The Turd on the Table

Intel was so deluded by its success around Windows computing and 86 architecture that they missed mobile computing and were late to the needs of Cloud computing It has been superseded by Nvidia Taiwan Semiconductor and AMD And yet another CEO has come and goneWells Fargo was so crazed and incentivized to drive revenue by opening new accounts that they started accounts for dead people and established multiple accounts for customers who did not need them Billions of dollars of fines and 4 CEO changes in less than 6 years is a result of this besotted behaviorSoon a trail of emails will show that Boeing for years was aware of the software problems with the 737Max but a zeal to ship a disconnected or badly informed Board of Directors and miscommunication deeply damaged this world class firmMassive growth leading to a dilution of talent and difficulties in maintaining standards a lust for lucre combined with deep divides between values of senior partners and a new generation of purpose driven talent as well as wedge between US and European and Asian leadership has badly impacted the reputation of McKinsey as one scandal after another engulfs the firm Economist magazine rightly identifies the issue as one where the partners may be suffering from collective selfdelusionAll these worldclass firms with superb talent and brands will most likely recover strongly and remain leaders but many of these problems could have been avoided or lessened if only someone had called out or leaders had paid attention to the turd on the tableA What is the turd on the tableIt is something that is brown and moist and people know it is a piece of poisonous waste but they pretend it is a brownie They are aware of the stink but perfume over the aroma Here are some flavors of turdMismanagement For instance management particular leaders or leadership teams is disconnected from reality and refusing to acknowledge the facts or they39re guilty of bullying discrimination or harassmentThese are incredibly touchy issues since the former means confronting powerful people in denial and the latter means addressing an individual39s unethical or immoral behaviorsToxic cultures Organizations are highly defensive about their cultures even when they become cultlike and inflexible or feardriven Telling a leader that the culture has become poisoned requires courageFinancial improprieties Here the problem may be a company overinflating revenue such as Enron or one that takes shortterm measures to goose the numbers such as Wells Fargo Confronting these improprieties that have major shortterm benefits and may involve illegal or unethical actions is a challengeMajor industry shifts A leader may refuse to address big changes in customer behavior or the competitive landscape or mammoth technology changes requiring tough decisions such as Kodak and digital emergence It39s easier to rationalize or deny shifts than articulate the businessaltering trend and the need for rethinking everythingPeople problems The boss or some person with influence is acting like a jerk or is playing favorites or is blind to internal or external developments In many ways this is the biggest turd on the table in that it requires confronting a powerful individual about his or her issuesB Why is it hard to call out the turd on the tableBeing punished You39ve heard the phrase quotDon39t kill the messengerquot In many cultures people who bring up messy problematic subjects tend to draw the ire of others in the room If it can39t be dealt with logically and analytically if it causes people to feel upset embarrassed or confused then raising these issues creates consternation And sometimes it creates condemnationPeople are afraid of being punished verbally reprimanded or worse for talking about difficult subjects For instance they don39t want to address how the CEO intimidates everyone or how the CIO39s tendency to play favorites is lowering moraleBeing wrong In a datadriven world people like accuracy and correct decisions The reasoning goes if you follow the data you39ll get it right Of course that39s not always true In these cultures employees are often plagued by selfdoubtAm I reading the situation correctly Is there a subject flaw in my thinking Have I analyzed the situation incorrectly Selfdoubt is a highly effective censorBeing asked to do more work Or as they warn you in some stores quotIf you break it you buy itquot People fear that if they raise problems or difficult issues they will be asked to deal with themBeing Disliked Truth tellers aren39t popular in companies especially when they39re telling hard truths Most employees want to be liked by their colleagues and bosses Articulating troubling issues will get them branded as troublemakers This is especially true if they don39t have facts and figures to back up their insights and opinionsC Why do talented people miss the turdNarrow Obsessive Focus When you39re viewing the data constantly and thinking about it endlessly you39re viewing the turd through distorting rosecolored glasses We have all worked with managers like this people who are insulated by all their software and systems and benchmark developments in a formulaic manner ie they always compare their performance with traditional competitors or use other established measures As a result they miss untraditional competitors or unmeasured innovations They see only what their screens show them Thus they fail to raise problematic issues because they can39t see them clearly At first the music industry did not see and then did not understand the impact of the iPod and iTunes on wresting away control of the industry what did a technology company understand about music GM and Ford focused on each other and VW and Toyota and not Uber and Tesla till these quotoutsiderquot companies eclipsed themAccepting Data Without Questions We take refuge in the data believing it to be holy We accept whatever the machine spits out and forget to ask how the data was collected and compiled or what biases were in the algorithmEven if our instincts are prompting us to call a turd a turd we don39t because the data says it39s actually a brownie Today many marketers celebrate how well their online campaigns are doing and how they wish to allocate more money to these programs despite limited overall gain and often a decline in their total business It is like a patient who is getting sicker and sicker but believes the vital signs on the monitor which seem to be glowing healthily Could it be that they are not measuring the right thing or the measurement is wrongMyth Making and Hero Cultures Magical thinking prevents people from stating unpleasant truths because many companies39 cultures have religious fervor and one does not want to be excommunicatedIn many companies cultural success myths are powerful and they often relate to formulas or other numerical concepts that helped the company achieve success Obviously there39s validity in these cultural stories but at times the stories become sacrosanct and that39s when they become a problem eg it39s heresy to speak against the company ethos or its leaders and founders Datacentric or founder worshipping companies that have been highly successful are especially vulnerable to drinking the KoolAid since people who work in these companies often have fierce beliefs in their technology or their heritage and they have trouble violating these sacred beliefsD How to encourage the calling out of the turd if you are part of leadership1 Anonymous tip lines or suggestion boxes This is like training wheels for turd table talk Yes it39s oldfashioned and employees may be skeptical at first about whether their suggestions will be read or acted upon but it provides a starting point for people to voice their truths Some companies use up and down voting of questions to address key issues at All Hands Meetings2 Leadership modeling of truth talking This is a simple but effective way to integrate truthtelling into the culture At the end of every important meeting meeting leaders should ask the following two questionsa Is there something that has not been said that should have been saidb Can someone please say why what we discussed or agreed on today might be wrongThe Navy SEALs have a practice that after every operation they have a debrief where everybody leaves their titles at the door It does not matter if you are a newbie or a commander everyone is asked to talk about what they and everybody else in the team could have done better3 Truthtelling incentives Nothing aligns values and behaviors like incentives Rewarding rather than punishing people who challenge the status quo with financial benefits promotions and verbal approval sends a powerful message If you want people to take risks and challenge the status quo you need to reward such people and such behavior4 Admitting wrong Bosses hate to say quotI made a mistakequot or quotThat was a dumb decisionquot When bosses admit they were wrong especially when they do so with humor and vulnerability they convey it39s okay to admit mistakes and point out what didn39t work Sometimes the turd on the table is a bad leadership choice and when the leader points it out it signals to others that it39s okay not only to admit mistakes but to note when bosses do something wrong Every CEO has overcome significant booboosThey survived and thrived because they realized they were wrong and rectified their mistakes5 Storytelling Dramatize the positives of identifying the turd on the table Bring in outside speakers who can lay out scenarios in which organizations benefited when people started telling the truth6 External middle and senior level hires One way to ensure new mindsets and thinking is to ensure that a certain percentage of talent is hired externally including from outside the industry or the country the company is strong in These new folks can bring not only new skills but often question the status quoE Becoming a Turd SlayerDo not fear the turd Call it out Shine a bright light on it Place it on a pedestal Address the damn thingHere are some suggestions for you to become a quotturd slayerquota Say what you think In business we care what is between your ears Say what you think Hey if it is wrong you will be told so in fact even if you are right you will be told you are wrong Truth eventually has a habit of breaking in Why not open the door and save time and damageb Assume the person you are trying to be diplomatic to about an issue knows what the issue is If you bring it up you will be more respected by them If they did not know you will earn an allyc Do not go with the crowd if your instinct says no Often group and crowd dynamics take over in much decision making People think about what their boss wants to hear rather than what they should say People worry about the impact of their career rather than what is right Sooner or later too many people are dodging their own shadow and playing mind games that lead to slow and bad decisionsd Do not work for a boss who cannot bear the truth or whom you fear We are living in a time of change and most of the time senior folks need to be told that their core beliefs may no longer be true I have seen too many companies from newspaper to magazines to many other companies hasten their decline because their leadership did not face reality in part because their staff was scared of theme Tell all the truth but tell it slant Once you have decided to address the turd on the table you might want to do so in a way so the message gets through Ideally it is in a way that does not make the person receiving the news quotlose facequot so much of this is best done person to person In other times some humility selfawareness metaphors or humor will be called for Emily Dickinson says it best in her poem too much of shock and you will have blinded someone to the turdTell all the Truth but tell it slantSuccess in Circuit liesToo bright for our infirm DelightThe Truth must dazzle graduallyOr every man be blindSo let39s address the quotturd on the tablequot wherever it might be For instance this post might be a turd in itselfWe would then call it a quotmetaturdquotClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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The Turd on the Table

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Rishad Tobaccowala

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The Turd on the Table

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