How Much Power Do You Have?
Here’s a recent aside from Edward Tufte that got me thinking:
“In an authoritarian institution, such as a corporation, there’s nothing like an order from on high saying, “From now on, we’re not using PowerPoint.” That will do it. People will work out something.”
So if you’re a CEO or somebody senior, what can you get away with?
- Could you successfully ban Powerpoint?
- Could you do the rational thing and switch everybody off PCs and onto Macs (you wouldn’t need half as many collaboration tools and productivity would soar)?
- Could you switch off the corporate mailserver and let anyone use whatever email accounts they wanted to?
- Could you get your managers to think more and talk less?
The thing is, I’m not sure the power of leaders is all that it’s cracked up to be… or implied by Tufte’s statement. Power is generally given, not taken, and infrastructure both soft and hard (=baggage) is often much more powerful than leaders. Who, however feel they have to strut the stuff, so they become very good at making theatre out of decisions they are allowed to make.
In KM we talk a lot about the importance of senior management buy-in and support. But it only goes so far. Figuring out the leverage and affordances in the infrastructure and then massaging and coaxing it patiently through change is much harder but ultimately more useful. The problem is, we haven’t yet figured out to make theatre out of it. And that makes us boring.
2 Comments so far
Patrick,
I’ve heard similar stories from both military and civilians where I work. I would almost dismiss them as urban legends except for personal experience on two occasions. It can work well in a hierarchial organization with a strong follow the leader culture, e.g. military and government organizations. As Graham suggests, an experienced leader of such a culture can make it work.
But it can also be easily overworked or overdone (like a roast left in the oven way too long). A recent example would be Secretary Rumsfeld’s “snowflakes.” In these hierarchical organizations the culture adapts to the leader’s styles; in subtle ways such that the leader is not aware of the new norms. It may take exceptional listening skills on the leader’s part, or the service of a trusted confidant, to provide feedback in these cultures.
regards, tony
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Hi Patrick,
this is a very interesting and insightful post. Despite all the symbolology of the military I’ve always found power is given. Rank gives a default position, which (at least in the ADF) is quickly modified.
I’ve only ever seen one example similar to banning PowerPoint. In the very early 90’s I worked for a General who banned overhead projectors. We were allowed to brief using field notebooks or FREELANCE GRAPHICS. If he walked into a room and an overhead projector was set up he would simply walk out, and require the individual to produce a written brief in AMIPRO. In this way he forced the staff to become efficient with computers, and more importantly he forced everyone to really understand their subject matter by briefing from a notebook.
Regards Graham
Posted on August 09, 2009 at 07:10 AM | Comment permalink