WASHINGTON-In 1836, slaveholders took Dred Scott, an enslaved person, from Missouri, a slave state, to the territory that became Minnesota. The law governing that territory prohibited slavery.
It’s a pattern across a lot of dysfunctional organizations, when a leader doesn’t accept “not possible” for an answer. Doesn’t care about the dissent presented by subordinates and dismisses it as disloyalty. If you don’t want to get fired, you just go along with the boss and never present him with the reality.
The real messes occur when this kind of behavior scales. When the subordinates of the leader start doing the same to their own subordinates. When people start lying to their superiors about what is happening because they know the boss doesn’t want bad news or to be told their idea didn’t work. You get a game of telephone where information is distorted as it moves up the chain.
“Can’t be done” and “That’s not a good idea” have been job-killers for me in the past. I’m not paid to stroke my boss’ ego, and if that’s what they want, I’ll put them through the conversation of needing more money if that’s been suddenly added to my job description.
And then quit. I don’t countenance that bullshit. We really don’t need this at the federal level.
It’s a pattern across a lot of dysfunctional organizations, when a leader doesn’t accept “not possible” for an answer. Doesn’t care about the dissent presented by subordinates and dismisses it as disloyalty. If you don’t want to get fired, you just go along with the boss and never present him with the reality.
The real messes occur when this kind of behavior scales. When the subordinates of the leader start doing the same to their own subordinates. When people start lying to their superiors about what is happening because they know the boss doesn’t want bad news or to be told their idea didn’t work. You get a game of telephone where information is distorted as it moves up the chain.
“Can’t be done” and “That’s not a good idea” have been job-killers for me in the past. I’m not paid to stroke my boss’ ego, and if that’s what they want, I’ll put them through the conversation of needing more money if that’s been suddenly added to my job description.
And then quit. I don’t countenance that bullshit. We really don’t need this at the federal level.