow to be done to herself.

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zedbee/103147140/

Today’s offering includes three fascinating examples of lousy leadership at work, two explanations of the worst traits of lousy leadership and a review of a remedial book for lousy leaders.

The first example of lousy leadership is personally embarrassing, not because it’s about me, but because in January 2008 and again in April I lauded this lousy leader for creating a great culture. Little did I know. The lousy leader is Sam Zell and his hand-picked executive Randy Michaels, now CEO, created a culture that rivals or exceeds anything you’ve heard about on Wall Street.

Randy Michaels, a new top executive, ran into several other senior colleagues at the InterContinental Hotel… After Mr. Michaels arrived, according to two people at the bar that night, he sat down and said, “watch this,” and offered the waitress $100 to show him her breasts.

And it went downhill from there.

Next we have a pair of lousy leader brothers, Sam and Charles Wyly, who have avoided paying taxes on hundreds of millions of dollars by using trusts and tax haven-based shell corporations. And these two Texas swashbucklers are sure that the upcoming election will see an end to their problems.

“I think it’s good politics to beat up on big companies and rich people,” said Sam Wyly. Soon, he said, “the election will be over, and this will be forgotten about, or lost, be shut down, be gone, will be nothing.”

The third is Goldman Sachs, a company stuffed with lots of lousy leaders. Not another article, but a recommendation to watch CNBC’s Goldman Sachs: Power and Peril when it repeats October 26 at 8pm ET in case you missed it last Sunday.

Greed is a constant hallmark of lousy leaders. According to Andrew Lo, an MIT professor who researches the relationship between neuroscience and economics, greed actually has a chemical basis.

“When a person acquires resources, chemicals are released in the brain that cause the sensation of pleasure. Greed is simply the addiction to that release.”

Can corporate culture turn good leaders into lousy leaders?

Organizations have more power to direct employee ethical behavior of than we previously knew.

That’s the bottom line of new research from the University of Washington Foster School of Business that demonstrates, for the first time, the relationship between moral intuition—a reflexive perception of what is right and wrong—and moral behavior.

Finally, the perfect gift for lousy leaders—a copy of Marshall Goldsmith’s new book, Mojo: How to Get It, How to Keep It, and How to Get It Back If You Lose It

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedroelcarvalho/2812091311/

Most people hear ‘Triple A’ and assume that it is the best something can be, but it depends on what “A” stands for.

In this case they stand for anger, aggression and apathy.

Most managers create AAA cultures by accident and there are those who’s standard management style fosters it, but unintentional or not, the result is the same.

This post isn’t about those who intentionally rely on AAA culture to run their organization, they are destroyers (you can learn more about them here and here, although this one can also be unintentional) and the best thing people who work for them can do is leave.

But for the unintentional it works like this.

• Something happens that makes you angry; it may not even be work related but you are angry.

• Whether simmering or roiling, it drives you to act out with some kind of aggression making you short-tempered and abrupt or it can show as impatience, sarcasm, contempt, disgust, obnoxiousness, etc.

• When your management style becomes erratic the team becomes unsure on how to interact, not just with you, but with each other. Since people don’t know what will set someone off they start keeping their head down and getting the hell out there, breathing a sign of relief if they made it through the day safely.

As time goes by the trepidation settles into apathy—a Triple A culture has formed.

As to the cure, that should be apparent from the cause.

Please join me next Tuesday to see why RAT culture is so great, not to mention a lot more fun and profitable to build.

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zedbee/103147140/

For 30 years I’ve preached the power of culture to the managers with whom I’ve worked.

I believed that good culture was the difference between great companies and the rest.

As a Silicon Valley headhunter, I made it a point to recruit for companies with good culture and from companies with bad ones, which is why 75% of my placements stayed 4 years or longer.

These days everyone is talking about the importance of culture—the media, bloggers, academics, pundits, CEOs—especially CEOs.

People like me who promote culture know that it must be like stain, not paint, to work.

Unfortunately, many CEOs use “cultural paint,” believing their employees will think its “cultural stain.”

The difference is obvious; cultural stain is absorbed into the very fiber of an organization, thus affecting everybody’s thoughts and actions, while cultural paint sits on the surface where it is paid lip-service and its effects are grounded in convenience.

Cultural stain is the direct result of walking the talk and making sure that everybody else walks it, too. It’s intentional action and it requires paying attention.

It’s not the output of an underling, although it can bubble up from employees if the circumstances are right, but “I didn’t know!” is never an acceptable reason for anything when coming from the person who ultimately is supposed to be in charge.

The ideas and desires that do percolate up may be included in the culture, but only if the top person really buys into them (think ROWE)

But if they are included only to make the employees feel good the result is cultural paint.

Like real paint, cultural paint can hide the dry rot and structural weaknesses in the company, but in the long run it won’t hold the people, because no matter how much paint is applied and no matter what the CEO tells himself and his Board, people aren’t stupid and they will vote the culture with their feet.

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zedbee/103147140/

Corporate culture is a big deal these days, often seen as the difference between success and failure.

Millions of words have been used by thousands of people to describe and explain culture, but it pretty much boils down to the following:

• How the people relate to each other professionally and personally; their personalities and interpersonal communications.
• The work environment/atmosphere/ethics/morale/people/style/etc.
• The company’s identity.
• Environment of interaction and judgment.
• The primary reason people join/leave the company/manager.
• The way things really are as opposed to how they’re described (the walk vs. the talk).

Money lures, but culture holds. Culture is why people join a company—and more importantly, why they stay. It is what motivates (or demotivates) them, and cultural changes are frequently why they leave. Additionally, people learn from experience and eventually will reflect the traits of the cultures in which they work; as with other relationships, people will continue to gravitate to the same situation they were in previously.

Cultural elements people want:

• The opportunity to truly “make a difference.”
• To be treated fairly.
• Positive ethics and values.
• To trust management and be trusted by them.
• To embrace the idea that work can and should be fun.
• Accurate prioritizing of company, team and individual goals while keeping them synergistic
• A positive “can-do” attitude (aggressive, but realistic).
• A conscious effort to stamp out “not invented here” syndrome (in all its varied forms), so as to not waste time reinventing the wheel.
• Continuing development and quality improvement in people, product/services and processes.
• Committing to employees, customers, and investors—and meeting those commitments.
• An open, accurate, company-wide flow of information starting from the top.
• An environment that encourages people to reach their full potential, professionally and personally.

What people don’t want:

• Politics: personal, group, or senior management
• Unfairness; favoritism; star mentality
• Unnecessary bureaucracy; inflexible process or bureaucracy masquerading as process
• Poor management practices such as: erratic management; micro-management; workaholism; intimidation; belittling or contemptuous treatment; no loyalty; poor scheduling; the attitude that “we don’t have the time to do it right but we have the time to do it over”
• Any form of harassment whether overt or covert
• A generally negative attitude, i.e., the glass is half empty
• Arrogance or an elitist attitude
• An unwillingness (at whatever level) to seek and implement the compromises necessary to meet organizational needs within the required timeframe

Obviously there are many more philosophies, attitudes, and actions that I could list, but most would fit the spirit, if not the specifics of the two lists.

In general culture comes from, or is enabled by, the top and rarely can be changed from below.

That said, every person in a management role from team leader up creates a subculture in their own organization.

If you are strong enough and believe deeply enough, you can become an umbrella to your organization and shield it from the toxic elements in the overall culture.

But don’t kid yourself; this is a difficult path to choose, so it is wise to make the choice consciously, instead of accidentally bucking your company’s culture.

Join me tomorrow when we look at how to create a culture—or sub-culture.

Image credit: HikingArtist on flickr

Image credit: See-ming Lee on flickr