I think some of the employees I’ve managed thought I was an idiot. Maybe I was the right kind of idiot suggested in this article that I read.

Jerry Useem in a June 2015 Atlantic article, “Why It’s Worth Being an Idiot” gives credence to the old saw that good guys finish last. It gives us the results of several studies in which the idiot somehow wins. It points to the success of two of my favorite idiots, Steve Jobs and George Patton. It leaves out two other famous idiots, Lee Iacocca and Jack ‘Neutron’ Welch. Iacocca said in his book that he confronted the engineer who told him it took time to design a convertible with the comment, “Take a sedan and cut the top.” Jack Welch is reported to have cut General Electric’s payroll by 100,000 employees. The list of famous idiots is long and I could mention more. The article points out that being an idiot is okay if it benefits the group; not so, if the idiot is in it for his own benefit. I think I know what you mean. I was an idiot for the group.

So what kind of idiot was I as a front-line manager? I had high standards for myself and for the employees. When we didn’t meet the standards, I addressed the issues. This could turn me into an idiot. Especially if the same employee repeatedly created the same problem.

I bet they considered me an idiot when I took over an operation and made the corrections. These fixes were quickly addressed. In fact, one employee told me at her third annual performance review after I arrived at her office, “Jim, when you arrived, we didn’t know how to get you. We called your last office and they said give it time, you’ll understand.” “I took this as a supplement. The employees knew that my actions were not for my benefit, they were for the benefit of our group and the company.

Sometimes I had to push a person off the diving board, this may seem like an idiot. He had a new dispatcher at the storm center. She was well trained, but had never worked in a major storm. I came to see how you were. She was in a panic. She said, “I can’t do this; I need help.” I said, “Yes, you can.” She said, “No, I can’t; you don’t love me.” I replied, “Yes, that is why you are going to stay here and work in this area.” I’m sure he thought I was an idiot. I should have saved her. I did not do it. She calmed down and from then on she did a great job.

Sometimes he was a silent idiot. I just took action and didn’t tell the employees anything. In an office that I managed, I got a call from a couple of linemen who worked for me. They said they couldn’t find the cut in an electrical circuit that fed the Washington Camp. It was a long rural power line. I knew him well. They asked me to come help them find the problem. Both linemen were new to my office. This for me was a test of what I would do. He knew that the line had to break where it passed through the woods. When I passed them, they were leaning against the hood of their truck waiting for me. I drove to the place where I thought the line was down. There the line was on the ground. I radioed them and said, “The line is behind the old school bus.” I passed them on my way back to the office. It took me less than five minutes to find the downed cable. I never mentioned this to them nor did they mention it to me. I knew they were throwing me away. Maybe they thought he was an idiot, a silent idiot. Never again did I get a call from them saying they couldn’t find the cable.

Be careful of being an idiot outside of your workgroup. My wake-up call came one day when I was discussing a measurement problem with our division measurement superintendent. He said, “Jim, why are you so hard to get along?” Wow, this got to me. Did you think he was an idiot? No matter why I thought this, I had to do some repair work. If I thought this, what should other company employees outside of my work group think of me? I instantly realized that I was not creating goodwill for myself or my work group. I changed. Being an idiot gives you a reputation outside of your work group that cannot be good for you. You can get away with some idiotic actions in your workgroup, you work with them every day. But being an idiot won’t work with other people outside of your work group. They don’t know you or your intentions. They just think it is difficult to work with you, “an idiot”.

This is my point; never be an idiot unless it has a meaning beyond yourself. Be an idiot for the betterment of your group. Employees can, as a group, talk about you like an idiot; but most will know individually that he had to be an idiot for them to accomplish their mission. So if you’re an idiot, be one for the right reasons; no, because he believes he has the right to be. That makes you an unbearable idiot.

Frontline management is hard work and employees will sometimes think you are an idiot. If you want to remove yourself from the permanent jerk category, here are a couple of special comments that will do just that, “Thank you” and “I appreciate your efforts.”

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