Sunday, March 7, 2010

Oscar Night and Toxic Bosses

Oscars night is always a big night in Southern California where I live. In my book, The Prodigal Executive, I mention many movies.

One chapter looked at General George S. Patton III, one of the most colorful American military leaders of World War II, who is regarded as one of the most successful United States field commanders of any war. The general was the focus of the epic 1970 Academy Award-winning movie Patton, with the title role played by George C. Scott in a brilliant, profane Academy Award winning performance.

Patton’s derailment was the notorious "slapping incident" in 1943 that nearly ended his career. According to witnesses and portrayed in the film, the general was visiting patients at a military hospital in Sicily, and came upon a 24-year old soldier who was crying. Patton asked "What's the matter with you?" and the weeping soldier replied, "It's my nerves, I guess. I can't stand shelling." Patton thereupon burst into a rage and with much cursing called the soldier a coward, ordering him back to the front. As a crowd gathered, Patton then struck the young soldier in the rear of the head with the back of his hand.

Actually Patton had a pattern of reckless, abusive behavior and this was not the first slapping occurrence. He was too good to fire, too bad to keep.

His superior, General Dwight Eisenhower, thought of sending Patton home in disgrace, as many newspapers demanded. However Eisenhower decided to keep Patton, but on several conditions. First he must eat humble pie and deliver a public apology. Furthermore Patton would be without a major command. This was a trick to mislead the Germans as to where the next attack would be, since they assumed Patton would lead the assault because he was the general they feared the most.

Why did the Patton’s prodigal story have a different outcome? Patton responded to the need to change. First, he gave his apology to the slapped soldier, the medical personnel and the thousands of soldiers under his command. Next, he redeemed himself with the decoy assignment. Instead of balking at the demotion, Patton was supportive of Eisenhower’s and the allies’ goals. Patton decided if he was to be a decoy, he was going to be the best expletive deleted decoy in the history of war.

In the months before the June 1944 D-Day invasion of Normandy, Patton gave public talks as commander of the fictional First U.S. Army Group, which was supposedly intending to invade France by way of Calais. The Germans misallocated their forces as a result, and were slow to respond to the actual landings at Normandy.
Following the Normandy invasion, Eisenhower gave Patton another chance. Patton was placed in command of the U.S. Third Army and used Germany's own blitzkrieg tactics against them to hasten the Allied victory and secure is place in military history.
Eisenhower did not accept the myths that people cannot change

Of course, it is unlikely you will be in a position to hire and fire generals. But you do have your own chain of command to look after.