Aesop and the CEO

David Noonan

• Publisher: HarperCollins Leadership
• Year: 2006
• ISBN:
  9781418513276
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Leadership
• Index: Business

It is easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of business books flooding the market today. Even more daunting is the task of weeding through them to find the "golden nugget" of wisdom inside. In Aesop and the CEO, David Noonan has simplified the process by providing this well-researched primer of the most essential advice from the greatest business books ever written. Further, in a clever melding of modern business sense and ancient wisdom, he has used the animal-based stories of Aesop as springboards to launch these 50 lessons. Both entertaining and informative, Aesop andthe CEO includes advice from well-known leaders such as Bill Gates, Sam Walton, Donald Trump, and Lee Iacocca. The short, easy-to-read vignettes cover every aspect of corporate life: negotiations, hiring and firing, mergers and acquisitions, marketing and sales, and day-to-day management.

Human Resources
(Motivating and Inspiring)

God didn’t have time to create a nobody—just a somebody. I believe that each of us has God-given talents within us waiting to be brought into fruition. Every person is unique and special.

—MARY KAY ASH

(FOUNDER, MARY KAY COSMETICS, 1918–2001)

Do all the good you can to all people . . . and do no hurt however, where you can do no good.

—AESOP

The Fox and the Crow

Acrow swooped down and stole a piece of cheese from a table and then soared to the top of a tall tree to enjoy the morsel. A fox saw the crow with the cheese and thought: I think I know a way to get that cheese.

Standing at the bottom of the tree, the fox yelled up to the crow: “Good day, Sister Crow. You look well today. Your wings are glossy, your feathers are as smooth as an eagle’s, and your claws look as sharp as razors. I didn’t hear you sing yet, but I bet your voice is as sweet as any bird’s in the forest.”

The crow, believing every word the fox said, loved the flattery. Other animals complained that her caw grated on their ears. She decided to prove to the fox how right he was. But as she opened her beak to sing, the cheese fell out. The fox snagged it in midair and gobbled it up.

As he walked away, the fox said, “You might want to remain silent the next time someone praises you.”

AESOP’S MORAL:

Never trust a flatterer.

PERSPECTIVE: The American philosopher John Dewey said that the deepest urge in human nature is “the desire to be important.” That urge manifests itself at your office in the desire to be appreciated. Your people want to be complimented on their talents and to know you value the work they do. It’s true for everyone who works for you and with you: the scientist, the waitress, the office boy, or the person who answers your phones. All want to feel that they matter. But showing them that you appreciate their individual contributions takes thought and effort. It’s too easy to come across as a mere flatterer.

What’s the difference between appreciation and flattery? “That is simple,” says Dale Carnegie in How to Win Friends and Influence People. “One is sincere and the other insincere. One comes from the heart out; the other from the teeth out. One is unselfish; the other selfish. One is universally admired; the other universally condemned.”

I’m sure you’ve heard of the saying: “Flattery will get you everywhere.” Don’t believe it. Workers gradually learn to ignore empty flattery and mistrust flatterers. In the long run, flattery won’t work with discerning people. But true, heartfelt appreciation can actually make a difference in a person’s life. Dale Carnegie goes on to tell the story he first heard on one of Paul Harvey’s radio broadcasts, The Rest of the Story.

Many years ago, a mouse scampered across the floor of a Detroit classroom and then disappeared. The teacher, Mrs. Beneduci, asked one of her students, Stevie Morse, to help her find it, even though he was blind. The teacher valued the child’s special ability to acutely hear things, which compensated for his lack of eyesight. It was one of the first times somebody appreciated the boy’s keen sense of hearing.

The children became as silent as snowflakes as Stevie listened for the mouse. The little boy pointed in the direction of a wastebasket. Sure enough, Mrs. Beneduci found the little critter hiding behind it. Years later, Stevie Morse would change his name to Little Stevie Wonder and would reference his teacher’s act of appreciation as a turning point in his life. Stevie Wonder has earned seventeen Grammy Awards and an Oscar. He has sold more than seventy million LPs and ranks alongside the Beatles and Elvis Presley in having the most Top Ten records.

A final thought: to appreciate your workers, you must know them personally. Only after you’ve invested your time and effort to know your workers as individuals, understand how well they do their jobs, and how they contribute to your company’s success, can you meaningfully appreciate them and give them the kind of validation they seek and deserve. Otherwise, your attempts to praise will come across as empty as the conniving crow’s.

BUSINESS MORAL:

The best managers genuinely
appreciate their employees.

SOURCES

Aurandt, Paul. Paul Harvey’s The Rest of the Story, 29–31. Edited and compiled by Lynne Harvey. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1977.

Carnegie, Dale. How to Win Friends and Influence People, 47, 56–58. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1964.

The Gnat and the Bull

Abull was lolling about in a big meadow. A gnat came buzzing around and eventually settled on one of the bull’s horns. “Friend Bull, I hope I’m not inconveniencing you in any way,” the insect said. “If my added weight is too much for you, please let me know and I’ll fly off.”

The bull smiled and said, “Don’t worry about your extra weight, my arrogant little friend. Truth be told, I wasn’t even aware you were there!”

AESOP’S MORAL:

Sometimes the smaller the
mind, the bigger the ego.

PERSPECTIVE: What qualities do you seek in new job candidates? If you’re like most people, you expect punctuality and a nice appearance. But how do you decide among various candidates whose experience and salary requirements are about equal? How often is a hiring approach a process of elimination? What qualities have job candidates displayed that turned you off? Would you consider hiring a candidate who came across as self-aggrandizing as the gnat? What kind of attitude does your company like to see?

People with bad attitudes can harm a business in many ways: creating morale problems, wanting too much too soon, refusing to learn new skills, or working as loners instead of as members of a team. People with bad attitudes can be arrogant, mean-spirited, overcontrolling, or insecure. That’s why it’s essential to do the best job possible when hiring. How important is the right attitude when screening prospective employees? At Southwest Airlines, it’s everything, according to Joan Magretta in What Management Is.

Southwest has been the biggest airline success story for more than thirty years. The recipe for Southwest’s success includes its focused, no-frills, point-to-point travel routes as well as its motivated and productive workforce. Even though Southwest is heavily unionized, it has avoided implementing constricting work rules. This allows each employee to pitch in and undertake whatever tasks need to be done. The airline has shortened gate turnaround times: a Southwest crew of six can do in fifteen minutes what other airlines require a twelve-person crew and thirty-five minutes to do.

Southwest recognizes that people are its cornerstone. Consequently, the company goes out of its way to hire the best employees. “Hire for attitude, train for skill” is one of Southwest’s mottoes. According to Magretta, Southwest screens about 200,000 applicants a year, interviews 35,000, and hires 4,000. In 2003, the company screened 202,357 applicants and hired 908 of them.

What’s the airline looking for? Southwest’s founding CEO, Herb Kelleher, is clear on that point:“We draft great attitudes. If you don’t have a good attitude, we don’t want you, no matter how skilled you are. We can change skill levels through training. We can’t change attitude.” Peers, not a Human Resources Department, screen job applicants. Pilots interview pilots, and baggage handlers interview baggage handlers. And the common denominator that unites all new hires is their great attitude.

So far, so good. But what constitutes a great attitude? Each of us may define a great attitude differently, but we may generally include these common attributes: someone who is enthusiastic, enjoys working with people, likes to learn new things, demonstrates initiative, has a good sense of humor, willingly accepts responsibility, is eager to help, and shows confidence without being obnoxious, unlike the gnat in the fable.

How can you determine whether a person has a great attitude? Ask some pointed questions during the interview. Robert Half, author of On Hiring, provides questions that can help you identify candidates with the right attitude:

Could you tell me why you’re interested in this job?Weed out the candidates who are looking for any kind of job from the ones who are genuinely interested in and enthusiastic about your company.

Why have you decided to leave your present position? This question can help you nail down what motivates a candidate.

What would you like to be earning two years from now? Does this person have a realistic sense of his worth in the industry? Or is the person’s ego so big you can see trouble ahead?

What do you consider your most significant accomplishments in your business life? Look for pride and enthusiasm.

What have been some failures or frustrations in your business life? How comfortable is he admitting weaknesses? Can he laugh at himself?

What risks did you take in your last few jobs, and what was the result?This question can separate outstanding candidates from ho-hum applicants. People who are willing to take risks are also more likely to be willing to learn new skills and take on challenging assignments.

Think about something you consider a failure in your life, and tell me why you think it occurred. Does the candidate accept responsibility or blame others?

How did you enjoy working for your former employer? Is the candidate a complainer with a track record of not getting along with others? Excessive criticism of a former employer might be a warning sign.

What do you do when you’re having trouble solving a problem? Is the candidate independent? Resourceful? Willing to tap into others?

What did you do in your last job to make yourself more effective? Is the candidate eager to learn or willing to try new things?

What are your hobbies and interests? A candidate’s outside interests can sometimes give you a better picture of who he is as a person.

Describe the best boss you ever had. This question can help you figure out what kind of supervision the candidate needs or whether the candidate accepts criticism graciously.

What’s the most monotonous job you ever had? A candidate who has successfully performed in a job with a lot of monotony (and let’s face it, every job has some monotony) s...