Building a Better Boss

The headline, “The Quest to Build a Better Boss,” jumped off the front page of the Business section as I was flipping through the Sunday New York Times this past weekend. Even though retired and no longer having to deal with such issues, the leadership/manager/boss concept still piques my interest.

The Times’ article has to do with a project that Google launched in 2009 called Project Oxygen. As reporter Adam Bryant writes,” Its mission was to devise something far more important to the future of Google, Inc. than its next search algorithm or app.” It deals with “building better bosses.”

Later in 2009, Bryant reports, the project team came up with “Eight Habits of Highly Effective Google Managers.” A lot of déjà vu there, I know, but don’t hit the delete button yet. What I liked about Google’s approach, as reported by the Times, is that it is very simple and clear. Dead last in the hierarchy is “technical expertise.”

Heading the list, on the other hand, is “be a good coach,” followed by “empower your team and don’t micromanage,” “express interest in team members’ success and personal well-being,” “be a good communicator and listen to your team,” and so on. Technical expertise is important, but here is the context in which the Google team puts that role: “Roll up your sleeves and conduct work side by side with team, when needed (italics mine).” And, “understand the specific challenges of the work.”

Once, at an offsite for FAA executives, one of the speakers on the program was a Marine officer who was there to talk about leadership. He started off by saying he had distilled the essence of leadership down to one word, then paused while everyone was quietly wondering what he would say. He looked around the room and finally said, “Leadership is about love.” You could have heard the proverbial pin drop. This was not a long-haired guy wearing sandals and beads. He was a strong, experienced Marine who had been in combat and had led others into combat. When, he started talking on what love looks like in that context, many of the examples he cited were right in line with Google’s conclusions.

To use that old tired, trite, hackneyed line that grates on the nerves but occasionally serves a useful purpose: “It ain’t rocket science,” is it? Then, why is it that one doesn’t find more bosses like that? They’re clearly the exception. One very simple reason is that over time in many organizations, top people in the organization pick the managers reporting to them and they in turn pick those next in line, and this incestuous process goes on right down the line. A prime example is my own Catholic Church. John Paul II and the current Pope, Benedict XVI, have selected all the Cardinals in the College of Cardinals who will pick the successor to Benedict XVI. Think they’ll pick a reformist Pope like John XXIII? Hardly.

But, the Vatican is not unique. It happens to organizations, public and private, all over the world. And, sadly, many of these same organizations have a professed desire to change, but they keep doing the same thing over and over and expect a different result. And that, as we all know, is the definition of insanity.

With the “grin and bear it” generation retiring and dying out, the new generation of workers has a far different outlook on the workplace and bosses. And, once the economy recovers, and workforce fluidity returns, they won’t simply stick around with organizations that don’t treat them right. Despite all its technical expertise and orientation, Google seems to understand that.

So, if organizations want “to win the future,” which the United States is trying to do writ large, they need to do what Google is trying to do. They don’t need to do more studies and establish commissions, etc. They need to break the mold and start hiring leaders with more and better soft skills in their managerial tool box. In other words, managers who understand in their heart and at a gut level The Golden Rule – that employees want to be treated the same way we all want to be treated.

It ain’t rocket science, is it?

Gerald E. Lavey