Page 104 - The Voice of Authority

where you spend your time and where you don’t.
the quality of the products and services you advertise
and those you actually deliver.

As a leader, your challenge is to make sure everything
synchs—what you say with what you do.

Understand Why People Leer at Their Leaders
During a time of falling stock prices, a large telecommu-
nications company ran a full-page ad in the Wall Street
Journal touting their customer support for their newest
product. The headline on the ad emphasized how closely
their software designers listened to what customers
wanted.
A customer called the 800 number in the ad and got
routed to nine different people and phone numbers
through their automated system without ever talking to a
live person. Finally, the voice mail of the ninth person re-
ferred the caller back to the original 800 number in the ad.
A letter from the caller to the CEO suggested that incon-
sistency between their marketing hype and the day-to-day
reality was the reason for the company’s falling stock
prices. That letter became an example in the organization’s
customer service training of “what not to do” in commu-
nicating to customers.
Individuals, too, have difficulty synching words and ac-
tions. For example,

The manager who says he rewards people for out-
standing performance—but then grants merit raises
across the board at the same percentage
The manager who says she values employee sugges-
tions—but fails to respond to them

92 The Voice of Authority