Coral Or King Scarlet Snake? 

There are things in nature that can harm you if you do not take care to see differences in characteristics.  The snakes above are examples of this.  The Coral Snake is deadly, but the King Scarlet Snake is not.

The Rhyme goes: “Red touches Yellow, kills a fellow, Red touches Black, Friend of Jack.”

Do we all walk around with that rhyme floating in the back of our heads?  Probably not, however, if the occasion arises where you could be in a vicinity where those snakes reside, knowing the difference could mean life or death.

Unfortunately, people can be HELPFUL or HURTFUL, yet we do not have a rhyme that can distinguish them.

Recently, a friend shared a situation that caused his organization disruption.  He proceeded to tell that it came from one person who cause others to doubt their effectiveness.  My first reaction, was sympathy for him at having to deal with such a person.  However, I asked him, “How did this individual cause the disruption?”

His answer was revealing, not in content but rather perception.  I have seen it before; leaders that are so focused on their vision that they miss the importance of understanding their people.  Missing the role an individual has in the processes of a company can be damaging.

The symptom the leader exhibits sound like; “I have already thought about these things and have dealt with the answers.  You asking questions is just slowing down our progress of getting things done.”  Or worse yet; “Are you challenging my abilities?”

As a leader and a visionary, it is difficult to have someone ask for clarity or for an explanation, because it could imply inadequacy in the leader.

This is a difficult aspect to LEADERSHIP, to discern the value an individual has per their effectiveness in producing results.  In other words, each person has a part to play in the pathway of bringing a vision to fruition.

The process brings the results, but it is a stressful.  During the design stage every possibility needs to be reviewed. This allows mistakes to be revealed before it is in the implementation stage.   A questioning member, regardless of their method, is necessary to be allowed, because dissention aids in finetuning the design.  This is usually not an easy process.

Ray Dalio is the former CEO of Bridgeport, in 2010 his company’s returns exceeded: Google, EBay, Yahoo, and Amazon.  What gave his company that edge?

After a presentation that Ray gave, this email was sent to him.

“Ray – you deserve a ‘D’ for your performance today…we told you this prospect has been identified as a ‘Must-Win’…we cannot have this happen again.”

This individual may have crossed the line of normal decorum in business circles.  However, Ray’s reaction was to search out others for their subjective opinion on his presentation.  Ray took the effort, to determine if this individual was FRIEND of FOE, by searching other opinions rather than taking the criticism and reacting accordingly.  It was viewed to aid the group in the design process.

The question of “how his company got that edge?” It was by fostering a culture of questioning and by scrutinizing any decision before it was finalized.  I would guess that this process was excruciating, but the product was extraordinary.  Leaving no rock unturned is not easy, and it takes energy to go against the grain of our human tendencies, status quo.

Open dissention may be a blessing or a curse.  The leader is the one to decide what is the case and take appropriate steps according to their end goal.

Is the person a FRIEND or a FOE to the process or is my Ego getting in the way?  There are too many instances that valuable people are terminated because of their contrarian questioning.  It may satisfy the leader’s ego, but it could damage the polishing phase.

Hard questions asked, amid the fog of business decisions, can be frustrating.

Each company must draw a line to allow for dissention for providing the best solution for their customers; whether it be in financial, construction, manufacturing, technology, or governmental processes.

It means knowing your people, their tendencies, and methods.

Attila B. Horvath, author, and engineer.