Something happened the other day that really bothered me. At first it made me extremely angry, so I let it stew for a couple of days, simmering in my mind. This gave me some time to absorb the lesson before just coming out and writing an angry post. So here goes…
I work for an exceptional company, Algonquin Studios. Every day is full of lessons on leadership and what being a real leader means. My CEO is a man to look up to, to view as a mentor. And the other people around him are also to be looked up to. So when I see people in the business community doing very crappy things, I take notice. They become my anti-mentors.
The other day my wife had to go to a funeral for a co-worker, an unfortunate victim of cancer. It has been an extremely rough time for this persons friends and family.
Now here’s where I get mad. The direct supervisor of the person who passed away and the CEO of my wifes organization could not be bothered to show up to the funeral. The supervisor even gave a lame excuse that she does not believe in stepping into any church other than a Catholic one. Ridiculous. Unacceptable. Shame on you. I don’t care what your belief system, you should show compassion for people in pain. You should be there for them. Anything less is pitiful.
And people within the organization who know damn well this is wrong, refuse to call them out on it.
Real leaders are there for their people when they need them. They don’t even think twice about reaching out to help.
How do organizations like this, that clearly have a lack of leadership, continue to survive? These people run in the same circles as some real leaders in Buffalo. Why aren’t those leaders of business calling them out on the carpet for their indiscretions? And mentoring them on why they need to care about their people.
It is a shame that some people just don’t understand how to run a winning organization; that they don’t understand having a core set of values, and holding everyone in the organization to them, is essential to create a vibrate, thriving community around you.
And this issue I have highlighted here is just one of many such examples in my wife’s company. And it’s always the same few people at the top. These anti-mentors are creating tremendous lessons for those paying attention and being critical of them. Because of this I have strongly recommended to my wife that she find a new job, and to be very critical when asking questions in interviews
Leadership matters; caring about your people matters. Are you a leader? Or are you my anti-mentor?