End Of Your Tether

Steve Hannah is the CEO of The Onion. He had the following observation regarding leadership:

About 10 years ago, I met a remarkable man, Lt. Gen. Harold Moore. Hal Moore co-wrote a book called, "We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young." It was a book about the first real battle between United States Rangers and North Vietnamese regulars.

He had a favorite phrase: "I'll always be the first person on the battlefield, and I'll be the last person off. I'll never leave a body." And he never did. It was incredibly humbling just to be in this presence.

I met him through a friend, and Hal said, "I want to write a book about leadership." So we began this book project. Over the next year, I interviewed Hal with a tape recorder for hours and hours. And he taught me his view of how you manage people and what you owe the people you manage. He taught me you never, ever do anything to deprive a human being of dignity in work, in life. Always praise in public, criticize in private.

And he taught me that when you're faced with something that's really difficult and you think you're at the end of you tether, there's always one more thing you can do to influence the outcome of the situation. And then after that there's one more thing. The number of possible options is only limited by your imagination.

When I was young and managing, I didn't listen nearly enough. Hal would always say to me: "Listen to the people below you because they are on the front lines. Do you realize that any given moment any one of those people, from the highest to the lowest, can be the most important person that day in your operation?" I've seen that happen many times in our business.

Management by utilizing all the letters - - if Plan B fails, go through the alphabet. Managerial complexity breeds an appreciation for the complete toolbox - - pulling out whatever tool you might need, at whatever moment, with the intent to influence whatever situation. With the current managerial class, having just laid off approximately eight million people between 2006 - - 2010, it would seem that both the dignity and alphabet parts were short in consideration and discussion. When the easiest route becomes the automatic Plan B and human dignity, hope, and equality become words of history - - you start down a very slippery slope of economic despair and potential social unrest that is difficult to recover from.