Business Coach Rips Management For Elitist Attitude, Bumbling Ways
Some say the best way to learn is through our mistakes.
If that’s true, then American business managers can learn a lot from a new book by renowned management consultant Alan Weiss … if they can stomach it.
All Weiss does is point out their mistakes over the past 10 or so years, with no holes barred, and then offer quite a different take on how to fix them.
His book is “Our Emperors Have No Clothes: Incredibly stupid things corporate executives have done while re-engineering, restructuring, down-sizing, TQM’ing, team-building, and empowering … in order to cover their ifs, ands or ‘buts”’ (Career Press publishers, 243 pages, $25.95).
Like its title, Weiss’ book offers a caustic but highly refreshing view of what American managers have been doing to “fix” their businesses in these times of drastic change and shows how poorly most of the solutions have worked out.
I’ve read a large number of management books published in the last three years, and this one is definitely among the top in terms of presenting an honest and clear picture of bad management and of providing solid solutions to fixing the problems.
Just how critical is Weiss? Consider the following observations:
Productivity-increasing programs from empowerment to reengineering “have only served to camouflage the most critical problem in American business,” he writes. “Stupid management.”
Because of a huge void of good strategists, “many organizations are either forced to rely on external consultants or on internal people who aren’t very effective at confronting management weaknesses (since their retirement plan keeps flashing in front of their eyes), or aren’t very adept at true strategy (since it’s only an annual event and daily practice isn’t required). There is tremendous incompetence at the top, and the best place to hide is behind lofty ideals, stalwart phrases and heavy oak doors guarded by secretaries with the instincts of a Doberman.”
On he goes, taking critical knocks and painfully insightful looks at the actions and programs of management at for-profits, non-profits and the government, with specific looks at their lack of ethics, unwillingness to change, elitist attitudes and decision-making myths.
These frank observations are supported with hundreds of stories showing stupid practices by top managers from the Fortune 500 ranks.
But Weiss does more than skewer these executives for their inane decisions. He also provides highly constructive ideas to make organizations run better. Much of his advice is common sense, but most of it is rarely seen in management books.
Among his ideas:
“Any gains to the bottom line made through expense reductions which are not accompanied by revenue increases will not count toward any incentive compensation goals. No executive should be able to enrich him or herself by denying a living to employees.”
“Use 360-degree assessments of all managers (whereby peers, subordinates, superiors and customers evaluate performance).”
“Force managers to deal with customers daily, in some capacity.”
“Executives are held accountable for what transpires on their watch. They are expected to resign - or be terminated - for preestablished transgressions, which should include fraud, financial manipulation, and the deliberate release of unsafe products.”