By Noel Massie
Sting’s song Every Breath You Take reminds me a bit what it’s like to be a company president, CEO or business owner. Everyone in the company could sing along:
Every single day, every word you say,
every game you play, I’ll be watching you.
There is never a moment when a leader isn’t being evaluated. Your company, subordinates, peers, stakeholders, and even people you aren’t aware of are watching you.
Recently the CEO of the company Astronomer was fired by his organization, after he and his Human Resources Director appeared in an embrace on a Kiss Cam, during a Coldplay Concert. Their embarrassed response even caught Coldplay’s lead singer Chris Martin’s attention. The moment went instantly viral. In a matter of a few seconds both of their lives along with their families’ lives changed forever.
It reminds me of something that’s called “doing a Ratner” in the financial world, when a CEO does something to cause an organization to lose credibility.
In 1991, David Ratner, CEO of the Ratner group, made the statement in public that some of his company’s products were “total crap” as a joke while giving a speech. The impact was swift. Consumers began boycotting their products, The company’s share price fell by 80 percent and his board fired Ratner, even going so far as to rename the company to the Signet Group.
A number of CEOs in recent history have met with a similar fate believing that what they felt privately they could announce publicly without consequence. Chip Wilson founder of Lululemon, Brian Hartzer CEO of Westpac, John Schnatter Founder of Papa’s John’s all were fired, and all made the same error.
Believing they were above scrutiny, they thought they could run a company where their personal character and values would not be evaluated. They were all incorrect. Even though many were the founders of the company, when it came down to choosing between the CEO and the organization’s reputation and equity valuations, the CEO always loses.
It is common for individuals to make the statement “I’m only human” when they’ve made a poor decision or had a lapse in judgment.
The leader of an organization does not get to use this line as an excuse. As a leader the words you speak are intended to lead an organization to positive results. This includes the values and terms and conditions everyone will operate under.
I learned this over 20 years ago when my mentor and I were discussing strategy around a natural disaster and how some individuals were dropping the ball. I became emotional and upset. My mentor stopped the discussion and said to me: “Noel, in a leadership position there are moments when you don’t get to be human.: Your personal emotions cannot dictate how you approach many situations. Your actions will determine how thousands will approach it.
At the time I was a President of a business unit at UPS he was a Senior Vice President in the organization. I had thousands of people, this group followed my lead daily. What I said, how I reacted, behaved, and executed decisions was on display daily. From that point on I led in a way that supported this value driven approach.
If you want the people around you to maintain their commitment to safety, then you must intentionally lead from there.”
You cannot simply imply the importance of the values of integrity and ethics you must state them clearly. That’s the requirement of a leader.”
When a doctor goes to bed at night, they are a doctor who’s asleep. A fireman, a law enforcement officer, the president of the United States the same. There are professions where you have the welfare of others in your hands. CEO’ s and Business owners carry a similar weight.
Their organization and their teams are depending on the leader in these instances to be rock solid and of high moral character. Their welfare is in this person’s hands, literally. On a daily basis your team sees and hears everything you do loud and clear.
Even seemingly minor details matter, such as where you park your car, who you eat lunch with, whether you spend time with the employees and where. Everything the leader does is speaking to their people. This is as it is intended to be. Any CEO who wants their actions to be ignored should not be in the position–and definitely not on a KissCam embracing a subordinate.
If you start to forget that you are always being evaluated in everyday and casual moments, just remember the consequences can be career-ending.
Leadership in Action: Want to level up your leadership game? Think about one value you want your team to embody this week, then actively demonstrate it.
How will your actions speak louder than words?
noel@noelmassie.com
