Remember when this blog used to be a happy, pleasant place where birds chirped and bunnies frolicked?
Hold that thought, 'cuz here cometh yet another violent lesson in leadership.
At the risk of sounding like a Spanish Inquisitioner, to run an effective organization, sometimes you may need to act like one.
I read Adam Lashinsky's excellent and revealing piece about Steve Jobs and Apple in Fortune a couple of weeks ago, and what really stuck with me is that organziational greatness comes only with two factors:
1--A clear, dynamic vision
2--Complete buy-in to it
There's no place in greatness for dissent.
Well, let me be a bit more precise.
There IS room for dissent, but only WITHIN the vision, not AGAINST it.
And to maintain this, one needs 100% commitment to said vision. You can argue on how to make it better, but you've got to believe in it. And you may not believe in it 100%, but you've got to believe in it enough to fight for it.
You either buy in, or check out.
Unfortunately, most people won't merely check out of they don't buy in.
And that's when the rough stuff has to start.
It's the same in business as it is in sport--a team needs one goal, one vision, one plan. You can't play two games, with competing game plans, at once.
Those who are convinced get on board easy. For those who aren't, leaders are left with two choices.
First, you try to:
Convert them.
And if the art of gentle persuasion doesn't work, you're left with only one choice:
Eliminate them.
I know these ain't exactly Sunday School rules, but success requires unanimous commitment.
These days, especially.
In this economy, in this digital world, things move hyper-fast. Infighting reduces the time and energy needed for out-fighting.
In any competitive field, there will always be victims.
But better the battlefield be littered with a few dissenters...than with your entire organization.
That said, I'm off to Chicago this week to take in Just For Laughs' third annual Festival there.
Maybe five days of comedy will teach me a shinier, happier lesson next week.
I hope!