Customer Reviews

Decent People, Decent Company: How to Lead With Character at Work and in Life

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Here's a book that approaches integrity in business not from the marketing side, but from management and human resources. And one that will almost surely build your personal communication skills, and thus the effectiveness of yourself, your reports, your supervisor, and your company.


I recommend reading Andra Media's "Conflict Unraveled" first, as it provides a nice framework to better understand and appreciate the information in this newer work.


It takes a while to get into the somewhat stiff writing style, but it's worth the effort. Focused as it is on character principles as management tools, it's an excellent counterpart to my book, Principled Profit: Marketing that Puts People First, and a strong reminder that the success and empowerment of our own employees not only our responsibility as ethical leaders, but also crucial to our own success. And yet, DPDC is also willing to step well outside the business world for the perfect example: such as the quiet heroism of Miep Gies, the Dutch secretary who sheltered Anne Frank and her family, and who saved Anne's diary after the Nazis raided the hidden dwelling.


Some of the specific goodies I found:


* Change agents within an organization are most successful when they start by publicly acknowledging what people are doing right--to catch and report their success just as so many of us are quick to catch and announce what's wrong.


* People rise to our expectations; if we express the attitude that they are fully capable of the task they've taken on, they will succeed.


* Integrity is a balance of the twin principles of respect and responsibility, which the Turknetts see as the fundamental elements, the Yin and Yang, of human interaction. Under the category of respect, the authors group empathy, emotional mastery, lack of blame, and humility (each with its own chapter); the responsibility attributes include accountability, courage, self-confidence and integrity or wholeness.


* Managers can learn a great deal by implementing "skip-level reports," where an employee communicates directly with the supervisor's supervisor.


* It's vital to understand the difference between inquiry--probing to learn what others think, what approaches they might use--and advocacy for your own position.


* Blame is "a poisonous response" and isn't ever productive.


* Keep your promises!


* Perhaps most important, it's never too late to implement changes in the relationships at a company.


On that last point, the book is filled with stories of executives and managers who were perceived as arrogant, not listening, needing to be protected from hurtful (but necessary) information, and driving forward their own agenda without meaningful input from others. Yet, in every case cited, once the manager became aware of the problem and took responsibility for it, change occurred very rapidly--usually within even a week or two. Once direct reports started feeling that they were being heard and their advice was sought and implemented, major barriers crumbled quickly.


In the last section, the authors note that sometimes doing the right thing is not obvious. We all know not to steal, but when forced between betraying a confidential information or allowing a friend to make a disastrous decision, the choice is not easy. Yet, the authors cite a study of CEOs by the Southern Institute for Business and Professional Ethics; 99 percent felt that high ethical standards strengthen a company's competitive position. To conclude, the Turknetts offer six tools to build personal integrity, and five to strengthen the integrity of a company.

People who follow this philosophy may also want to look at the Business Ethics Pledge campaign, located at principledprofits.com

Presents a Leadership Character Model; its foundation is integrity which is a balance of responsibility (core qualities: empathy, emotional mastery, lack of blame, humility) and respect (core qualities: accountability, courage, self-confidence, focus on the whole). Each of these eight qualities are explored in depth. The authors show how people and organizations (which are not separable) can develop these qualities. The Model is intended to help people learn how to lead by understanding these qualities of leadership. Each chapter ends with four key concepts. An accessible, thoughtful book, reinforced with many interesting and informative real-life examples.

In "Decent People Decent Company" the authors have put forth a model which offers pragmatic insight in cultivating an enlightened culture of true leadership at all levels while stirring individuals to seek to continuously improve their ability to help and contribute in a positive way. I believe it is of particular value in its application to organizations which support knowledge/information/technology based companies where hierarchical management is almost always counter productive to successful accomplishment of over arching business goals.
The best part of this book to me was the realization that the tools, ideas and philosophies expounded upon were just as valuable in application to personal life and relationships as they are to the business world. This is a great book and will stand the test of time as a fundamental resource in its field.

Robert L. Turknett and Carolyn N. Turknett wrote this book before the corporate scandals of Enron, Tyco and WorldCom, so their emphasis on integrity as a crucial component of leadership is prescient. They believe in emotional and life balance rather than ambition, and cooperation rather than competition. Every chapter is full of examples of people who have taken leadership roles based on these values, showing that it is, in fact, possible. We recommend this book to leaders and aspiring leaders - whether of organizations, companies, departments, or even social or family groups - who wish to find out how they, as individuals, can lead with integrity. Leaders who truly believe in what they are doing and the people they are leading will embrace the challenge of further developing themselves using this leadership character model.