by Ron Carucci
Summary: The last few years have wrought a wave of employee activism and public critiques of leaders. Elon Musk’s recent experiences at Twitter may be an extreme case, but the swift public scolding from employees and the world indicates that when it comes to expressing our sharp disapproval, leaders are fair game. If you’re a leader who’s facing down the strident criticism of those you lead (and even if you’re not, you’d be wise to assume your turn may be around the corner), here are some ways to steel yourself and respond well
A few years ago, a client of mine, Dennis,* the CEO of a financial services institution, walked into his executive team meeting and declared, “Anyone else have any darts they want to throw? I seem to be the dartboard of the week.”
The week prior, a lower-level executive in Dennis’s company had been fired for an ethics violation, giving the company’s otherwise upstanding reputation a black eye. Shocked and outraged by what had happened, employees took aim at the top in a spate of social media, email, and internal platform condemnations of Dennis for “letting it happen” or “turning a blind eye.” (Neither of which were true.)
Dennis would hardly be alone in his experience of public scorn from employees. The last few years have wrought a wave of employee activism and public critiques of leaders. Elon Musk’s recent experiences at Twitter may be an extreme case, but the swift public scolding from employees and the world indicates that when it comes to expressing our sharp disapproval, leaders are fair game.
I recently caught up with Dennis, now retired, and asked him about that experience of harsh public reproach, and whether, in hindsight, there was anything he would have done differently. If you’re a leader who’s facing down the strident criticism of those you lead — and even if you’re not, you’d be wise to assume your turn may be around the corner — here are some ways to steel yourself and respond well.
Accept that it’s part of the job.
When you rise to levels of leadership, consider that your actions now play out on the jumbotron for all to see and evaluate. The higher you rise, the broader that visibility.
Sometimes you’ll get things wrong. Given the thousands of decisions you likely make each week, you will inevitably disappoint or enrage someone.
Keep your eye on your longer-term track record of choices, ideally racking up more positive outcomes than negative. Don’t let yourself get stuck on any one choice or the public response to it. If you do, you risk losing confidence and letting excessive caution and ridicule-aversion drive your subsequent decisions, compounding the problem. Continue reading
BY STEPHANIE VOZZA
