"It's the way a company does things, right?" Alex ventured.
"Yes, exactly that. The definition in the big book of organizational behavior is three paragraphs long, but, in essence, it's the way a company does things. Let's apply this to practical examples. The anonymous note's author stayed anonymous because of the culture — he or she was afraid of consequences, which means the company does things this way: when presented with a whistleblower, of sorts, the company causes that person harm in one way or another. Well, what's that telling you about the company?"
"I see," Alex said, "but I don't see Dr. Barnaby being at fault at all in this."
"We've already established that," Steve continued, "but he might be too isolated in his ivory tower."
"Ivory tower?" Richard asked.
"Gotcha!" Steve turned and fired an imaginary gun in Richard's direction. "Mr. Wall Street here hasn't heard of this biblical term, depicting the intellectual who lets himself become disconnected from the real world."
"I see," Alex said again, "so he's essentially not seeing what's going on around him, that's what you're saying?"
"Yes, that's exactly right. All he sees when he's walking those hallways are smiling faces. No one has the guts to approach him with anything, and everything that goes wrong in that company stays behind closed doors, where he does not reach."
"How badly do you think the culture can be damaging things?" Alex asked.
"A company's dysfunctional culture can drive the company into the ground in some cases. We've all seen examples in recent years, a few resounding bankruptcies come to mind, famous for how executives refused to hear the truth from their teams."
"That's exactly what I've seen happening here," Alex said. "But what can we do?"
"Culture is generated, influenced, or enforced by a few people. Culture is just a process, so it can be re-engineered, analyzed, taken apart, and put back together again, or simply replaced with a newer, better one. The key to addressing cultural issues at this level is to identify the drivers of the bad culture and remove them. Just like you would do with the proverbial rotten apple."
"Who are these drivers?" Alex asked.
"They are the people driving the bad culture. The abusers, the deaf ears, the insulters, and the tyrants who promote the climate of fear, the corporate bullies, in one word the toxic leaders."
"Toxic leaders?" Alex asked again for more details, grateful for all the information she was getting.
"A toxic leader is not your typical hard-assed boss. Toxic leaders are much more than that. To qualify, they have to inflict harm on the members of their team, or even on the entire organization. They do this harm with the sole purpose of promoting their interests. They would not hesitate to insult, humiliate in public, threaten with consequences or with physical violence, even violate basic human rights. They would purposely undermine and demoralize team members, as they work their way to dismantle all the mechanisms that organizations have in place to ensure their existence does not occur.
"They are clearly sociopaths, displaying no conscience and no remorse, leaving hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of broken hearts and destroyed careers in their wake. All that, while doing their best and using all their charisma to persuade their leaders that they are the best thing that could have happened to business since the invention of electricity, and that they are, first and foremost, irreplaceable. "
"Sociopaths? Really?" Alex pushed back, surprised.
"Remember your first week's readings?" Steve continued, unabated. "Sociopaths are quite numerous, at least 4 percent of the population. They don't all turn homicidal; unfortunately, some of them just turn to business leadership. I've read somewhere that there is a strong correlation between sociopathic traits and business leadership achievement. Sad, isn't it?"
"Yes, very sad," Alex said.
"Back to our 4 percent of sociopaths at large. How many employees does NanoLance have?"
"Almost 950," Alex replied.
"Let's say 1,000. Shrinks aren't that great with numbers, you know," Steve said, smiling. "So, what's 4 percent of 1,000?"
"Forty," Alex replied, eyes wide in surprise.
"Correct. Chances are there are forty sociopaths among the ranks of NanoLance staff. Because of the earlier mentioned correlation, they are more likely to be found among management, than in any other job category within the organization."
"Wow," Alex said, "I never thought of that."
"There might be more, there might be less, this isn't an exact science. But it seems to me you have already identified at least four or five."
"I thought I only had two, Sheppard and Walker. Who are the others?"
"The enablers. I am biased this way, you see. Although this might well be a defense mechanism, I still think that at least a part of them has to agree with the bully's attitude."
"How come? Why do you think that?" Alex asked.
"Give me an example of an enabler you have seen supporting one of the abusers."
"Um… Robin Maxwell, from human resources," Alex replied.
"Excellent example. The role of an HR leader is to ensure that abuse does not happen. If she sits in meetings, such as the one you described, and nods her head in approval, she not only enables the aggressor, but also doesn't do her job, and she is well aware of it. Does she show remorse or empathy? Does she seem rattled and upset after the meetings? No? Then that's a good candidate for the count of sociopaths. She has no conscience." Steve ended his demonstration by putting his cigar out.
"But you said it's a defense mechanism," Alex continued to probe, sounding confused.
"It is. But let me ask you this: Would you have enabled this individual by nodding your head in approval, while he stepped all over the fellow from manufacturing?"
"No, definitely not."
"You already told me what you would have done," Steve added, "you said, and I quote, 'I would have run away screaming,' right?"
Alex nodded silently.
"They do have options, these enablers; they could always quit their jobs, if their consciences were present to dictate that. They are not hostages, you know, at least not all of them."
"Some of them are?"
"Yes, those limited in their options by lack of financial stability or by lack of a good background. Maybe they declared bankruptcy in the past couple of years, and no one would hire them as leaders of anything with that showing on their records. Maybe they were caught driving under the influence, and now they have a criminal record. Those are true hostages, and if they have consciences and are forced to work for sociopaths, such as Walker, I pity them."
"So, we do have a plan for tomorrow, right?" Tom asked, standing up. "Let's meet with the client in the morning. I'll set it up and communicate with you."
…38
Storming through the office-building door at The Agency, Alex was hoping she'd find a freshly brewed pot of coffee upstairs. The phone call that woke her at five in the morning was to let her know the client was coming in early. That wasn't entirely bad, despite the few hours of sleep she had managed. If the client meeting didn't last long, she could still hope to make it to the office before 8:30AM or so.
"Good morning, everyone," she said cheerfully, as she entered the conference room. Dr. Barnaby had already arrived. He looked a little bit better than he had at their last encounter.
"Let's proceed." Tom said, "Alex, feel free to get some coffee from over there." He pointed in the direction of the service table next to the wall.