In the dog eat dog world of Western corporate interests, being a nice guy often seems antithetical to success. Our competitive cultural norms create a reality where to be nice is seen as being “soft.”
But what if being nice is more than just the right thing to do? What if ethical leadership actually creates the long-term conditions for success?
For example, take the extremely successful technical manufacturer, Lenovo. You may not have heard of them yet. But you will.
In the past few years Lenovo has become the worlds biggest maker of personal computers. They are leading the sales to the developing economies of China, India, and Southeast Asia. All of this growth has been built on the backs of thousands of workers who have burned the midnight oil to get out record sales and shipments this year.
Their CEO, Mr Yang Yuanging, has decided to do what most American CEOs would find unthinkable. He is gifting most of his three million dollar plus bonus among his workers.
Why should he share his leadership bonus with them? He says,
“I have reason to believe that 60% of our employees are not fully engaged and involved with the meaning behind what they are accomplishing. If they were convinced that their organization was doing the right thing and cares about them, which we do, I believe they could be up to 30% more effective. It only makes sense to take care of the people who are taking care of you. We can make a bigger difference together than all of us could individually.“
In the competition driven economies of the West, we forget that cooperation and collaboration almost always create more synergistic value than dominion and force ever can. People don’t give their best because they feel coerced to; they give their best because they want to. People don’t work for money first. They work for meaningful lives.
Part of a meaningful life is authentically “belonging” to something greater than yourself which you believe in and feel proud to be a part of. By valuing humaneness and commitment to reciprocity we not only make life worth living, we make more profits and thereby improve everybody’s standard of living.
So consider for a moment —
How are you treating your bosses, peers, and employees? Are you engendering reciprocal respect, or competitive one-upmanship?
If humaneness and ethics are of interest to you and your organization, we want to hear from you. Join the discussion or get involved in one of our on-going professional dialogs.
At Technical Leadership Skills, we sponsor individuals and events where technical, science, and engineering professionals choose to explore the development of authentic and powerful leadership skills. Our purpose is to help people grow and make a difference both to their cultures and to the bottom line, while treating individuals with authentic respect and appreciation. Give us a call to find out what new discussions we have scheduled. 512-507-5464.
