Winston Churchill once said, “Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.” Though, Churchill was speaking of dictators of countries, the same statement can be applied to leaders of companies. Anyone in a leadership position who acts like a dictator – keeping their employees in fear – soon finds that once they start down that path of “fear” that the tiger will turn and eat them.
Leadership by fear rarely works in the long term. It may work in the short term, but eventually, the employees who feel they are being mistreated will begin to act out. While the bottom line may improve, employee morale sinks and key employees leave. Once employee morale sinks and employees leave, productivity and performance is soon to follow and then, ultimately, customer service. Eventually, the loss of morale, performance and service will affect the bottom line and the fearful leader, who has become the despised leader, is eaten by the “tiger” that he created.
Leadership is not about pushing. It’s about pulling. By that I mean, an effective leader helps employees draw forth their skills and talents, as well as find new ones, and use them to not only improve the bottom line, but also themselves as people. This can never happen from leading by fear.
Fear makes employees recoil. It freezes them and stymies their productivity and performance. As mentioned, key employees will decide to leave and what is left are employees who acquiesce to the dictator and blandly follow the dictator, secretly waiting for the dictator to fall off the tiger.
The leader may subconsciously think, “They will do as I say. They are all afraid of me and losing their jobs.” True, the “left over” employees may be afraid of losing their jobs – after all, they have bills to pay; however, the reality is that the employees hate the leader. This feeling of hatred must be transferred to their jobs and, ultimately, to the customer. Eventually, this affects the bottom line and knocks the leader off his tiger.
True again, the leader may not care, because he/she will get a nice severance package. However, if you understand the psychology of executives, money is just a way of keeping score. The true test of a leader is whether or not they are still leading. If they just got a nice package and then are dismissed from the “club,” they are not leading, they are not leaders – and that hurts.
It was known that Churchill treated his staff, as well as others who worked with him, with respect and loyalty. In the book, “Action This Day: Working with Churchill,” by John Wheeler-Bennett, and subsequently quoted in “Churchill on Leadership” by Steven Hayward, are recollections from one of Churchill’s private secretaries, Sir Leslie Rowan who stated, “Churchill never let down his staff.” Additionally, wartime aide Lord Bridges wrote, “I cannot recollect a single Minister, serving officer or civil servant who was removed from office because he stood up to Churchill and told Churchill that his policy or proposals were wrong.”Haywardgoes even further stating that “Churchill never overruled the service chiefs of staff, even when he strenuously disagreed with their decisions.”
Maybe that is why Churchill was – and still is – regarded as a great leader. People didn’t follow him because they were afraid of him; they did so because they respected him. Instead of riding a tiger, Churchill knew that it was far better to walk freely amongst those with whom he worked – asking for ideas and treating people with respect and loyalty. And even though, politically speaking, Churchill had his “ups and downs,” he never lost the respect of the British people or of the world. He never had to worry about falling off the tiger.
Recognized as a funny motivational speaker who actually has something to say, Bob Garner combines his skills as a corporate entertainer and an empowering speaker who talks on performance and productivity at the meetings and conferences of Fortune 1000 corporations, worldwide.
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