Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

The Ideal State

The Ideal State

When I was in the military there was this idea regarding “The Ideal State.” The notion was that leaders should aspire to the ideal of perfection, realizing that achieving it was all but impossible. Still by aiming high a better outcome would be achieved than being guided by mediocrity, the status quo or going with the flow. Now who could argue with this as an operating philosophy?

The problem in implementing this lofty idea, was not in the standard but rather that leaders often got it in their minds that the ideal state was achieved on their watch and was already inherent in their organizations. They became euphoric in this false belief and rather than becoming disabused, encouraged their subordinates to paint a picture of their organizations in the rosiest of terms. Well done, they congratulated themselves believing they had achieved an optimal sort of social equilibrium and efficiency.

When something happened to pop their bubble and reality reared its ugly head, they looked for somebody to blame and hence, many of those who had aspirations of success, were shameless in promoting and reinforcing the boss’s ill conceived world view. Are you familiar of the tale of the Emperor's Fine Robes?

Now I'll concede that leadership carries a heavy burden of responsibility and after awhile the crush of the weight becomes hard to bear. The answer however, is not taking pain killers and pretending it doesn’t hurt but getting into the details that are the source of all the anguish. Thus, as a subordinate, I found myself constantly reminding my bosses that regardless of how placid the frozen lake appeared, we were all treading on thin ice. To my regret, it was not always something they wanted to hear .

Some of my “mentors” felt that they had worked hard to get where they were and now it was time to kick back and enjoy the fruits of their office. They wanted to play with the gratifications of their power and not be burdened with the dark side. Let others deal with the small stuff they reasoned while I focus on the big picture. While they might pretend to want to know the full story the truth was they were usually less than interested.

For the subordinate in this type of culture the trick was to remind the "gifted one" of the hazards of the thin ice and remind him/her of the bone chilling cold water that laid underneath. Imparting this understanding came at great peril to the messenger, a role nobody wanted, when dealing with someone who was becoming more and more clueless with each passing day.

Inevitably the day of reckoning rolled around, when posturing and stamping feet was no longer enough... when the boss went too far afield and got to experience first hand what he had stubbornly here-to-for refused to grasp. Hopefully the water wasn’t too deep and we could pull the fool back onto the ice and get him/her dressed in some warmer attire.