Memo to the CEO: are you the source of workplace dysfunction? (2017)

“The risks of turning insensitive and unkind to others increase as you become more senior.”

Sutton, R. Professor of Management science at Stanford Engineering School
McKinsey Quarterly, September 2017.
Artwork: Pixabay

“…A Google Scholar search on abusive supervision from 2008 to 2016 returns 5,670 scholarly articles and books; rudeness generates 16,300 citations—and bullying a whopping 139,000.”

“…Where email, texting, and social media replace face-to-face conversation and the compassion triggered by eye contact, too many jerks [now] feel unfettered by empathy, guilt, and old-fashioned civility. ”

“…Experiments show that encounters with rude, insulting, and demeaning people undermine others’ performance, including their decision-making skills, productivity, creativity, and willingness to work harder and help coworkers.”

“For leaders, there’s a more personal dimension that should be in play, as well: the recognition that we’re all capable, for a variety of reasons (exhibit), of being part of the problem.”

“The risks of turning insensitive and unkind to others increase as you become more senior. Much research shows that being and feeling powerful provokes people to focus more on their own needs and wants, and to become oblivious to others’ needs and feelings.”

“Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman believes the curse of overconfidence is the most destructive of human biases. We are prone to developing distorted and overly positive self-images—and to deny, disregard, or never notice negative information about ourselves.”

“The bigger the gap between how we see ourselves and how others see us, the worse our relationships tend to get…”

The article can be read in full here: Memo to the CEO: are you the source of workplace dysfunction?