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Nice Companies Finish First: Why Cutthroat Management Is Over - and Collaboration Is In, by Peter Shankman with Karen Kelly
I HAVE spent considerable time over the last month working on the strategy of the African division on a multinational. The courtesy and refinement of the CEO was nothing short of impressive.
This was in sharp contrast to a day I had spent with a cross section of staff of a large organisation. Here, many had been hurt by their managers; people they desperately wanted to trust. The unfortunate truth is the pervasiveness of unpleasant workplaces, despite considerable evidence confirming that “nice companies” do finish first.
Professor Wayne A Hochwarter of Florida State University interviewed more than 700 people from a variety of industries about the treatment they received from their managers.
Of these, 31% reported that their supervisor gave them the “silent treatment” during the year, while 37% said that their supervisor failed to give credit when due. Twenty-seven percent reported that they had discovered that their supervisor made negative comments about them to other employees or managers. Twenty-three percent indicated that their supervisor blamed others to cover up mistakes or to minimise embarrassment.
There is a significant difference between being “nice” and exploitation. Good leaders know this and act accordingly. “I am happy to answer a question you might have, but don’t ask me to write your marketing plan for you.”
Shankman’s axiom is that the human resource department cannot make a company “nice” through some clever programme. The conduct of the senior leadership determines whether the company is “nice” or toxic. If you examine successful companies, Shankman claims, you will find that the people are working together in an atmosphere that is civil and pleasant.
Unsurprisingly, there is a growing body of research indicating that bad managers hamper productivity, dent profits and lose business. University of Florida researchers found that people who work for abusive managers are more likely to arrive late, do less work, and are absent more often.
In this book, Shankman identifies nine “nice” traits based on his experience with dozens of CEOs, entrepreneurs, and other leaders, and anecdotal evidence.
The trait that underpins all other “nice” traits is “Enlightened Self-interest.” This is the act of doing what benefits you while benefiting others. Adam Smith noted the benefits of enlightened self-interest as early as 1776 in his classic, Wealth of Nations.
Smith’s well-known example is the local butcher who does not sell quality meat because he is altruistic. Rather, sells quality meat because he makes a better profit and ensures your return.
Enlightened self-interest is the ultimate combination of the acknowledgement of human nature and strategic thinking.
Michael Tompkins, president and general manager of Miraval, a top-rated high-end resort, puts the method for achieving enlightened self-interest succinctly.
“When I make a big decision, I think, how is this going to impact the guest experience first, how will the staff be affected, and finally, what’s it going to do to me?” Under his management, Miraval received more awards from readers of travel magazines and websites than at any time in its 16-year history.
Another trait Shankman identifies is “The Accessibility Factor.” A friend of his was in a lift to the 42nd floor with the president and CEO of his company. When he tried to make pleasant conversation, the CEO nodded, gave a thin smile, and continued to gaze straight ahead.
A few years later, the company’s share price had fallen, the board was unhappy with the CEO, and he was fired.
Clearly he was not fired because he refused to talk to junior staff in the elevator. An inaccessible, aloof CEO can run a successful business for a while, but in the long run he makes a bad leader and destroys the business.
Leaders who are inaccessible to all but their peers communicate a dangerously flawed message. Not everyone’s job is valued as prestigious, and not everyone is important to the bottom line.
Shankman identifies “Strategic Listening” as one of the traits of a “nice” company.
I asked an audience recently how many of them had taken a public speaking skills course. Many had. Then I asked how many had taken a listening skills course. None had.
Rubbermaid’s CEO, Wolfgang Schmitt, was infamous for his refusal to listen to others and for making ill-informed decisions. A former colleague remembers that people would joke: “Wolf knows everything about everything.”
Wolf, unfortunately, did not. Under his know-it-all leadership, Rubbermaid went from being Fortune’s most admired company in America in 1993 to an inconsequential company sold to Newell a few years later.
Biotech giant Amgen’s CEO Kevin Sharer confesses to dismissing or ignoring what others had to say for many years. His epiphany came at a talk by Sam Palmisano, then president and CEO of IBM, who was asked why his experience working in Japan was so important to his leadership development.
“I learned to listen by having only one objective: comprehension. I was only trying to understand what the person was trying to convey to me. I wasn’t listening to critique or object or convince,” he said.
“Because as you become a senior leader, it’s a lot less about convincing people and more about benefiting from complex information and getting the best out of the people you work with. Listening for comprehension helps you get that information, of course, but it’s more than that: it’s also the greatest sign of respect you can give someone.”
However, listening is only a “threshold skill”. If you do not listen well, you will fail. Success is not guaranteed if you do not act appropriately on what you hearing, or if you are not competent at analysing what is being said and making sense of it. This is “Strategic Listening”.
One last story: Shankman was at a meeting with a CEO when a secretary walked in, caught her foot on a piece of rug that had curled up, and tripped. She dropped the 200 collated but not stapled pages that she was carrying.
The CEO, in his thousand-dollar suit, jumped up and sat on the floor with the secretary for the next 10 minutes, picking up and re-collating the papers. Everyone in the meeting joined in. The result was no harm was done, and no injury to anyone’s pride.
That CEO’s company was acquired last year for about $ 600m. “Not bad for a guy sitting on the floor collating papers,” Shankman notes.
We spend one third of our lives at work. Anything we can do to help make it enjoyable is worth it.
Readability: Light +---- Serious
Insights: High -+--- Low
Practical: High ---+- Low
- Fin24
* Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy.
I HAVE spent considerable time over the last month working on the strategy of the African division on a multinational. The courtesy and refinement of the CEO was nothing short of impressive.
This was in sharp contrast to a day I had spent with a cross section of staff of a large organisation. Here, many had been hurt by their managers; people they desperately wanted to trust. The unfortunate truth is the pervasiveness of unpleasant workplaces, despite considerable evidence confirming that “nice companies” do finish first.
Professor Wayne A Hochwarter of Florida State University interviewed more than 700 people from a variety of industries about the treatment they received from their managers.
Of these, 31% reported that their supervisor gave them the “silent treatment” during the year, while 37% said that their supervisor failed to give credit when due. Twenty-seven percent reported that they had discovered that their supervisor made negative comments about them to other employees or managers. Twenty-three percent indicated that their supervisor blamed others to cover up mistakes or to minimise embarrassment.
There is a significant difference between being “nice” and exploitation. Good leaders know this and act accordingly. “I am happy to answer a question you might have, but don’t ask me to write your marketing plan for you.”
Shankman’s axiom is that the human resource department cannot make a company “nice” through some clever programme. The conduct of the senior leadership determines whether the company is “nice” or toxic. If you examine successful companies, Shankman claims, you will find that the people are working together in an atmosphere that is civil and pleasant.
Unsurprisingly, there is a growing body of research indicating that bad managers hamper productivity, dent profits and lose business. University of Florida researchers found that people who work for abusive managers are more likely to arrive late, do less work, and are absent more often.
In this book, Shankman identifies nine “nice” traits based on his experience with dozens of CEOs, entrepreneurs, and other leaders, and anecdotal evidence.
The trait that underpins all other “nice” traits is “Enlightened Self-interest.” This is the act of doing what benefits you while benefiting others. Adam Smith noted the benefits of enlightened self-interest as early as 1776 in his classic, Wealth of Nations.
Smith’s well-known example is the local butcher who does not sell quality meat because he is altruistic. Rather, sells quality meat because he makes a better profit and ensures your return.
Enlightened self-interest is the ultimate combination of the acknowledgement of human nature and strategic thinking.
Michael Tompkins, president and general manager of Miraval, a top-rated high-end resort, puts the method for achieving enlightened self-interest succinctly.
“When I make a big decision, I think, how is this going to impact the guest experience first, how will the staff be affected, and finally, what’s it going to do to me?” Under his management, Miraval received more awards from readers of travel magazines and websites than at any time in its 16-year history.
Another trait Shankman identifies is “The Accessibility Factor.” A friend of his was in a lift to the 42nd floor with the president and CEO of his company. When he tried to make pleasant conversation, the CEO nodded, gave a thin smile, and continued to gaze straight ahead.
A few years later, the company’s share price had fallen, the board was unhappy with the CEO, and he was fired.
Clearly he was not fired because he refused to talk to junior staff in the elevator. An inaccessible, aloof CEO can run a successful business for a while, but in the long run he makes a bad leader and destroys the business.
Leaders who are inaccessible to all but their peers communicate a dangerously flawed message. Not everyone’s job is valued as prestigious, and not everyone is important to the bottom line.
Shankman identifies “Strategic Listening” as one of the traits of a “nice” company.
I asked an audience recently how many of them had taken a public speaking skills course. Many had. Then I asked how many had taken a listening skills course. None had.
Rubbermaid’s CEO, Wolfgang Schmitt, was infamous for his refusal to listen to others and for making ill-informed decisions. A former colleague remembers that people would joke: “Wolf knows everything about everything.”
Wolf, unfortunately, did not. Under his know-it-all leadership, Rubbermaid went from being Fortune’s most admired company in America in 1993 to an inconsequential company sold to Newell a few years later.
Biotech giant Amgen’s CEO Kevin Sharer confesses to dismissing or ignoring what others had to say for many years. His epiphany came at a talk by Sam Palmisano, then president and CEO of IBM, who was asked why his experience working in Japan was so important to his leadership development.
“I learned to listen by having only one objective: comprehension. I was only trying to understand what the person was trying to convey to me. I wasn’t listening to critique or object or convince,” he said.
“Because as you become a senior leader, it’s a lot less about convincing people and more about benefiting from complex information and getting the best out of the people you work with. Listening for comprehension helps you get that information, of course, but it’s more than that: it’s also the greatest sign of respect you can give someone.”
However, listening is only a “threshold skill”. If you do not listen well, you will fail. Success is not guaranteed if you do not act appropriately on what you hearing, or if you are not competent at analysing what is being said and making sense of it. This is “Strategic Listening”.
One last story: Shankman was at a meeting with a CEO when a secretary walked in, caught her foot on a piece of rug that had curled up, and tripped. She dropped the 200 collated but not stapled pages that she was carrying.
The CEO, in his thousand-dollar suit, jumped up and sat on the floor with the secretary for the next 10 minutes, picking up and re-collating the papers. Everyone in the meeting joined in. The result was no harm was done, and no injury to anyone’s pride.
That CEO’s company was acquired last year for about $ 600m. “Not bad for a guy sitting on the floor collating papers,” Shankman notes.
We spend one third of our lives at work. Anything we can do to help make it enjoyable is worth it.
Readability: Light +---- Serious
Insights: High -+--- Low
Practical: High ---+- Low
- Fin24
* Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy.
