Managing Failure

A little while back, I spend a weekend working with two different mismanaged affairs: a training program and a computerized library system. Both organizations were cursed with the fatal flaw in the American workplace: gutless management.

From the top down, both organizations were blessed with a pretty decent workforce and management that had no clue how to manage or do any of the jobs in the business. A distinct lack of courage seemed to be integral to the management “style.” That manifested itself in an inability to “Say what you mean and mean what you say.” If all ultimatums will be moderated in real time, there is little point in listening to the original statements.