Leadership common sense is the theme today. I’m going to tell the stories of two companies. The leaders in one company used their common sense. The leaders of the other company didn’t. The common sense leaders – Toyota. The non common sense leaders – Radio Shack.
Leadership Common Sense
The August 25 issue of The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article on the front page: Toyota May Delay New Models To Address Rising Quality Issues.
“Toyota Motor Corp., jarred by a surge of recalls and quality problems, is considering tapping the brakes on its ambitious growth plans, delaying introductions of some new models by as much as half a year… (Toyota’s) faced paced expansion has come with a cost: an increasing number of quality problems in North America, Japan and elsewhere that threaten to dent its quality image.”
Now, there’s some leadership common sense in action!
Leaders at Toyota listened to their common sense that told them they should take care of the quality problems with their current vehicles prior to releasing a whole new set of cars. Toyota leaders know that common sense says that if you’ve built your reputation on quality, make sure that you keep your quality high.
Yet, it would be easy for Toyota leaders to ignore common sense in this case. Toyota is very close to overtaking GM as the world’s number 1 automaker – quite a feat for the company and its leaders. New models and fast expansion are fueling their growth. Why should Toyota leaders slow down the introduction of new vehicles when they are just about to overtake GM?
Common sense is why!
The WSJ article went on to say “company leaders are considering adding as much as three to six months to projects that normally have two to three years of development time, in order to stem the growing tide of quality problems”.
Right on Toyota leaders…get your house in order, don’t do anything to tarnish your reputation as a provider of quality automobiles.
No Common Sense Leadership
Radio Shack Leaders took another tack. An Associated Press article in the Denver Post the other day entitled Workers Go From In Box to Deleted caught my eye. The article began:
- "RadioShack Corp. notified about 400 workers by e mail that they were being dismissed immediately as part of planned job cuts. Employees at the Fort Worth headquarters got messages Tuesday morning saying 'The work force reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately, your position is one that has been eliminated'”.
The article went on to say:
- "Company officials had told employees in a series of meetings that layoff notices would be delivered electronically. Employees were invited to ask questions before Tuesday’s notification on a company intranet site."
Can you believe this??!!??
Listen up, Radio Shack leaders -- common sense, not to mention human dignity, says that leaders should meet face to face with an individual who has lost his or her job. Leaders should hold these one on one meetings to explain the reasons for the downsizing, and explain why this particular person’s job has been eliminated. Leadership common sense says you provide people with the opportunity to ask questions – of a real person in a real leadership role, not on the company intranet.
Leaders, I’m all for efficiency, but informing 400 people that they have lost their jobs via e mail is not efficient, it’s just mean. I don’t know how many people are left at the RadioShack headquarters, but I can guess what morale is like. I’ve been involved with large layoffs that have been handled with compassion, and still have resulted in a downturn in morale. I can’t imagine what it’s like when leaders treat people like email accounts to be deleted, not as human beings.
The leaders at RadioShack have given us a classic example of Will Rogers’ point, “common sense ain’t all that common”.
Leaders at Toyota have given us a real world example of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s famous quote, “nothing surprises men as much as common sense and plain dealing.”
Toyota leaders get a big common sense thumbs up. Radio Shack leaders get an even bigger common sense thumbs down.
That’s it for today. Please log on to my other blog www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming a leader and the star you are meant to be.
I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.
Bud
PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open. Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.
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