Page 169 - Executive Warfare

The People You Have to Motivate

to work for a boss who would tell you exactly what he thought you needed
to know and nothing more, as if we were in the CIA. He’d dole out one
piece of information to one person and another piece to another person.
You don’t build a team that way—you build paranoia.
Other bosses spill everything only to two or three trusted favorites.Well,
organizations are not elementary school playgrounds where the kid with
the ball decides which other two kids get to play. There is nothing worse
than working for someone who keeps secrets from you. It’s insulting.
So, when something is wrong, tell all your direct reports exactly what’s
wrong. Why you’re not going to make your quarterly numbers, why this
product’s failing, or why this product is selling so quickly that it’s scaring
you. I would bring everybody into that kind of discussion, my head of per-
sonnel, the advertising people, every-
body, because they were all getting paid
on that basis—on the performance of YOU WILL NEVER
the division—so they all deserved to GET THE KIND OF
have enough information to help the CANDOR YOU WANT
division succeed. FROM YOUR
Most of your rivals will treat the peo- EMPLOYEES
ple who work for them like children. UNLESS YOU ARE
You can win incredible loyalty simply by HONEST WITH
treating people like adults who can THEM.
accept the truth. You will also build a
team that way because your key people
now all share the same information and can work together to act on it.
People want in. People want to be part of the life of the organization,
whether the news is good or bad. They want to know. So let them.

REACH DOWN TO EXCISE A BLOOD CLOT

Sometimes, you won’t get the truth, no matter what you do. Truth is not
flowing from some area. Your directives are not being followed, sales are

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