Workplace productivity improvement NYC

It’s been one the most-emailed New York Times articles for days, and for good reason: “The Bad Behavior of Visionary Leaders” is an illuminating expose by Tony Schwartz on the managerial practices of some of the most innovative corporate titans of our time. Intrigue and curiosity are no doubt reasons for the article’s popularity, however it also strikes another chord which I suspect is why people have responded so strongly to it: familiarity.

We have long been conditioned to associate the highest echelons of the business world – particularly the colorful personalities highlighted in this article – with glowing superlatives: genius, brilliance, creativity, disruptors. For the first time, however, the curtain has seemingly been pulled back by this article, to reveal an uglier side of the folks at the top, and it’s really not pretty. We see patterns of bullying behavior, rudeness, temper tantrums, public shaming of subordinates, a my-way-or-the-highway attitude. The picture painted here is not of magnanimous altruists who seek to make the world a better place, but rather of callousness, ambition, and the willingness to crush anyone who stands in the way of success.

I suspect that a lot of people read this article, and thought, “wow – that sounds just like my workplace.” As somebody who has run corporate team building activities in NYC for diverse companies over the past 9 years, my unique perspective allows me to confirm firsthand that in many offices, this is indeed the case: negative energy pervades, often flowing down from the very top.

Whether any of these accusations are true is of course debatable, and I don’t wish to point fingers – however, as the owner of a NYC corporate entertainment and team building company, I think it’s important to point out the broader implications of an article such as this. What we are being shown here is that even at the “best” companies with the most deified leaders, employees are still being mistreated. People aren’t being recognized or rewarded for their loyal efforts – to quote the article, for the men depicted here, “employees are simply a means to an end.”

“But that’s true,” one might argue. “Employees ARE a means to an end. We aren’t in business for the benefit of our staff, but rather to make money!” Yes, companies may be extremely successful and profitable regardless, and the end seemingly justifies the means – however, as the piece also points out, isn’t it reasonable to expect people to be even MORE productive (and generate MORE money) if they are in an environment which fosters happiness, rather than fear and intimidation?

To cite the author again, how much more successful could these business titans (and in fact ANY business owner) be, if they invested as much in taking care of their hard-working employees as they did in developing great products & services? In my opinion, the answer is simple: a lot.