Enron Aftermath Teaches Yet Another Leadership Lesson

Copyright © 2004 by Don Blohowiak
Don@LeadWell.com www.LeadWell.com

10 Nov. 2004—Enron once was to Houston what Microsoft is to Seattle: A major employer, economic powerhouse, and prominent corporate landmark upon the landscape of civic pride.

But when Enron's house of cards imploded in 2001, the aftershock left many Houston area folk unemployed or financially devastated. Not surprisingly, the legion of local Enron boosters quickly morphed into an angry revenge-seeking mob.

At least that's the argument being advanced by the lawyers defending former top Enron executives against federal criminal charges. Attorneys for Kenneth L. Lay, former chairman, Jeffrey Skilling, former CEO, and Richard L. Causey, former chief accounting officer, fear that the defamed former execs will find nothing but rough Texas justice if their fates swing on the judgment of a posse of perturbed locals.

So the legal advisors have asked the court to move the trial far from Houston. Like maybe to Atlanta. Or Denver.

Relevance to you? Without reading a word of the expert opinions proffered by the former Enron big-shots' hired gun sociologists and perception consultants, you should recognize this truth: Prejudice—positive and negative—enters the equation whenever any of us is called upon to render an assessment of, or make a judgment about, the actions of another person. That's especially true when it's someone with whom we have a relationship or about whom we have an opinion.

The difference between seeing a situation—in your role as a manager, a parent, a local resident on a jury—as objective or subjective, is often your personal feelings.

Even for the best intending of us, it is near impossible to set aside existing personal feelings when trying to assess the behavior of someone we know, as though they were nothing but a mere object to us. (The converse can also challenge us: when we coldly make a decision that will affect others with little or no regard for the human impact of our "business decision." More on that another day.)

Prejudice at Work

I'm not proud to admit this, but I've caught more than one or two fleeting glimmers of my unintended personal bias in the workplace.

As a manager: I'd excuse a subpar performance from someone I generally liked and respected; or I'd come down inordinately harshly on the work of someone I didn't particularly care for.

Same thing when teaching college courses: I'd catch myself evaluating a test answer or essay with thoughts like, "Oh, I know she knows this stuff even if this piece of her writing doesn't show it." Or, "Hey, for him, that's a pretty good argument."

There's a name for this condition. It's called: Being human.

Beyond Bias

As a leader, your credibility depends on treating everyone fairly. And that means seeing their actions as they truly are—not through the lenses of favor or condemnation.

Strive to eliminate the pull of your (inherent, perfectly natural) personal feelings by balancing your subjective judgments with objective facts. Let good data temper your feelings and influence your decisions and judgments. If you lack good objective data, get some.

The undeniable reality: No matter how conscientious any of us is, we cannot ever fully escape our perceptions, sculpted in large measure by our emotions. But you can be mindful of them.

When you detect that your personal feelings may ever so subtly color or cloud your assessment of a fellow human's performance, catch yourself. And right yourself. Engage your analytic faculties. Employ the discipline of rigorous fact-based thinking.

When you make a habit of doing that, you won't need to worry about your raving fans devolving into a raging mob.

Lead Well® helps organizations to improve measurable results by developing their current and future leaders. For more information, please contact us. By phone, toll-free in the USA: 1-888-LeadWell (532-3935), or 1-609-716-9490. By email, Info@LeadWell.com.

REPUBLICATION: Permission is granted for publishing this article in periodicals provided that you:

1) Notify us (Info@LeadWell.com) and

2) Include the following attribution statement:

Don Blohowiak, a management consultant and popular conference speaker, is the author of several business books. The executive director of the Lead Well® Institute in Princeton, NJ, he may be reached at http://www.LeadWell.com/.

SELLING this material requires our written permission.

TRADEMARKS: "Lead Well" and "Natural Selection" are registered trademarks, and "Lead by Design" is a trademark, owned by Don Blohowiak, Lead Well Institute.

Copyright © 2005, Don Blohowiak, Lead Well Institute

~ All Rights Reserved ~