6-23-10 Don't Dis Your Boss in Public

I don’t think General McChrystal is a dummy. Hell, anyone that can advance to a four-star general has to be a pretty smart person. But I do have to wonder what he was thinking…….

In the past I’ve written about how there comes a time when you have to quit arguing, salute smartly, and follow the company line (2-1-10 Salute Smartly). But this whole incident with General McChrystal goes even beyond that.

If you haven’t been watching the news lately, General McChrystal (who heads/headed our war operations in Afghanistan), gave an interview to the Rolling Stone where he and his staff apparently dissed the President, the Vice President, and various diplomatic wonks in country. On a side note, I’ve read the article and frankly, I didn’t think it was that inflammatory. However, our press, and subsequently the President, apparently did because the General got relieved of command today.

Public disagreements or public dismissals of others’ ideas are never a good idea -- whether you are looking up the chain of command or down the chain of command.

When you are looking up the chain of command and you publicly dis your boss, like the General supposedly did, you run the serious risk of losing your job. Even if you retain your job, you will likely lose the confidence of your boss. And really, how can you be effective if you don’t have the support and backing of your boss? You will also likely jeopardize any future opportunities that might have come your way. Why would other potential bosses want you on their team when you clearly ignore the chain of command or when you publicly air your concerns or negative thoughts?

When you are looking down the chain of command and you publicly dis your peers or subordinates, you damage the credibility of everyone involved. You damage your credibility because, after all, YOU were the one that hired the person that you just publicly dressed down. What does that say about your common sense and abilities? And you damage the credibility of the person that you dissed, because if you don’t take them seriously, why should anyone else? And because of that, they become unable to effectively do their job. So you’ve essentially jeopardized your organization’s ability to accomplish its mission.

So the moral of the story here is….. Keep your negative opinions to yourself. In this day where there is immediate transmission of news, emails, IMs, and pictures/audios, you just never know where or how far what you are saying will go. And if you just can’t keep your opinions to yourself, then take them to the person that will be most hurt by the public flogging. Have the nerve to tell that person what you think. And if it is your boss, then be prepared to salute smartly and do what he/she says anyway.

Cheers!