74 REFLECTIONS ON CHARACTER AND LEADERSHIP
just talking to him, because I work so hard to get a human response. Not
even humor works. Getting a laugh out of him is a major achievement.
True enough, Richard makes all the right motions. He can generally
be found busily scuttling around the corridors, for example. But where
does he go, and what does he do? Having seen his report, I know he
doesn ’ t do much. And seeing those meager results, I ’ ve had a chat or two
with the other team members. They obviously fi nd him diffi cult to deal
with too. I have the sense that he ’ s stifl ing their creativity. It ’ s almost like
there ’ s a negative contagion.
I fi nally talked to someone from the human resources department,
and she supported the negative contagion idea. She mentioned having
heard from other people about problems with Richard ’ s team. In fact, she
was of the opinion that it isn ’ t a team. The only thing that binds these
people together, in her view, is a common sense of resentment toward
Richard. He ’ s very infl exible in dealing with personnel problems, accord-
ing to everyone she ’ s spoken with. She mentioned one incident as an
example — something I hadn ’ t heard about directly. Apparently one of the
members of the project team, a very good employee who was a single
father, had a sick child at home. He asked Richard for a temporary leave,
a few weeks at most, and the request was denied. He then asked to be
allowed to do some of his work from home. Richard showed no under-
standing of the situation, no compassion. He told the man that since he
himself was under great pressure to get his job done, he expected work at
full throttle from everyone on the team. The rules applied to everybody,
he said. The next day this man submitted his resignation.
That conversation with the HR person sort of clarifi ed things for me.
Although I don ’ t see myself as a hard - nosed executive, I know now that
I have to do something. I owe it to the remaining team members. Clearly,
Richard isn ’ t capable of running a high - performance team. But I don ’ t
know whether that means he has to go, or whether there ’ s something I
could do to help him become more effective in dealing with people to
increase his emotional expressiveness. And if he does have to go, could
we just move him into a more suitable position elsewhere in the organiza-
tion? Or is he hopeless?What, then, are the major indicators of alexithymia? Box 3.1 contains
a list of typical warning signs.Box 3.1 Warning Signs of Alexithymia- Does the person have diffi culty communicating with other
people? - Does the person describe details ad nauseam but never mention
feelings?