Once upon a time, an evil genius ruled the newspaper. How do I know? Because I worked for him. Longer than I should have.
He was possibly the smartest newspaper publisher I ever met, my present publisher excepted.
He was a controller. The classic Zvengali, the dictatorial ballet master who manipulated and controlled his dancers and their lives.
My Zvengali had to make every decision. Come up with every great idea.
He did not suggest what you should do. He commanded it.
And, he kept a list of his commands and asked you an hour later how you were doing on that project that would take four people a month to complete.
The walls of his office shouted what a great man he was. He had photos of himself shaking hands with U.S. Presidents, influential members of Congress, captains of industry. Framed newspaper and magazine articles about his exploits hung in the entry foyer where his assistant typed up his correspondence. There, his visitors could read about the great man while they waited a half hour for the appointment they arrived for five minutes early.
I should have known what kind of executive he was when a friend arranged an interview. I traveled, at my own expense I might add, to his city and waited three hours to meet with him. Fortunately, I had taken along The Killer Angels and was engrossed in the Battle of Gettysburg most of the three hours.
It was a test of my patience and his ability to control another human being's time.
His assistant assured me he did this all the time. Not only that, he ordered her around like a top sergeant and constantly abused her good nature. As he did most of us.
Later, as I was waiting to go in and tell Zvengali I had accepted a better position at another newspaper, I asked his assistant why she continued to work for this man who so abused her.
"Look," she said, "I'm a single mother with three kids. He pays well. I need the job."
Here are two other management models you may be familiar with, may have endured, may even practice yourself, although I hope not.
1. The Mushroom Model. We're all familiar with this one. They keep you in the dark and feed you you-know-what. This kind of supervisor is (a) either too insecure to let you know what's going on or (b) like Zvengali, he knows that control of information in any organization is power. He likes to surprise you and keep you off balance.
I worked for one of these once. He had the entire staff confused. One day he wanted "x". The next he wanted "y". A third day he wanted "z". The staff couldn't figure out what he wanted. I finally gave up trying to translate for him, protect them from him and found another job.
2. The Seagull Model. If you work for a corporation, and more and more newspaper people do in these days of chain ownership, you are already familiar with these types. They fly in from some distant corporate headquarters, squawk at you, crap all over your people, then fly out.
A decent man I once worked for at a family-owned newspaper figured out that, unless he married the boss's daughter, he wasn't going any higher there. He left for a corporate-owned newspaper chain. The rest of the story is sad.
Some years later, I asked the publisher of one of his chain's newspapers about him.
"Oh, you mean the seagull?" he said. "The less we see of him the better."
Why did a decent executive become a Seagull Manager? I suspect it had a lot to do with the financial, mental and emotional manipulation which goes on in some newspaper chains.
Thirty or more years ago, the Theory X-Theory Y Models were widely discussed and practiced in newspaper management.
The Theory X manager was a tyrant, fixed solely on achieving the mission and uncaring about who he bent, kicked or fired to do it. This was the classic manager who hastened the growth of the American union movement.
When I worked for a corporate newspaper in Philadelphia, I felt for our labor department. They had to negotiate with 14 labor unions. The family-owned competing newspaper had only four.
Management schools in the 1960s and 1970s preached the Theory Y Model.
This was the understanding boss who listened before he jumped, one who practiced a consultative management style, listening to his troops and drawing from them not only their own creative solutions but their commitment to the mission, buying in to the best solutions and making them work.
Theory Y was a more nurturing, female model. And it helped open the way for more women to break through glass newspaper ceilings and enter top management.
Following a Leadership Model is best, where you will find executives who guide their people, nurture and develop them, allow them to help set the mission, pick those qualified to do the job and get out of their way so they can complete the assignment.
Bill Catlette, co-author of an inspiring leadership book, Contented Cows Give Better Milk, says most people don't need better supervision. They could perform better with less supervision.
They need disciplined, determined, capable leaders—leaders with a sense of direction and big 5 cell flashlights to light the path.
Bill writes, These are leaders who:
1. Set and stick with high standards.
2. Don't need a 360-degree performance review to tell you the truth about your performance.
3. Move heaven and earth to give you the tools, training, and trust to do quality work.
4. Are willing to walk through fire for because you know they care about you—not because they've told you so, but because they've shown you so.
Bill recommends three principles every leader can adopt to improve performance.
1. You get what you expect.
If you want great leadership, you must expect it, measure it and reward it, period. Managers who get results through other means—squeezing, stifling, etc.—just don't 'get it.' They need to be encouraged to seek work elsewhere—with a competitor.
2. Upgrade the gene pool.
Working for a leader requires a different skill set than working for a boss. If you're going to make a big deal out of leadership, make sure you're hiring folks who can step up, think for themselves, take responsibility for their actions, and play team ball. Otherwise, the benefits of your improved leadership habits will be vastly diluted.
3. Leave the lights on.
Consider your first line supervisors, the folks who have the toughest jobs. Instead of trying to work your way out of an earnings slump by canceling training and dumbing down your newspaper, leave the lights on and give them a fighting chance to become the leaders you thought they could be when you hired them.
If you're interested in Bill and co-author Richard Hadden's book, Contented Cows Give Better Milk, check their website, http://www.ContentedCows.com. You can also sign up for their free e-letter.
Are you a supervisor, boss, leader - or just another jerk?
©2003, The Bellune Company, Inc.
