REFLECTIONS ON CHARACTER AND LEADERSHIP

14 REFLECTIONS ON CHARACTER AND LEADERSHIP

gamesmanship will be rampant. Such entrepreneurs will interpret harm-

less acts as threats to their control and launch destructive counteractions

against them. Understandably, this kind of thinking may contribute to

a toxic work environment.

In one case, headquarters sent a consultant to help the chief execu-

tive of a newly acquired company to assess profi tability by product line

and develop and implement a strategic plan. When the consultant arrived,

the ex - owner would not let him look at the fi nancial statements on the

grounds (he explained to headquarters) that the consultant might use

the information to help the competition. On another occasion, when

his machines were idle and he had to lay off employees, the same person

refused to sell goods - in - process to a non - competing business. He argued

that he had once been burned when a competitor used his goods - in -

process to manufacture a line of products that competed with his own,

and he was not going to let it happen again.

In another instance, the vice - president of human resources of a

conglomerate was surprised to discover that the former owner of a sub-

sidiary had television cameras monitoring the front and back entrances

of both his plant and his offi ce building. To allay his fears that employees

were stealing from him, the manager kept on his desk two split - screen

consoles that he watched constantly.

The problem with countering such distorted forms of reasoning and

action is that there is always a degree of reality behind the fear and sus-

picion. If one looks hard enough, one will always fi nd some confi rma-

tion of the entrepreneur ’ s suspicions — someone stealing something, or

acting against the company ’ s interests. Unfortunately, the person who

manages this way forgets the price the company pays in deteriorating

morale, low employee satisfaction, and declining productivity.

Desire for Applause

The common heroic myth begins with the hero ’ s humble birth, his rapid

rise to prominence and power, his conquest of the forces of evil, his

vulnerability to the sin of pride, and, fi nally, his fall through betrayal

or heroic sacrifi ce. The basic symbolic themes — birth, conquest, pride,

betrayal, and death — are relevant to all of us. And some entrepreneurs

act out the same myth. They feel they ’ re living on the edge, that their

success will not last, but they also have an overriding concern to be

heard, recognized, and regarded as heroes.

A very gifted entrepreneur, who was experiencing great stress while

working out how quickly to expand his business, described to me a