A Moment or a Mountain

I don’t like reality TV.  I’m certainly a fan of reality, but I’m convinced that reality TV is just a clever way of saving money on actors and writers.  If you’re a fan, sorry.  However, there is a new show that I do kind of like.  Technically it’s a reality show but it has a different wrinkle and, as a commander, it’s the kind of thing I wish I could get away with.  It’s called Undercover Boss.

If you haven’t seen it, the premise is that a CEO wants to find out how his company works so he changes his appearance and then travels around the country pretending to be some down and out schmuck looking to change careers.  Sadly, once Hollywood gets hold of a good idea, they turn it into a festival of tear jerking emotional goo, but if you look through the weepiness they actually do get to see the problems in their corporations.  What amazes me is how successfully lower and middle management shields upper management from the problems that, in many cases, keep the organization from reaching its true potential.  Many times the boss gets out there and finds out that the employees are working in unsafe conditions, or benefits have been cancelled, or most sadly, great ideas are being ignored by those that want to continue the status quo.  In the end, the CEO always helps those in need by giving away cars or paying for their education or helping with medical bills or sending them on vacations.  They all cry and hug and go back to work.

What I find most interesting though is how the CEO reacts to the realization that all is not rosy.   Some of them see it immediately and in a take action.  They’ll announce who they really are, stop operations on the spot and call in the experts to fix it.  Hard decisions made in a moment.  On the other hand, some bosses are in denial.  They bounce from division to division telling themselves that the problems are localized and are just minor hiccoughs in an efficient organization that they’ve spent years building.  Only when there’s a mountain of evidence to the contrary does it finally dawn on them that there are drastic changes needed to prevent a complete failure of the company.

Sadly, we never get to see the follow through on the problems or how the CEO deals with those that let the company down.  I’m pretty sure successful corporations don’t just move bad managers to other divisions or promote them.  Only the government, and military do that!

When companies fail, jobs are lost, stockholders lose money.  But if we fail, if we don’t make the right financial calls, the price is much higher.  When we make bad decisions and then let either our ignorance of the true situation or our pride get in the way of changing our minds we do a disservice to the nation we serve and to the people who look to us for leadership.

Keep your eyes and ears open.  Get away from the desk.  Check and double-check what the yes men tell you.  The facts are the facts no matter how hard you sometimes wish they weren’t.  Be willing to confidently change your mind.