However, as a kid born and bred in New York City and the daughter of a Marine, a simple but visceral reaction keeps rearing its authentic head:
Don't Mess Your Nest.
My friend Carol, who had a successful career as a state government executive, helped me with this more polite version of what I learned early in life. It was a classic NYS Downstate-kid/ Upstate-kid exchange. "Carol, do you know a cleaner version of "Don't S*** Where You Eat?" I asked recently. "Yes," Carol answered immediately. "Don't Mess Your Nest."
I liked it. It reminded me of an eagle's nest, and for me personally, eagles are great metaphors on several levels, not withstanding a symbol of leadership and business success. Much more nuanced than my Lower-East-Side version.
"Why do you want to know?" Carol asked. "Personal theory I've developed over the years," I replied. "Rather than writing a magnum opus of an HR Handbook and policies for an organization, I believe that one phrase covers it all. And if all employees at all levels subscribed to 'Don't Mess Your Nest,' we wouldn't have to worry about an employee handbook, and consequently work life would be a lot easier for all of us. Also, my 9 year-old son is an experienced Googler, and I have to maintain some decorum." Carol chuckled.
I know what you may be thinking: I earn my livelihood writing employee handbooks as well as intervening on and subsequently remediating all sorts of dysfunctional workplace behavior at all organizational levels. Some potentially (but never on my watch to date, thankfully) newsworthy, some annoying and frustrating, and some just downright sad. I approach this part of my role as a mediator, and that's why it hasn't worn me down, so what am I complaining about? Because it takes time and energy away from more constructive and strategic efforts to build business and organizational success at all levels.
To the point I made in an earlier post: in the dual role of HR executive and internal Executive recruiter, I would have to clean up my own mess (and credibility), HR-wise, if I inserted a candidate with the issues below into the hiring process and they were subsequently hired. It certainly motivates the drive on the front-end to place and promote quality candidates and leadership bench.
It also helps when the organization's governance structure shares the same success values.
In the latest New York Times article on Hurd's departure, Charles House, a former longtime H.P. engineer who now runs a research program at Stanford University, in addition to his pleasure at Hurd's departure, makes this poignant observation about H.P.'s last 3 CEOs: "What H.P. needs in its next leader is “someone with Carly’s (Fiorina) strategic sense, Mark’s (Hurd) operational skills, and Lew’s (Platt) emotional intelligence.”
Amen, brother: a snapshot job spec for leadership success.
Sadly, a snapshot that Hurd did not fit. He is further described in the NYT article as having the strategic sense of a gnat, and knew only how to cut costs. He was a cost-cutter who indulged himself. His combined compensation for just his last two years was more than $72 million — a number that absolutely outraged employees since their jobs were the ones being cut.
Hurd's cost-cutting as reported in the NYT was for the short-term hits as well: he cut back significantly on R&D (the article notes that H.P. consequently had no product response to the iPad); he dictated that H.P. executives had to resign from all civic boards, and he cut off many of H.P.’s philanthropic activities.
In recent internal surveys, the NYT article reports, nearly two-thirds of H.P. employees said they would leave if they got an offer from another company — a staggering number. <Clearly> Hurd didn’t have the support of his people. He was also observed to be incredibly rude and demeaning, and relied on the fear factor. Although he was good at holding executives’ feet to the fire, he seemed to be the only one benefiting from H.P.’s success. He alienated himself from the people who might have protected him <Which would explain the decidedly odd publicity originating from H.P. about an allegedly resolved sexual harassment complaint.> One observer's summation: Hurd lacked the moral character to be CEO.
Yet he was allowed to carry on for 5 years, as the ongoing postmortem seems to suggest, because of his significant but short-term positive hits to H.P.'s bottom line. And this has all played out publicly and widely, to former, current and future customers, shareholders and employees, bruising both the reputations of Hurd and H.P. Ouch.
Hurd sounds like a fictional character constructed to hammer home the authentic concepts illustrated by House's Stanford colleague Bob Sutton in his seminal leadership / organizational effectiveness book, The No-Asshole Rule (Sorry Noah, that's the title of the book). But sadly, for Hurd, H.P. and its former and current employees, truth is indeed stranger than fiction.
The Hurd saga is also a cautionary tale about an organization off-course. Joe Nocera, who wrote this latest NYT article, summed it up elegantly: "H.P. says its board should be applauded for not letting Mr. Hurd off the hook. But this is just after-the-fact spin. In fact, the directors should be called out for acting like the cowards they are. Mr. Hurd’s supposed peccadilloes were a smoke screen for the real reason they got rid of an executive they didn’t trust and employees didn’t like."
Worried about how to best follow organizational policies, guidelines and handbooks? How to guide your employees to do the same?
And moreover, build a foundation that will ensure career and business success?
Don't Mess Your Nest.
Because it's especially damaging and discouraging when eagles do it.
As always: a successful week to all!
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