I DON’T MAKE DECISIONS
...n by my inquiring exactly what he did every day. “You’re looking at it. I sleep a lot. Oh yeah, I read the four or five memos I get from the head office every week” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Here was a fifty-year-old, obviously successful, executive, probably earning better than $100,000 a year, telling me he doesn’t do anything. He could tell, however, that I wasn’t buying his story. “If you don’t believe what I’m saying, check with my subordinates,” he told me. He said he had six department managers working for him. I asked him to choose one I could talk with. “No, I can’t do that. First, I don’t make decisions. Second, when the one I chose confirmed what I’ve been telling you, you’d think it was a setup. Here—these are the names and numbers of my department managers. You call them.” I did just that. I picked Peter Chandler, who headed up quality control. I dialed his number. He answered on the first ring. VI told him that I wanted to talk to him about .. k...1 his boss’s leadership style He said “Come on over I’ve got nothing to do anyway” L ‘, ‘ .:;:: When I arrived at Pete’s office, he was stiring the window. We sat down and he began to laugh. “I’ll bet Ted’s been telling you about how he doesfl’t make. decisions.” I concurred. ‘It’s all true,” he injected ‘I’ve”’ been here for almost three years and I’ve never seen hirn. make a decision” ‘ I couldn’t figure out how this could be. “How many: people do you have working here?” I asked ,‘*.“ .-. V Peter “About 200” Author: “How does this plant’s operating efficiency stack up against the others?” Peter: “Oh, we’re number one out of the eighteen refineries. Been that way for years and years. Interesting thing is that this is the oldest refinery in the company, too. Our equipment may be outdated, but we’re as efficient as they come.” Author: “What does Ted Kelly do?” Peter: “Beats me. He attends the staff meetings on Monday afternoons from I to 3, but other than that, I don’t know.” — V V• —. Author: ‘1 get it. He makes all the decisions at that once-a-week staff meeting?” Peter: “No. Each department head tells what key decisions he made last week We then critique each other. Ted says nothing. The only thing he does at those meetings is listen and pass on any happenings up at headquarters.” L wanted to learn more, so I went back to Ted’s office. I found him clipping his fingernails. “I told you I was telling the truth,” was the first thing he said. What followed was a long conversation in which I learned the following facts: The two-hour weekly staff meeting is presided over by one of the department heads. They choose among themselves who will be their leader. It’s a permanent position. Any problem that has come up during the week, if it can’t be handled by a manager, will first be considered by several of the managers together. Only if the problem is still unresolved will it be taken to the leader. All issues are resolved at that l...