“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.”
~John F. Kennedy
Not long ago, during a business coaching session at VIM Executive Coaching, we found ourselves into a conversation about workplace myths. The item that prompted the discussion was an executive whose company got into hot water when an ethics probe revealed (in mob-type parlance) that key members of the international manufacturing and procurement force were allegedly “on the take.” There were a few alleged back-stories of bribes and kick-backs occurring over a period of several years.
The vice president whose duty it was to supervise the day-to-day operations claimed to not know anything and that, in fact, his philosophy was to give sales people free-rein within their markets (“I know nothing, I see nothing.”) His philosophy allegedly paid dividends in terms of success and employee retention. It was no wonder, country-to-country, the hands-off approach made several in-country supervisors relatively wealthy.
Watched Pots
The laws of physics are not suspended when a watched pot reaches boiling temperature; the term “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” has been proven wrong time and time again; “too many cooks spoiling the broth,” can also be disproven if the head chef has lost their sense of taste, and so forth, for all myths.
A mindful and authentic scientist is locked-in to monitoring boiling cauldrons. An engineering staff (or at least a whistle-blower on staff) might have cautioned the builders of the Titanic of a potential situation, or a dangerous structural problem of a bridge or building. Clearly, recent ethical problems have occurred at financial intuitions, car manufacturers, banks and food companies where “minor cooks” were intentionally overridden by executives who had no compunction against committing a wide-range fraud.
The point here, is that authentic and mindful leaders are involved. Leaders who have a laissez-faire attitude toward unethical subordinates, who “greenlight” atrocious decisions or who are downright unprincipled, believe in the myth that if they don’t concern themselves with situations, they won’t happen.
Mindfulness is Returning
Unmindful companies have clearly paid the price for their lack of transparency and ethics, ranging in lawsuits from sexual harassment to water and air pollution to dangerous safety returns.
In the classic book, “Mindfulness in Organizations,” authors Karelaila and Reb stated:
“With perhaps a few exceptions per day, we are seldom fully aware of our thoughts, actions, emotions, and what is happening around us. Even when it comes to making decisions, an activity that is often quite conscious, deliberate, and intentional, people are typically not as aware as they could be.”
They contended the lack of personal mindfulness within the corporation leads to the same outcomes as the corporation as a whole can exhibit.
Corporations, indeed all sorts of organizations, are realizing that a return to mindfulness is perhaps the most important journey the business entity can take. As an executive leader, to do nothing, is to allow situations to spin out of control. When we talked about lawsuits hovering over organizations above, we could easily see that none of the situations would have occurred had the executives been mindful.
Sexual harassment, discrimination, pollution, bribery, safety issues and other serious matters did not happen in a vacuum. They were all the result of executives who should have been mindful, doing nothing. Hopefully, the world has moved beyond perpetuating the myth of non-involvement as the best way to run departments and companies.
As 2024 turns to 2025, “to do nothing,” to perpetuate a lack of connection rather than mindfulness is no longer a feasible executive leadership option. It is, instead, another outdated myth.