The Naked Emperor Walks through the Potemkin Village
Managing, leading, for transparency and courage
Corruption has undermined strategy, logistics and led to equipment failures in the Russian advance. Putin thought he was spending millions to update the Russian military. Foreign intelligence was aware of the expenditures and underestimated how deeply corruption had undermined Russian military preparedness.
Expert analysts at the Center for Strategic Study, Tufts University as reported in Politico, identify and discuss the problem of corruption in undermining readiness.
It sounds like the person in charge is the last to know. If one fears to be the messenger, nobody plays the messenger role.
We’ve long known the problems with shooting the messenger. We have folk tales and short-hand metaphors for the problem. The emperor has no clothes. It’s a Potemkin Village, where false fronts are built along the emperor’s route.
In this small way, I can understand Putin’s position. Even when you are the manager of a department or small organization, you must find a way to maintain boundaries — you don’t want to know about a staff member’s latest affair. You must also nurture information flow — you do want to know if the accountant leaves whenever you are gone for an external meeting. You don’t want to be the last to know critical information that alters you and your team’s decision-making.
Cultivating transparency and trust is a crucial part of being a good leader. Otherwise, you risk being blindsided by information. The worst decisions I championed were when I confidently led people down a blind alley. I didn’t ask the critics and naysayers enough questions.
I did have an accountant whom I trusted and she gave me every report I needed when I asked for it. It was critical to have timely information to monitor how the organization was doing financially.
Department heads invited me to a private meeting without her and let me know she summarily refused to work with them, and left whenever I was out of the office. I was stunned, but welcomed the information. I appreciate that it is difficult as a staff person to distinguish between throwing somebody under the bus and passing along news the boss won’t want to hear but needs to know.
I didn’t hear a department head’s warning in a different business, in my own mind discounting the message as inter-departmental competitiveness. Then, I realized that I couldn’t trust anything that was coming from the X Department in question. I apologized to the manager who had tried to tell me what I didn’t want to hear.
No matter the situation, autocrats attract sycophants.
One needs to model courage and transparency in order to receive courage and transparency.
We often think of corruption as the triumph of greed. Corruption does enable greed, as rubles for updated military technology, for example, fund yachts or vacation homes. But pride –arrogance — is perhaps the primary driver of corruption. Pride doesn’t require evil, just human overconfidence or the inability to listen and ask questions.
All the talking heads are asking about Putin. How long can he last? His shrewdness and strength suddenly don’t look so smart or so powerful. But the carnage will go on until someone stops him. He has been smart and powerful enough to assume autocratic control.
Ultimately, courage, transparency and resilience to do the next right thing are not just virtues, they are a strategy that has lasting power. Plans can deliver, or flexibility to modify plans or create on the fly can deliver, because the resources are available. Even when the only resources are transparency and courage.
