Page 77 - (DK) The Business Book

LIGHTING THE FIRE 75

See also: The value of teams 70–71 ■ Hubris and nemesis 100–03 ■ Effective leadership 78–79 ■ Ignoring the herd 146–49
■ Learning from failure 164–65 ■ Avoiding complacency 194–201 ■ Creating an ethical culture 224–27

are those who are courageous
and caring enough to tell the truth,
no matter how bad it might be.
For employees, delivering bad
news is a skill in itself. It is better
In an organization where if the news comes with a proposed
innovation happens, very often solution attached, and with causes
people ignore orders. of the problem acknowledged rather
Robert Sutton than ignored. The news should be
US professor of management delivered promptly; the sooner a
problem is identified, the sooner
it can be solved, and the better a
manager’s reaction is likely to be.
Testing your ideas
Jean Paul Getty, founder of the Saying yes to every task and giving
leaders is to create an environment Getty Oil Company, recognized only good news to a leader might result
where bad news is tolerated, and the value of outspoken employees, in popularity, but will soon overload
the employee and risks blinded
even encouraged. If leaders react to claiming that “dissent adds spice,
decision making by the leader.
unwelcome news without spirit, and an invigorating quality.”
screaming or recrimination, staff is Ken Olsen, founder of Digital
more likely to be confident about Equipment Corporation, built Management teams that can
delivering it. Good leaders tend to dissent into company culture, using challenge each other’s thinking
address the problem, rather than debate and conflict resolution as the develop a richer understanding of
simply apportioning blame, helping primary ways of decision making. strategic options, and, ultimately,
to prevent a repeat scenario. Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric make better decisions. The best
An important way of preventing (GE), encouraged no-holds-barred business leaders attempt to
a yes-men culture is to create a debates, saying, “if the idea can’t harness criticism and debate.
culture of collective responsibility. survive a spirited argument, the If everybody is saying “yes,”
Often, the most valuable employees marketplace will surely kill it.” something is seriously wrong. ■

Jean Paul Getty Jean Paul Getty was born in buy several oil companies and
Minneapolis in 1892. His father build these into a pyramid of
was a lawyer who moved into the corporations, with the Getty Oil
oil business in 1903. Getty studied Company at the top. In 1949, he
at universities in the US and UK purchased a 60-year concession
before joining his father’s in a tract of land between Saudi
business, The Minnehoma Oil Arabia and Kuwait that was
Company. He set out to make a thought to be barren of any oil.
million dollars within his first two His company struck oil in
years, and did so by buying and massive quantities in 1953,
selling oil leases. making Getty a billionaire. He
Because Getty married five died in 1976 at the age of 83.
times, his disapproving father
bequeathed him only $500,000 Key works
from his $10-million estate.
Undeterred, Getty combined this 1953 My Life and Fortunes
with his own amassed earnings to 1965 How to be Rich