CEO SYMBOLIC FALLOUT, 2023 EDITION
Rita McGrath
Thought Sparks
INTRODUCTION
My friend and colleague Bob Sutton and I continue to be amazed (and a little depressed) at the ongoing popularity of his landmark book “The No Asshole Rule.” It seems that, as Ron Boire is fond of reminding us, CEOs are people, too. Somehow, it is quite possible to become a very senior leader without a corresponding and necessary amount of emotional awareness.
VISITING PITY CITY
You really don’t want to be a leader featured in a video that goes viral for all the wrong reasons. That’s what happened to Andi Owen, CEO of MillerKnoll, the iconic office furniture company. As reported by Fast Company, a leaked video featured her berating employees for asking about their bonuses. “Don’t ask about, What are we going to do if we don’t get a bonus? Get the damn $26 million,” says Owen, apparently attempting to motivate her team to reach a corporate goal. “I had an old boss who said to me one time, ‘You can visit Pity City, but you can’t live there.’ So people, leave Pity City!”
CEO SYMBOLIC FALLOUT
AND THEN THERE IS CLEARLINK…
“You have misinterpreted my kindness for weakness”
Yes, James Clarke, the CEO of Clearlink, actually said that.
If you thought Owen’s remarks were a little insensitive, Clarke went a lot further. Waaaaay further. Which is astonishing for a guy who at one point was so well regarded that he featured in the Jon Huntsman School’s entrepreneur leadership series. Someone recorded a video of him that borders on the bizarre, in which he is looking clearly distressed and under pressure. He wants people back in the office, big time, even celebrating one employee who had to sell the family dog to comply. He accused many employees of “quiet quitting,” saying that roughly 30 of them hadn’t opened their company laptops in a month.
SOME SYMPATHY
As many observers have noted, what happens in person in a town hall meeting is different, really different, than what happens over a screen. And I’m not unsympathetic to these CEO’s who are under incredible pressure and stress. That still doesn’t provide immunity from the way their messages are received. As my former colleague Don Hambrick often said, you have no control over the symbolic meaning people make of your actions. Everything you do has symbolic fallout – and the more senior you are, the greater the fallout.
SUTTON’S ORIGINAL OBSERVATIONS STILL HOLD
While current incidences make headlines, the patterns are not new. Bob Sutton pointed this out years ago in his unfortunately all too relevant book, The No Asshole Rule. With respect to the follow on book, The Asshole Survival Guide, Bob observes, “The reasons for the persistence and spread of bad behavior are legion: a global economy, with its demands for rapid decisions and around-the-clock interactions, overburdens leaders, employees, suppliers, and customers. In this world, where email, texting, and social media replace face-to-face conversation and the compassion triggered by eye contact, too many jerks feel unfettered by empathy, guilt, and old-fashioned civility.."
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