Management

Management

Power and Leadership – Authentic Leaders Give the Power Back to the People

Power and Leadership – Authentic Leaders Give the Power Back to the Peopleby Chris Banescu –

Bob Davids, successful leader of six different businesses and co-author of Leadership without Ego: How to stop managing and start leading, reminds us of the right way that authentic leaders use the power they are given by the people. Rather than hoard that power, great leaders give all power back to the individuals who entrusted them with it.

In return, the people give these leaders even more power, thus creating a virtuous cycle that builds trust, empowers individuals at all levels of the organization to do great work, and inevitably leads to the long-term success of the enterprise and the people working there.

In his TEDx Talk, Davids explains that power is given to leaders by the people who support them. When individuals give power to their superiors, they observe how those leaders respond. If leaders take that power and give it all back to the people, the people then give those leaders even more power (support). [Read more…]

Organizations Ignore the Humanity of Their Employees

Organizations Ignore the Humanity of Their Employees
The human soul yearns for freedom. The human heart was created to desire happiness and joy. The human mind was designed to seek the truth. The human will is fueled by hope. These are universal truths that have been virtually ignored by most companies and organizations. Instead, management treats human beings as interchangeable parts of a machine or disposable components of a system, to exploit and carelessly toss aside on a whim. This is a human catastrophe of monumental proportions. This is unacceptable. This is wrong. [Read more…]

Character is the Most Important Trait

Character is the Most Important Traitby Chris Banescu –

Life has taught me and continues to teach me that character is the most important trait we should look for in others. If a person does not have character, nothing else matters. This is true in our personal and professional lives. It’s true in our friendships and family relationships. It’s true in business, academia, politics, religion, and all other fields of human endeavor.

In virtually all of the business and leadership courses I have taught for over two decades, the subject of character inevitably comes up. Students ask me or I ask them about the most important characteristic or quality (they can only pick one) they should look for when working for anyone, partnering with someone in a venture, or hiring great employees. [Read more…]

Southwest Airlines Schools American Airlines on Treating Pilots Fairly and Decently

Southwest Airlines Schools American Airlines on Treating Pilots Fairly and Decentlyby Chris Banescu –
The Boeing 737 MAX disaster provides us with an opportunity to evaluate some leadership qualities of top executives at two major U.S. airlines, Southwest and American. The CEOs of these corporations have chosen fundamentally different responses to their pilots and employees who were negatively affected by the extended grounding of the 737 MAX planes.

One CEO shows himself to be a man of character and integrity. The other one not so much. Southwest Airlines’ top leader, Gary Kelly, is treating the company pilots fairly and decently. American Airlines’ CEO, Doug Parker, could care less about the concerns of their pilots. [Read more…]

Courage is the Virtue that Makes All Other Virtues Possible

Courage is the virtue that makes all other virtues possible. Courage helps us develop and sharpen our character. by Chris Banescu –
Courage is the virtue that makes all other virtues possible. Courage helps us develop and sharpen our character. Courage is what enables us to practice all the other virtues, especially when doing so exacts a significant cost in our personal life, professional career, or business.

It’s not enough to know and believe in the virtues. We must act on them. Belief in, intellectual affirmation of, or knowledge of the virtues alone is not enough to develop our character. We must practice them! And this is where courage comes in and helps us to take appropriate action.

All courageous speech and conduct must be grounded in reality, ethics, and integrity. Our words and actions must support and defend truth, goodness, justice, and righteousness. This is important, because unethical, corrupt, or wicked individuals can also use courage to support evil purposes and unrighteous goals.

Wisdom needs to accompany courage. [Read more…]

Manners, The Lubricating Oil of Organizational Relationships

Manners, The Lubricating Oil of Organizational Relationships“Manners are the lubricating oil of an organization. It is a law of nature that two moving bodies in contact with each other create friction. This is as true for human beings as it is for inanimate objects. Manners – simple things like saying “please” and “thank you” and knowing a person’s name or asking after her family – enable two people to work together whether they like each other or not.

Bright people, especially bright young people, often do not understand this. If analysis shows that someone’s brilliant work fails again and again as soon as cooperation from others is required, it probably indicates a lack of courtesy – that is, a lack of manners.” ~ Peter F. Drucker

How To Demotivate Employees and Undermine Morale and Productivity

Demotivate Employees and Undermine Morale and Productivityby Chris Banescu –
Here’s a list of dysfunctional, unethical, and destructive organizational practices that I have personally experienced or seen while working with or consulting for various companies, corporations, universities, and non-profit institutions. Each of these will demotivate employees, undermine their morale, and negatively affect their productivity. Each of them will corrode organizational cohesiveness, foment suspicion and resentment of management, and destroy employees’ trust in and respect of their leaders.

Once more than one of these dysfunctional situations become normalized and spread across a company, then employee dissatisfaction and disengagement will increase exponentially. Quality of work will be negatively impacted. Great employees will begin to leave. Then the good ones will quit. The remaining employees will stop caring, stop speaking out, stop trying to address problems or improve anything inside the company. They will “go to gray.” They will do the minimal work required of them and no more.

If this pathology continues over longer periods of time, a human resources crisis will envelop the entire company and disaster (financial, ethical, legal, criminal, etc.) will inevitably follow. [Read more…]