Mao and the art of management
Image by by roger jones
Chairman Mao’s botched economic policies may have been responsible for some 70 million deaths, but he retains a symbolic hold over the Chinese economy. His portrait is emblazoned all over the currency, while his successor Deng Xiaopmg (who turned Mao’s policies and eventually the economy around) doesn’t even merit an image on a coin.
The disparity between Mao’s performance and his reputation is instructive, for behind it are four key skills which all bad managers could profitably employ.
Firstly, the ability to justify his actions, however entirely self-serving, as being done for others – the same skill which allows sub-standard chief executives to rationalise huge pay packages while their underlings get peanuts.
Secondly, the art of ruthless media manipulation.
Thirdly, the ability to sacrifice friends and colleagues with impunity.
Finally, the ability to disguise activity as achievement (the more you have going on, the longer it will take for the disastrous consequences to become clear).
In the long run, of course, the facts will find you out. But who cares? We all know what we are in the long run.
Originally posted 2008-01-23 06:40:45.
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