One Rule to…er… Rule them All
Towards the start of the year, I was asked to give a talk to a group of small business leaders.
I had previously been told by a couple of people who worked in the SME world that the challenge of building a diverse and inclusive culture does not exist in small businesses. To quote one “this is a big company problem”. Now personally, I am not convinced that is 100% true. I accept that the nature of the challenges are different, but fundamentally, I would be absolutely shocked if all decisions in those companies were made free of prejudice. That they were not based on gender, racial, ableist or hetero-normative stereotypes. That everyone has the same access to opportunities and there were no affinity biases are in play. That all voices and ideas were heard and granted equal value.
So, assuming those perfect companies do not exist, I adapted my keynote material to my audience. As I was searching for a summing up slide or quote that could work across any work (or indeed life) context, I resorted back a key work/life lesson that far too many people just seem to want to ignore. For me, it is a key one – the one rule of life (work) that potentially rules all other rules (or at least, it is right up there). So, my final slide, was made of this one sentence.
“Don’t be a dick”
Hopefully, a reasonable guiding principle for everyone in the workplace.
I thought back to this recently when the story of Gregg Wallace’s behaviour emerged to, largely, universal condemnation. The sad thing is that a lot of working environments have a “Gregg”. Someone who believes that because they are deemed to be the “talent”, this gives them licence to behave like an absolute dick. Now most don’t take it to the extremes of Wallace, but their behaviour begins to impact most of the team around them. To the extent where that team become increasingly demotivated, not only by the daily dose of awkwardness, uncomfortable or unpleasant situations, but more importantly by the inaction of senior leadership.
Two of the best conversations I have had this year have been with executive leaders (in one case the CEO of a major investment management company) who have realised that “the talent” can no longer be excused for their behaviour. They may be loved by clients, bring in the most P&L and revenue, have the best numbers, bring in an audience- but at what price? These leaders had realised that they may have to take the short-term hit to their P&L by getting rid of their “toxic superstars”. Two is not enough, but it’s a start and we need to applaud them.
With Wallace, it’s easy to bash the BBC and ask why action was not taken, but this issue is not unique to them. I think leaders in many organisations are turning a blind eye to the dick-ish behaviours of their top performers. It is likely to be extremely expensive to the organisation in ways that are much more difficult to measure than viewing figures – worsening morale, less productivity, reduction in commitment and discretionary effort – because no one likes working with people like this.
Part of the inclusion equation is to challenge this – that is extremely hard for the people on the receiving end of this behaviour. Leadership must take action. It doesn’t have to start with dismissal – guidance, coaching, re-educating are all reasonable approaches – but ultimately, if things don’t change, moving people on is the only alternative. Let’s start with un-dick-ifying those we can, but leaders need to make clear that work results (revenue, clicks, readers – however your measure success) are a combination of what you do and how you do it. And if the how comes at the expense of all your colleagues, the what ceases to matter.
A call to all CEOs, Executives, Corporate and Community Leaders – let’s all remember the one rule to rule them all and be Dickless in 2025.