Shook Ones.
Scared to death, scared to look, they shook.
—Mobb Deep
—Mobb Deep
Blame the economy. Blame global geopolitics and terrorism. But whatever the cause, a lot of folks are shook. Workers are afraid to speak against company policy or do anything not preordained from on high. Bosses are afraid to take risks and innovate. Companies are so afraid of losing market share and shareholders that they won’t do anything that might alienate anyone. In short, businesses and even consumers are stuck playing not to lose.
But what amazes me more than all the fear is the number of people in power still pretending that this is good for business. Whoever convinced bosses that fear is a great motivator lied. On the block fear can get you killed or arrested. In sports, fear leads to injuries and losses. In business, fear creates complacency, stifles creativity, and stunts growth. And as with most business ills, fear starts and ends at the top.
Tanya The Tyrant
I once worked for “Tanya Patten,” a brilliant big agency CEO. She was a trade press darling—usually made those “most powerful women” and “Top 40 Under 40” lists and rightfully so. She had skills; knew her industry inside and out, knew her company top to bottom. She was good, real good. But she had a major flaw: People were afraid of her. I’m talking, “yes m’am, no m’am” shook. There were endless stories and rumors floating about her rise to power: Backstabbing… Firing anyone she deemed a threat…. Secret alliances… Sexual liaisons with colleagues… To hear most tell it, she was the original pit bull in a skirt.
Not surprisingly, company morale sucked. People at the bottom felt ignored. They felt most of the higher-ups were impatient, incompetent, or some combo thereof. Many felt they were forced to grind late-nights and weekends without cause or rewards. And of course every other person, especially the media department, felt they were underpaid. But because everyone was afraid of Tanya, no one ever griped out loud.
But like I said, she was smart; and it didn’t take a genius to see that things were bad. So Tanya Patten started something called, DEAR BOSS: She had IT set up an open computer in with a generic email address. Anyone could send anonymous complaints and suggestions about the company or any exec’s performance—only she would read the emails. And unless you signed your name, she’d never know who wrote what. The problem? Folks thought the computer was bugged. Turns out we weren’t totally wrong. Using a few IT tricks and some deductive reasoning, anyone could figure out who wrote what. So that idea went bust after about a month of “I love my job/Tanya Rules!” notes.
Next came, LET’S DO LUNCH: She divided the company into groups of 10 or 15 and took each group to lunch every week. Over a few drinks and some good food, you could tell her, face-to-face, whatever you wanted with her promise that nothing you said would be held against you. You could snitch, criticize, praise, or just shut up and enjoy a free meal. But since no one wanted to talk themselves out of a job, it went about as well as Bush’s search for WMDs in Iraq.
But again, Tanya already knew folks were too afraid for any of this to work. I think this was just her way of sizing up the fear factor and CYAing herself against our board of directors. (Rumor had it they’d been unhappy with our office’s performance ever since she took over.)
Looking back, I actually do remember a couple folks standing up to her at various points. I can also remember those same folks having a rough time there afterwards. In fact, one or two ended up “quitting.” And of course, nothing improved until Tanya dropped the bully tactics.
But what amazes me more than all the fear is the number of people in power still pretending that this is good for business. Whoever convinced bosses that fear is a great motivator lied. On the block fear can get you killed or arrested. In sports, fear leads to injuries and losses. In business, fear creates complacency, stifles creativity, and stunts growth. And as with most business ills, fear starts and ends at the top.
Tanya The Tyrant
I once worked for “Tanya Patten,” a brilliant big agency CEO. She was a trade press darling—usually made those “most powerful women” and “Top 40 Under 40” lists and rightfully so. She had skills; knew her industry inside and out, knew her company top to bottom. She was good, real good. But she had a major flaw: People were afraid of her. I’m talking, “yes m’am, no m’am” shook. There were endless stories and rumors floating about her rise to power: Backstabbing… Firing anyone she deemed a threat…. Secret alliances… Sexual liaisons with colleagues… To hear most tell it, she was the original pit bull in a skirt.
But like I said, she was smart; and it didn’t take a genius to see that things were bad. So Tanya Patten started something called, DEAR BOSS: She had IT set up an open computer in with a generic email address. Anyone could send anonymous complaints and suggestions about the company or any exec’s performance—only she would read the emails. And unless you signed your name, she’d never know who wrote what. The problem? Folks thought the computer was bugged. Turns out we weren’t totally wrong. Using a few IT tricks and some deductive reasoning, anyone could figure out who wrote what. So that idea went bust after about a month of “I love my job/Tanya Rules!” notes.
Next came, LET’S DO LUNCH: She divided the company into groups of 10 or 15 and took each group to lunch every week. Over a few drinks and some good food, you could tell her, face-to-face, whatever you wanted with her promise that nothing you said would be held against you. You could snitch, criticize, praise, or just shut up and enjoy a free meal. But since no one wanted to talk themselves out of a job, it went about as well as Bush’s search for WMDs in Iraq.
But again, Tanya already knew folks were too afraid for any of this to work. I think this was just her way of sizing up the fear factor and CYAing herself against our board of directors. (Rumor had it they’d been unhappy with our office’s performance ever since she took over.)
Looking back, I actually do remember a couple folks standing up to her at various points. I can also remember those same folks having a rough time there afterwards. In fact, one or two ended up “quitting.” And of course, nothing improved until Tanya dropped the bully tactics.
