Work Matters: The Best of 2009

I tried to resist the temptation to do one of these "best of" lists, but I succumbed as I started looking back at posts from the year. As I looked back at this year versus last, I realized that the focus on workplace assholes that was so strong when I started this blog in 2006 has faded quite a bit, and I tend to focus more broadly on workplace and management issues. Sure, I still talk about assholes (I have accepted that, no matter what else I ever have done or will do, I will always be "the asshole guy").  Yet, no doubt because it is the theme of my next book, I now talk more about bosses -- what it takes to be a good one, the difference between good ones and bad ones, and a host of related topics. 

I picked my favorite from each month. I usually picked a post that generated a lot of comments. I always appreciate the comments that people make, and I thought that they were better than ever this year -- so I thought it would also be fun to pick my favorite comment on each post.  I know this runs long; sorry,  I am professor who is prone to profess too much!

January: Eleanor Roosevelt vs. Randy Komisar on Failure.  This post was inspired by two opposing quotes, which are contradictory, but -- I believe -- both true.  'The first is from former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt: "Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself." This has to be true. But serial entrepreneur, serial author, and venture capitalist Randy Komisar also made a compelling case when he argued "yes, you can learn from others, but  "the only way to really, really get your money's worth, is to do it yourself" because "nothing else creates that hollow feeling in your stomach."  

This post generated 10 thoughtful comments.  My favorite was from John, who wisely pointed out "I also know a few airplane pilots. They are definitely in Eleanor Roosevelt's camp. It may depend on how onerous the penalties for failure are." 

February: CEO Compensation Research : Why You Want Rich People to Set Your Pay.   I picked this one because CEO compensation has been such a hot topic.  This post summarizes a study by Charles O'Reilly and his colleagues that shows -- independently of firm performance and size -- the more money that people on the CEO's compensation committee make, the more they pay the CEO. Essentially, people use themselves as the standard to set pay.  Here is a key sentence from the post " O'Reilly and his colleagues report that for every $100,000 that the average member of the compensation committee is paid, the CEO's pay goes up another $51,000 per year."

 Of the eight comments, I especially liked Murthy's (a former student) detailed response, which ends with "When you become an investor, your job is to help and support companies to increase their shareholder value. Bashing them or their leadership to the public does not increase your shareholder value. If anything, it creates essentially the same emotional dynamic that any of us have when we have a jerk for a boss. So maybe a little less "I think wall street sucks" and a little more "I believe in the American financial system" would be useful for the morale of those companies as well as the morale of the country in general."

March: My Final Exam Question: Can You Answer It?  This was about the final exam question that I have been using in my introduction to organizational behavior class for over a decade -- in fact, Murthy answered it when he was student.  I will be using it again next term: "Design the ideal organization. Use course concepts to defend your answer."  For years, I told the students that it was really hard and I would have trouble answering.  I realized that I finally did answer it a few years back when I wrote The No Asshole Rule. Every year, I wonder if I should try something else, but then every year the best answers are so good that I can't resist asking it again.

I suggested that, while the students get 3000 words, and The No Asshole Rule ran over 40,000 words, that if I was forced to write something short, I would say ""A place where people are competent, civilized, and cooperative -- and tell the truth rather than spewing out lies and bullshit."  I would also add that this is pretty similar to how I define a good boss in my new book.

The best part of this post were the 24 comments that people made about their vision of an ideal organization.  I can't resist picking two because they were so good. Whitney wrote "My ideal organization is one where I can have more positive impact in the world than I can accomplish on my own.I've worked for both kinds of companies. I left my last employer because group work took everyone down to the lowest common denominator. Where I work now, 1 + 1 usually adds to 3."  And Hayli wins the brevity award "Fewer meetings, more teamwork."

April: A Well-Crafted Critique of Business "Success" Books and My Ambivalence About Good to Great.  This post was about Drake Bennett's article in the Boston Globe, which reviewed the weak evidence that underpins many management bestsellers -- especially Good to Great.  Drake included a quote from me, ""There's value in mastering the obvious," he says. "If Jim Collins's impact is to get people to do stuff that they know they should do already - facing the hard truths or being selfless or whatever - I certainly don't think that's a bad thing." 

As I explained in the post, I do think that Collins book is a good read and has helped many managers do a better job, but as someone who believes in and has written about evidence-based management, I am disturbed by the book because it makes such excessive claims about the quality of the research and newness of the ideas.  As I wrote in the post "ironically, this book about the virtues of modest leaders reveals considerable hubris in its claims." 

Of the nine comments, I thought that Glenn's was especially thoughtful " I debate this with 'Collins Disciples' all the time. Also, I believe what adds to the issue is that too many people have stopped thinking. They read a book, follow it blindly, and believe they have all the answers. When they should read it, apply some critical thinking to see if and how it applies to their situation, then implement as appropriate." 

May: Of Baboons and Bosses. This post dug into a claim in my June 2009 HBR article on "How to Be a Good Boss in a Bad Economy" that "the typical member looks at the the alpha make every 20 to 30 seconds to see what he is doing."  I linked this to research showing that subordinates are often hyper-focused on every little move that their bosses make -- something that many bosses are remarkably oblivious to and that undermines their ability to lead effectively. 

Of the five comments, I liked John Foster's best, notably his reminder that "leaders should always remember they are on stage, being "looked at" for cues. It's a powerful way to create movement or change."

June: The Selfish Superstar Inventory.  The aim of this post was to ask for questions and ideas for a survey I was developing to assess if an organization breeds and rewards -- or punishes and expels -- selfish backstabbing superstars.  I suggested statements indicating that people who get ahead in such organizations do things like "stomp on colleagues on the way to the top" and "Are always loved by their superiors, but often despised by their peers and subordinates." 

The 17 comments in response to this post were especially wonderful. My favorites include many on Tory's long list including "Scrub subordinates names from their work before passing it up the chain," Ed's "If a project fails, I don't feel bad if my part of it was successful," and Stu's 'Believe in the 30 Rock mantra, "I'm going to get mine!"'  A descendant of the "SSI" will appear in my new book and I will put out an online version around the time the book is published.  I used a lot of the suggestions, so thanks everyone!

July: You Know Your Boss is A Certified Asshole When.....  I was inspired to write this post both because the ARSE continues to be completed by so many people (it is now well over 200,000 completions) and by a note I got from an executive who had an asshole boss that her kids called Mr. GIANT BUTTHOLE."  The responses to this questions from readers who wonderful, including Lesa's "Making a staff person drive 80 miles round trip at 9:00 pm at night to a client's house to get a (non-essential, non-urgent) signature because "we do whatever it takes to get the job done."  I also cringed at Ergoboy's "He corners every employee that you work with and interrogates them looking for dirt on you. Any possible dust particle gets wildly exaggerated, documented, and then shown to you on a write-up." 

August: Wal-Mart and Girl Scout Cookies: Thin Minty Gate.  This post was inspired by CV Harquail's story about how Wal-Mart was test-marketing imitations of two of the best-selling Girl Scout cookies -- a post that generated a lot of national media attention.  I expressed disgust with Wal-Mart's actions and I especially focused on why it was a bad business decision for them, taste and ethics aside.  I also warned readers that I was biased because my wife, Marina Park, is CEO of the Northern California Girl Scouts. I thought Cecelia summed it up well "The most important issue in this article is the community responsibility Walmart carries. (Or lack thereof in this case). It is in bad taste to go into direct competition with an organization they work closely with in order to provide a safe place for these girls to fund-raise. In communities where Walmart is already established, their profits exceed that of the local Girl Scout troop by a disgusting amount."  

September:  What are the Dumbest Practices Used By U.S. Companies?   This one was pretty fun, as I asked for ideas for a speech I was going to give in Singapore. I started with three: 1. Dangerous complexity; 2. Dysfunctional internal competition, and 3. Breaking-up teams constantly.  Then 27 great comments roared in, including Pat's wise 'Rewarding Firefighters not Fire Inspectors.In other words, the people spotting the problems and fixing them before the "fire" do not get rewards. The "firefighters" who rush and put out fires in progress do get reward.'  I also loved Patricia's "Killing the messenger" and Rodney's ""When the risk of making a decision for employees inside the organization is considered to be greater than the benefit of making one."  I can't resist one more, Wally has made a lot of great comments this year, including "We hope for magical leadership instead of developing good systems. When we do develop systems we favor the engineered and the technological over the human and common-sensical."

October: The post that probably had the most content was Challenging Ingrained Assumptions at HR, which summarized the short speech I ultimately gave in Singapore -- and the 27 comments were great.  Dblwyo, for example,  was tough but (often) on target when he argued that "HR like many other functional specialties, e.g. IT and logistics, doesn't have more clout because it hasn't earned it."

But I can't resist picking Art Imitates Life: The Muffin Incident on Entourage as the best post.   In this scene on the HBO show, my favorite TV asshole, Ari Gold fires an assistant for bringing him the wrong muffin -- which is exactly what (according to the Wall Street Journal) Academy Award winning Producer Scott Rudin did to one of his assistants. There were only two comments, but I thought Tony summed-up Ari well "I am also a big fan of Ari Gold from Entourage. It is funny how such an ego-centric, manipulative character can be so interesting. Working with someone with his personality would be a nightmare but his aggressive drive is impressive." 

November: Your Lack of Planning is Not My Emergency.   This is a saying I love.  This post generated seven comments, I especially liked Flint's comment "Or the corollary, "If everything is an emergency, then nothing is."  This was also the month where I did a bunch of posts on testosterone -- including the study that showed young men who drive a new Porsche respond with higher levels but not when they drive an old Toyota Camry station wagon. 

December: The Boss's Journey.  It was my last post, but it was my favorite because the comments were so good.   My argument was that  'As psychologist William Schutz explained, “Understanding evolves through three phases: simplistic, complex, and profoundly simple.”'  I suggested that  bosses might follow much the same journey. Wally, as usual, was spot on, commenting that  'Most "leadership development" programs are isolated courses that don't recognize that leadership development is cumulative. If you can help less experienced supervisors learn, use peer support to help them get vicarious experience, and teach them to use feedback and mentors, you can help them develop faster and more effectively.'  

The Good Cop, Bad Cop Technique also generated some great comments, notably "culture guru," who reported "You just explained our parenting style, added at least another 10 years to our already 22 year old marriage, and have removed my final resistance to going into business with my husband."

Congratulations if you have read this far. I suspect this is my longest post of the year.

It's been quite a year. And now I am not the only blogger in the family.  My wife, Marina Park, now blogs regularly at SF Gate, the online arm of the San Francisco Chronicle, in the City Brights Section. I especially liked her recent post on Small Steps to Make the World a Better Place.

I started writing Work Matters in June 2006. It  passed one million page views this year (1125533 as of this moment, with a lifetime average of 863 page views per day.)  It now includes 815 posts and 3195 of your comments.  Thanks for reading my stuff and thanks for all those wonderful comments.

I hope you and yours have a happy new year.

Comments

[Charles Robinson]

I found your blog via Tim Berry's post today. I'm glad he shared, but I have a lot of reading to catch up on. Thanks for your insights, they're shockingly good. It's refreshing to see someone who isn't afraid of honesty. :-)

[Randy Bosch]

Bob, The most though-provoking 2009 post for me was your
"Wisdom, Randomness, and the Naskapi Indians", July 6, 2009
(archived to my personal file!).

[Ronn]

For years I have resisted reading the numerous "best seller" management books that proliferate the bookshelves. All too often it would seem that managers/leaders/supervisors I worked for would then acquire their MBMA (Manage By Magazine Article) or their MB4 (Manage By Business Book Bestseller) after reading them and then a new program/project/strategic plan would result.
Then I happened to stumble upon my wife's copy of the No Asshole Rule. Since then I have burned up my library card with reservations (and some late fees) of the Knowing-Doing Gap, Hard Facts, Weird Ideas, various HBR articles, the Human Equation, Collaboration, and several other publications you have either written or written about. I have even been inspired to try and start my own blog but alas keep coming back to yours (darn near daily) as it really is the gold standard for me.
Thank you for your writing, your wit, and insight. Your work has helped me be a better leader, professor and employee.

I wish you great success in 2010 and beyond and look forward to your upcoming book and more blogging.

[Chien]

I can't remember when I first started reading your blog. I do know for sure that I have not regretted it. Thank you for all the insights- they make the world a bit more sane. :) Happy New Year!