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You are quite right that much of human nature has remained unchanged. What has changed is how we appeal to and harness those tendencies.

At the core, a person wants to be appreciated, valued, validated, and loved. These notions are so old fashioned as to be laughable.

There is no necessity to adopt some faddish, pop, faux management technique, if you can relate on an honest and real basis. Many cannot. They don’t have the common touch.

I would even suggest that such a leadership style has become so rare, that its effectiveness is heightened by its rarity.

BRC
http://www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com

That may be true but my intention was not to create any theses for validation. It is just one person’s perspective based on his experiences with people in different companies and cultures. I am no expert in social sciences or for that matter anything.

But I do believe that the essence of human nature has not changed since ancient times. Being more aware of how the mind works can help people be more empathetic, which in turn makes them more open to be vulnerable, that in turn makes possible the pursuit of truth without beung tainted by the ego.

Your article at your URL is awash in social science hypotheses, some of which, with quite a lot of work, should be testable.

Maybe some B-school profs, say, in organizational behavior, would want to do some of the tests.

E.g., my wife’s Ph.D. dissertation was on the hypothesis that people higher in organizations are more cautious in their decision making.

All the issues you allude to are very real and I have seen the BS unfold again and again. They seem to occur because most corporate cultures have a certain ambivalence towards truth and incentivize individuals to optimize for the self vs. the customer or the company.

CEOs and leaders need to be more aware and consciously cultivate a culture of truth.
I wrote more here. https://meta-edge.com/the-culture-of-truth-b1173db153a2#.e8k7wgytr

Happier Subordinates

The part

“Do you know what is required of you? What can I do to make it more certain that you will produce what we need? How can I help you?”

in just a few words gives a major faction of what the subordinate employees commonly don’t have but very much want and need to have.

The Mushroom Technique

But there is also the mushroom technique of management,

Keep the subordinates in the dark and feed them BS.

This technique also is part of middle management goal subordination, that is, helping themselves while hurting the organization.

Some Traditional Issues

Such walking around would seem to raise other issues:

(1) Respect.

Commonly higher level management wants to throttle any direct communications with subordinates two or more levels lower in the organization chart with the throttling stronger at more levels.

The throttled communications can enhance fear of the manager and respect of the manager and avoid familiarity that might breed contempt.

(2) Chain of Command.

Any communications directly between two people not close in the organization chart can be regarded as lack of respect for the chain of command.

Some people get really upset about that.

A Old Idea

From some Avis rental car experience, there is the now old

Robert Townsend, Up the Organization: How to Stop the Corporation from Stifling People and Strangling Profits.

where it appears that the author is saying, do talk to the worker bees but, when find something badly wrong, fix it through the chain of command.

For Me

In my startup, at least while it is small and before I learn better, I’d talk to the worker bees in an instant, e.g., maybe stay late and help them pull cables in the server farm, order pizza for everyone, and have the conversations.

Understanding the Chain of Command

But I have to suspect that the US military and most large organizations want very much to respect the chain of command.

So, how do organizations with high respect for the chain of command handle one on one communications between two people wildly separated in the organization?

Thanks!

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For you and only you.

http://themusingsofthebigredcar.com/not-my-circus-not-my-monkeys-advice-for-ceos/

Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys!

BRC
http://www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com

Love your quote “Not my circus, not my monkeys.” Perfect. I’m totally stealing that.

“Anyone can become a good CEO and some can become great CEOs. All you have to do is THE WORK.”

Do you believe?

http://themusingsofthebigredcar.com/5114-2/

BRC
http://www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com