BY ALAN BRUNACINI
Last month I related a story that involved a young cadet assigned as my airport chauffeur (after I taught a seminar in his department) telling me about his ongoing observations about his chief. I had detected in our classes that the troops were a bit out of balance, and I had asked the young man why. He told me that the chief could not control himself when he exerted the authority of his position and that that inclination continually distorted his relationships within the organization.
It is useful to "stop off" on our journey up the capability hierarchy to visit about the subject of how bosses use the power of their position. Many power goofs disable boss capability, and unless that person can understand the effect of that behavior and then correct it, he will either be paralyzed or go backward on the capability scale. The cadet describing his chief is an excellent example of this process. The story is simple: The department was in the initial stages of purchasing a new, small rescue response vehicle; the chief assigned an apparatus committee to determine the specs. The committee did that. The truck was ordered. When it was received, it was different from what the committee had ordered. The chief indicated he changed some things after the committee had decided on the design details. He never met with them to advise them of the changes he made.
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