Leading the Way: Take Shakespeare’s advice and beware of yes men

Recently we marked the 450th birthday for William Shakespeare who, among other great works, wrote 'Hamlet.” In this play, Polonius sagely gives parting advice to his nephew, Laertes, who is leaving to study in France.

'…

Above all else, to thine own self be true,” Polonius says.

As I thought about this advice, I had an ah-ha moment. You see, in the past several weeks I've witnessed two separate but shameless displays of brown-nosing.

And it troubles me that there are leaders who buy into this.

Are you one of those leaders? Do you reward kiss-up employees at the expense of the organization?

Let's consider the two examples I mentioned above.

The first sniveling suck-up has, so far, received nothing but incredulous snickers behind his back. His pandering is over-the-top and painfully obvious.

As a result, his credibility slips every time he grovels for an audience with leadership. And it's laughable to witness his name-dropping, puffery and self-aggrandized importance when he walks away from his leadership meetings.

In the words of Holden Caulfield ('The Catcher in the Rye”), this guy is a phony. And thankfully most of us know it, including the leadership team.

But stop for an instant and imagine the reaction if the leadership team has a change of heart and promotes this abhorrent behavior.

The second brown-noser is more concerning. Her ability to seek the good graces of the boss has earned her yet another promotion. Worse than that, the CEO ignorantly buys her line and can't see, or refuses to admit to, this employee's true short comings.

This particular chief executive leads with unwavering ego and over-confident bluster. He believes too much in himself, and is patronized by his hand-picked leadership team that only says 'yes.”

Meanwhile the hardworking, results-oriented employees have diminishing faith for future opportunities unless, of course, they become a 'good ol' boy” or a supremely shameless approval seeker.

All of this has a very demoralizing effect on the otherwise talented work force.

A business that succumbs to suck-ups eventually will reach a day of reckoning. This day may require hard choices by a board of directors or a new, true leader.

Until then, it will be more of the same, which does not bode well for a healthy work environment or for successful organizational progress.

So, does your organization reward brown-nosing?

Let me offer these quick thoughts, starting with Polonius's advice:

'Be honest with yourself and with your leaders. Don't fall into the trap thinking you always know best and you're the smartest person in the room.

And worse than that, don't surround yourself with people who stoke these egotistical fires.

'Hire and promote substance over style. Don't just take the easy way out by hiring and/or promoting yes men and women.

A leadership team is only as strong as the collective and diverse talents and perspectives of its membership. Hiring and promoting more of the same will result in more of the same. This doesn't sound like progress.

'Before you hire or promote, do your research. Find out for yourself − not just the words of others − who really does the work.

Who really gets the results? Who really is talented and ready for a promotion to lead, not just repeats the party line and says yes?

Avoid getting snowed. Be a leader. Be true to yourself and true your organization.

By doing this, you'll earn respect, grow a healthier organizational culture and environment that promotes results and makes progress.

'Comments: Alex Taylor is associate director at the Tippie School of Management at the University of Iowa, alexander-taylor-1@uiowa.edu. Twitter handle: @ataylorataylor