Presenting an interesting theory:
The Valdez was Exxon’s wake-up call that no one individual should be accountable for anything truly critical. They took a stance that the company cannot trust individuals (even smart ones), without procedures.
Then followed 20 years of of replacing individual thinking with procedures. We raised an entire work generation on the thought that procedures were the Bible. Procedures even infiltrated into how to make business decisions, how to change printer cartridges, how to park your car. The procedure was never wrong, but sometimes it needed a little tweaking (notably being made longer and more obtuse.)
The Procedure generation of the company advanced, being rewarded for executing and not thinking. Then they landed themselves in Upper Management. These guys and gals had been chosen for their fine executing skills, and finally landed themselves at a level where procedures ceased to exist. All the prior free-thinking great minds had retired. All that was left was a decade old-playbook to control capital when things are tough. These managers never really learned to make good risk-weighted business decisions. They never really excelled at people management. They don’t think creatively. They are lost.
Every ‘human’ complaint reeks of this too: Procedures to talk to employees, scripts, HR emails when individuals discussion and concern are needed. Procedures have even replaced common human-to-human morality and empathy.
So who’s fault is it?
The last free-thinking leaders, who stopped trusting brilliant individuals, and thought they could procedurize the future of a whole company? Who started rewarding their incumbents on how well they executed those procedures?
The current managers, who were told they were great their entire careers so forgot to develop people skills, creativity, and business acumen?
Here’s my hope:
The tier of people about 10 years below entered the company, reading procedures that were so jibberish that they knew something wasn’t right. They had to develop some individual thinking, because they had some messes to clean up. They have seen outsourcing go so wrong that it has doubled Home-office workload. They have been treated like cr-p too by cold managers.
These folks were still being promoted on their ability to execute procedures….but they also started to see the back side of Disney. ….and I think this group is about 25/75 freethinkers to sunflowers. So if that 25% can rise, there is hope.
The work generation below them is even better….even more free thinkers.
So maybe we just need some forced turnover and time.
I also think there is a great book in here somewhere. How a 20 year festering bruise from the most infamous oil spill in history is slowly sinking a largest Oil Major. I think Private Empire needs a sequel.