Mao on Leadership

03/10/2008

Don't shake the tree when the pears fall off themselves.
Slovakian Proverb

Mao is unsurpassed in terms of his prominence and his longevity. Although his reign was in fact marked by unprecedented suffering and economic failures, few leaders are so honored as Mao. The Economist (December 22, 2007; www.economist.com) has analyzed why there is such a wide disparity between his reputation and his actual performance and came up with four guidelines for bad managers looking to survive:

A powerful, mendacious slogan. According to The Economist, Mao was born into a rather well off family and throughout his reign was carried on litters by peasants and placated by everyone. Yet his most famous slogan was "Serve the People." This paradox illustrates one aspect of his nefarious brilliance — his ability to justify his actions, no matter how self-serving, as being done for others. Today, many sub-standard chief executives utilize this same skill to rationalize huge pay packages while employees' salaries are frozen.
Ruthless manipulation of the media. Mao knew just how to make a point but also how to get it out. Through posters, the "Little Red Book," and re-education circles, his message constantly reinforced the greatness of his work. Yet within China economic growth was pathetic and living conditions wretched. The Economist concludes: "The brand-building lesson is that a clear, utopian message, hammered home relentlessly, can obscure inconvenient facts. Great salesmen are born knowing this. Executives whose strategies are not delivering need to learn it."
Sacrifice of friends and colleagues. Mao did not want people too close to him, and therefore to power; so being Mao's friend often proved more dangerous than being his enemy. One purge followed another. The Economist interprets: "This approach makes sense. Close colleagues may want your job, and relationships with them may distract you. Mao's abandonment of friends and even wives and children seemed to be based on a calculation of which investments were worth maintaining and which should be regarded as sunk costs.... Enemies, conversely, can be useful. Mao often blamed battlefield losses on rivals who were made to suffer for these defeats."
Activity substituting for achievement. The Economist observed: "Under Mao, China didn't drift, it careened. The propellant came from the top. Policies were poor, execution dreadful and leadership misdirected, but each initiative seemed to create a centripetal force, as everyone looked to Beijing to see how to march forward (or avoid being trampled). The business equivalent of this is restructuring, the broader the better. Perhaps for the struggling executive, this is the single most important lesson: If you can't do anything right, do a lot. The more you have going on, the longer it will take for its disastrous consequences to become clear."

Now ExchangeEveryDay is not in the habit of promoting bad management practices, but perchance you will see in these guidelines some practices you are engaging in without knowing it, or will see explanations of the behaviors of people leading your organization.

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