The 51% Guy

Extreme Leaders seek extreme feedback because they need it in order to be great. That desire to hear the unpleasant truth brings us to one of the rules for seeking extreme feedback:

Shun the 51% Rule A number of years ago, the General Manager of a distribution center for a multinational company hired me to come to Los Angeles and “teach leadership to those people.” He hadn’t said it that way, exactly, but as it turned out, that was the gist of it. He was infamous at his center for two incidents that epitomized his management approach.

Once, at an “all hands” meeting, he stood up and said, “I want your input and opinions on things around here. I want to know what you think. Just remember: I have fifty one percent of the vote.” The employees were so angry that they were still telling the story ten years later when I showed up. The 51% Rule, as it came to be known, meant, “Talk all you want, but this is my show. If you don’t like it, go home,” and it was—judging by his nickname—his legacy: employees called him “The 51% Guy,” and it was not a term of endearment.

When I first heard that story from some of his employees, I wondered if he’d been misunderstood. Maybe, I had said to them, he was trying to say that he wanted their ideas, and that he’d use that valuable input in making his decisions—which, I added, is a very smart way to run a business. They laughed at me.

Then they told me about incident number two. Around the same time of his little speech, apparently, a few of the employees were in his office “offering their valuable insights into the improvement of the distribution center,” and in the middle of the conversation, the 51% Guy picked up a glass of water from his desk and said, “You see the water level in this glass? Watch what happens when I stick my finger in there. See how the level doesn’t change much when my finger is in the water or out? See that?” He wagged his moist index finger in front of their faces, “This is you.” He said. “Whether you’re here” (dunk) “or not” (wag) “it makes no difference to us.”

I know this isn’t hard science, but when you put the 51% speech together with the finger-dipping analogy, you get pretty clear anecdotal evidence that The Guy was an autocrat at best and more likely a dictator. The leadership training that he’d sponsored was nothing more than a vain attempt to bolster his image.

Bottom line: if you don’t want feedback, don’t ask for it. You’re not fooling anybody by pretending to be magnanimous. If you really have the desire, however, proceed to:

Put Yourself at Risk Forget Superman. Forget Wonder Woman. There is no such thing as an invulnerable man or woman, so you can stop trying to be one at work. By asking for feedback (and meaning it) you automatically put yourself in what can feel like an exposed, underbelly-up-to-the-mad-wolves position. But—and this is counterintuitive—it’s really a very strong position for a leader to be in. We follow human beings, not idealized icons of unattainable perfection, so your vulnerability gives us the opportunity to connect with you human to human, and a strong human connection engenders commitment and loyalty, the elements that every leader longs for in his or her team. Putting yourself at risk when asking for extreme feedback not only gives you the chance to learn from those around you, it deepens the relationships as well.

By Steve Farber, Author of “The Radical Leap”