GreatRidge Station

This is one of my famous “grouse columns,” so be forewarned.

For years, I’ve worked with printing companies. For years, they have run into the same problems. I’m thinking that somewhere along the way, someone would have come up with a foolproof method for sending print jobs to print service providers so they can open the files and use them.

The best printer I ever worked with was Cornerstone Copy Center (don’t let the name fool you, they are a real print shop) in Burnsville, MN. They are the only printer that seemed to understand that I live and work in the real world.

The printer I worked with most recently (and who shall remain nameless) told me that they need to be able to open files in Quark. I’ve used Quark, and yes, it is a great program with incredible flexibility. I can also tell you that it is nigh-on to useless in the real world, and I cannot afford it, nor do I want to use it. Their inability to figure out how to open a simple PDF file has cost me too much–last time, it was a week-and-a-half, this time, just four days. Eventually, they figure out how to open my file, but they have managed to miss two significant deadlines.
Frankly, I’m sick of it. Twenty years of dealing with print frustrations is just about enough. And then some.

My sister has said to me on many occasions, “Somehow, I got your kids.” She just thinks her two daughters, delightful as they are, are more like me than they are like her. I don’t always see it, but then again…

These two nieces were visiting their father for Easter break. One of these two nieces–the younger one–has a birthday that fell during that time, so before she went, she tracked down her mom’s cell phone and her grandmother’s cell phone (and maybe more that we don’t know about. She set the alarmto ring on her birthday at the time she was born.

As my grandfather might have said–She’s a pistol.

I have long admired the leadership of Herb Kelleher, founder and executive chairman of Southwest Airlines. Now, he finds himself on the hot seat in hearings about his firm’s dealings with the FAA. This is a new story, but so far, the international press seems present a more balanced view than the domestic press (I’ll admit that my research is cursory at best, but there does seem to be a trend).

This situation is one where I don’t know what to think. It is probably worth asking the question: What level of culpability does (or should) a leader hold for the misdeeds of his/her organization? It would be easy to say that Kelleher is responsible, since it happened on his watch, so to speak. The more difficult answer is the realization that Kelleher created the kind of self-led organization that values free thinking, and views policy as mere guidelines.

I would argue that all of this is good: Policies, by and large, serve two purposes:

1. To protect people who do not want to think from having to use their brains. This can best be seen in any administrative office when you hear the phrase, “I’m sorry but there’s nothing I can do.”
2. To codify practices so that people in organizations do not have to reinvent the wheel every time a situation arises. Policies can be used to capture best practices; the problem is that rather than being living, vital documents, they easily become hardened rules.

Kelleher managed to avoid both of these pitfalls by developing his employees’ human agency, and allowing them to make business decisions on their own. No one wants to be treated like a moron, and Kelleher knew how to show respect to his colleagues. This earned Southwest its reputation for customer service and quality, and the fact that it is a highly desireable place to work. At least six of my acquaintances who are airline mechanics have the goal of working for Southwest.

Now, of course, we see the flaw in the culture that Kelleher created. That human agency provided the rationale for cutting corners. That’s probably not the above and beyond the call of duty that Kelleher had in mind. The problem, of course, is that we are all fallen, broken, and ultimately untrustworthy people–as the Bible puts it, we are sinners. Be honest: We cannot even trust ourselves to consistently do the right thing, can we?

So Kelleher is facing what I call the Eden Conundrum. If we give people the free will they need to excel and do profound good, that brings with it the very real possibility that those people will overstep their bounds and do something unethical or harmful to others. Absolute tyranny is the best way to ensure that people stay in line–but Kelleher understands that God didn’t wire us up that way. Sometimes, the risk is worth it. Given freedom, some small percentage of people will almost certainly fall prey to ethical compromise, but that is the price that leaders must be willing to pay. We need to equip people to do work that is meaningful and powerful, even if that practice costs us something.