Page 179 - Executive Warfare

The People You Have to Motivate

Sure enough, this guy was soon involved in another violent incident.
Letting him off the first time was a huge mistake. I never made that mis-
take again.
Of course, you can be as careful as I was about your social exposure and
still be dragged into something embarrassing simply by bumping into
somebody in the hallway. The sobbing secretary I told you about in an
earlier chapter certainly proves that.
Try to remember that your office is not The Jerry Springer Show. Hand
those employees who mistake you for a priest or a psychiatrist the
Kleenex—and send them as fast as you can to the legal department or per-
sonnel. Those people are the experts. If there is something you really need
to know, they will tell you.
Do everything possible to discourage your employees from pouring
their hearts out to you. You cannot afford to hear the details.
This may sound callous or paranoid, but getting caught up in the per-
sonal affairs of the people who work for you represents an incredible bur-
den in terms of time. It also represents
an incredible risk in terms of litigation
and an incredible embarrassment in WHEN YOU ARE
terms of your own career—because you DRAGGED INTO
now have to inform your boss of the THESE QUASI-
seamy things happening in your divi- SOCIAL BUSINESS
sion on your watch. OCCASIONS, IT IS
This does not mean, however, that UP TO YOU AS THE
you should close your eyes and ears BOSS TO SET THE
completely. Knowing in general terms STANDARDS FOR
what’s happening in people’s lives is part BEHAVIOR.
of the boss’s job. You have to respect
their privacy—but I never respected an
executive who didn’t know whether or not his employees had children.
You have to be familiar with the broad strokes of your employees’ stories

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