We Are (Not) Family
Here’s the closing line on Penelope Trunk’s new piece in the The Huffington Post titled, Hold CEOs Accountable for Their Bad Parenting:
When you are looking for a company to work for, look at the CEO. If you find out he’s having sex with four different women, you don’t have to worry — he’s about to be fired. But if he works insane hours, you can bet that you will be expected to do the same, on some level. And my gosh, if he refers to you as his family, run!
“If he refers to you as family, run!” That’s a million-dollar piece of career advice. Penelope, the author of 2007’s must reads, The Brazen Careerist, is talking about CEOs who do nothing with their own families, work 100 hours a week, and sell their souls to the company store. A “family atmosphere” is one thing — that’s about being supportive. But she’s talking about a CEO thinking that the company’s employees are his “family,” as in he’s not calibrated and doesn’t have a real life.
Bob Sutton said that Penelope “nailed it: with this quote:
We have a double standard in our society: If you are poor and you abandon your kids, you are a bad parent. But if you are rich and you abandon them to run a company, you are profiled in Fortune magazine.
Wow. When we think about company culture it’s important to look to the top for clues. Penelope Trunk brought that into fine relief.
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3 Responses to “We Are (Not) Family”
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As a consultant who’s wandered in and out of lots of organizations in the last forty (gad!) years, here’s an observation. When I visit a company, I listen for the stories people tell and the words they choose to describe the place. Im with Penelope, when the CEO starts talking about “we’re a family,” it’s time for a change. But when people in the ranks talk about “it’s like a family” that’s usually a very good sign.
Ditto to Wally’s comments. At the very least it’s a public admission of organizationally sanctioned paternalism.
Yes, we do tend to glorify the 100 hour per week employee – and for those who do not have a family, this may be the best use of their time.
It strikes me that the behavior you’re describing is representative of a far deeper problem that’s beset a number of our corporations – an outright failure to operate according to the values, principles and moral compass that helped build this great nation. Examples of this systemic problem abound, but one good example can be found the in the recently exposed caper of stock option backdating.
As of March 2007, 155 shareholder derivative lawsuits and 29 securities fraud class actions have been filed relating to allegedly improper stock option grants. An additional 140 companies are also currently under investigation by government agencies for options backdating practices. One can reasonably conclude that in most of those organizations doing “what’s right” was less important that “doing what you can get by with.”
Since Enron and Tyco we’ve been treated to a steady parade of egregious, warped behavior that goes beyond the examples of moral turpitude you’ve highlighted. While those persons engaged in that behavior made a personal, conscious decision to do so, I often wonder how much of it is influenced by a society that’s increasingly losing its moral grounding.
robert edward cenek
http://www.cenekreport.com
Uncommon Commentary on the World of Work
Wally, that’s an excellent distinction between “we’re a family” and “its like a family.” That does make all th difference. I’m working with a client right now that clearly has a family atmosphere, and they say it. The cool part is that they mean what they say — people support each other and get things done. They work hard, and they are able to go home. They are super high performance, and they don’t have that frantic feel that goes along with companies that say they’re “family oriented” but mean something else entirely.
Robert, it is about watching out for warped behavior. It is amazing how far we’ve slid so quickly! I do think there’s ample room for a little morals and ethics grounding again in companies. I know there’s been a lot of training on the ethics topic, but I’m talking about the real deal, and in ethical behavior, not just dialog.