Prodigal Executives Are Too Painful to Stay, Too Valuable to Go

One hotline call I got was to meet Wayne. Like all names in my book, The Prodigal Executive, his name has been changed. As regional vice president of an international company he managed several regional mangers and was responsible for thousands employees. Wayne’s role model as an executive was a Marine drill instructor barking orders during boot camp. He was known as a loud, intimidating, foul mouthed bully who could make people feel about two feet tall.

Wayne knew he was a bully and was proud of it. He actually felt the more intimidating he could become the more productive. Hostile work environment complaints began to mount and good people began to flee.

“Can you help us?” asked the chief administrative officer when he called in a panic. “We don’t want to lose him. He was once well respected, but he can’t continue here like this.”

So I flew in to see Wayne. As promised, he was crude, rude and had a nasty attitude. He verbally tested me to see if I was tough. For me, Wayne was not that unusual. For 15 years I have been busy with Waynes all across corporate America. They scream at me. They heap abuse on me. They drop the f bomb, the s bomb and every profanity bomb imaginable. They say things like “who the hell do you think you are to come in and coach me?”

Good question. I am an executive coach with a Ph.D. in psychology. Some try to bait me by calling me a company shrink, but I’ve been called worse. Before my work with corporate clients I helped people overcome drug and alcohol addictions. There is an old adage that says people who need help the most seem to deserve it the least.

Actually, I liked Wayne. He was extremely intelligent and articulate. When I told Wayne my job isn’t to terminate people but to help the best to get better, that calmed him down.

“Wayne, why do think I am here?” I asked him.

He replied, maybe people find me intimidating.

“No Wayne, you are intimidating,” I told him. “But you are the best at what you do. Tiger Woods only got better when he went to a coach. Whatever you are doing isn’t working. It is up to you if you want the coaching your company is willing to pay for. Your only hope to stay here is work with me to create a new executive brand for you.”