Management Leverage Blog

When I ran track in middle school we practiced – as many track teams do – by running down the road. But unlike most, our overweight coach would chase us from behind in his pickup truck, which had an electric cattle prod mounted to the front bumper.

Sure, we ran faster, but not to lead the pack. Instead we would often veer into the sanctuary of someone’s yard. Coach could yell and scream, but he would never jump the curb and drive across somebody’s lawn to catch us. If he did, he might risk spilling the contents of his spittoon.

The man was a donkey herder

He believed that the human donkey needs a stick across the backside to create motivation. Like most donkey herders, he believed carrots to be necessary, but not sufficient.

The stick plays a prominent role in the history of leadership. And for good reason. Penalties and punishments can be extremely effective in times of crisis, or when trying to make people do dull and repetitive tasks, such as assembly line manufacturing.

But, generally, the stick is overused. It should be viewed as the outmoded artifact that it is. In today’s world it is often worthless and self-defeating as a leadership device.

Unlike previous generations, people nowadays:

1)    Are more suspicious of authority, especially when it wields a stick.

2)    Tend to leave jobs when they are unhappy with fear-mongering bosses.

3)    Have more power via access to outside knowledge and solidarity networks.

4)    Often work less hierarchical matrix organizations. A stick is useless without authority.

But Can’t A Stick Be Effective Sometimes?

Rarely. Frederick the Great is credited with saying, “Soldiers should fear their officers more than all the dangers to which they are exposed…. Good will can never induce the common soldier to stand up to such dangers; he will only do so through fear.”

He was probably right. But as much as Type-A last-century style CEOs enjoy making dramatic comparisons between business and war, their metaphors and analogies are rather contrived. Don’t confuse the caliber of emotion necessary to encourage soldiers to run toward live fire on the battlefield to the fear of corporate downsizing or a loss of market share.

Modern corporations need innovative and talented knowledge workers who design, create, evaluate, analyze, and freely share their ideas. All of which require employees who are willing to make themselves vulnerable, because they know their leaders truly care about their well being. A stick will only scare them into the protection of the nearest yard.

Photo credit: rofanator