My writing partner, Bryan, posted this to his blog (Profit at any Price) a couple of days ago and I thought I should repost here too.
Noblesse Oblige by Allen Laudenslager and Bryan Neva (March 2013)
This Blog was originally published on Thought Leaders on March 13, 2013. The longer I work,
the more I see good people who are promoted into positions of authority in organizations slowly
give into the temptation of pride and privilege. They forget their obligations and squander the opportunity given them to serve others in their organization and improve the corporate culture.
“Noblesse Oblige” is an old French phrase that literally translates as “nobility obligates.” It means that those who have power and authority, or who are privileged, rich or famous have a moral responsibility
to display honorable, charitable, and exemplary behavior towards those less fortunate or to those dependent on them.
In other words, whoever claims to be noble must conduct themselves nobly. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. summed it up nicely when he said: every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an
obligation; every possession, a duty.
The idea of “Noblesse Oblige” was created out of enlightened self-interest. The nobility had serfs who
were dependent on them for land to farm, a place to live and protection from bandits. In medieval
times all the land belonged to the nobility; the enlightened noble recognized that while he owned the l
and, without someone to plant and harvest the noble had no income. Seeing to the wellbeing of his
serfs was his “noble obligation.”
The good old days of companies treating their employees as their most valuable assets have been set
aside in favor of expecting them to work harder for the same pay and fewer benefits. In place of
rewards they’re told they should be glad they still have a job. Corporate management has developed an entitlement mentality (like the old French nobility) by remembering their privileges (power, prestige, perks, and pay) but forgetting their obligations to their employees. So what does this mean for you?
Loyalty always starts with the person who has the power and authority and is earned not given. Power
is the ability to grant or withhold rewards, and authority is the power to influence the behavior of a
person with less power. And there’s no authority without a counterbalancing responsibility.
Some use their power and authority altruistically; unfortunately, many others use it capriciously or unfairly. Lord John Acton (1834—1902, British historian and moralist) famously wrote: Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So what tends to happen is that those in power begin
to believe their own press releases and act as if their power is a natural right and their authority is to be unquestioned. After all, they must be right or they wouldn’t have been granted the authority in the first place, right?
The key to avoiding falling into the entitlement trap is simply by learning a little good ol’ fashioned humility. Start by walking over to your company’s customer service center and imagine there’s no one there to answer the phones, to take orders or to solve problems. You’re not going to sell anything.
Next, walk down to your company’s shipping and receiving department and watch the employees
loading and unloading trucks. Now close your eyes and pretend that those workers aren’t there… your products are just sitting on the docks and the trucks are not getting loaded. How much money will you make if you don’t ship your products to customers?
It’s easy to think of all these workers as not being important because almost anyone could do these
types of jobs. Answering the phones or loading and unloading trucks are cheap but also very critical.
In other words, the labor costs are inexpensive but the work is valuable.
Now extrapolate these examples out to your entire organization. How much value are all your other employees contributing to your long-term success? Who really produces and who is overhead?
Enlightened self-interest should tell you that without workers you’d have no income.
So while you may not be willing to pay much for a person working in customer service or shipping and receiving, enlightened self-interest should tell you that a relatively low paid employee might be critical
to your long-term success and you should begin to treat that worker with the respect their contribution,
not their cost, deserves.
the more I see good people who are promoted into positions of authority in organizations slowly
give into the temptation of pride and privilege. They forget their obligations and squander the opportunity given them to serve others in their organization and improve the corporate culture.
“Noblesse Oblige” is an old French phrase that literally translates as “nobility obligates.” It means that those who have power and authority, or who are privileged, rich or famous have a moral responsibility
to display honorable, charitable, and exemplary behavior towards those less fortunate or to those dependent on them.
In other words, whoever claims to be noble must conduct themselves nobly. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. summed it up nicely when he said: every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an
obligation; every possession, a duty.
The idea of “Noblesse Oblige” was created out of enlightened self-interest. The nobility had serfs who
were dependent on them for land to farm, a place to live and protection from bandits. In medieval
times all the land belonged to the nobility; the enlightened noble recognized that while he owned the l
and, without someone to plant and harvest the noble had no income. Seeing to the wellbeing of his
serfs was his “noble obligation.”
The good old days of companies treating their employees as their most valuable assets have been set
aside in favor of expecting them to work harder for the same pay and fewer benefits. In place of
rewards they’re told they should be glad they still have a job. Corporate management has developed an entitlement mentality (like the old French nobility) by remembering their privileges (power, prestige, perks, and pay) but forgetting their obligations to their employees. So what does this mean for you?
Loyalty always starts with the person who has the power and authority and is earned not given. Power
is the ability to grant or withhold rewards, and authority is the power to influence the behavior of a
person with less power. And there’s no authority without a counterbalancing responsibility.
Some use their power and authority altruistically; unfortunately, many others use it capriciously or unfairly. Lord John Acton (1834—1902, British historian and moralist) famously wrote: Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So what tends to happen is that those in power begin
to believe their own press releases and act as if their power is a natural right and their authority is to be unquestioned. After all, they must be right or they wouldn’t have been granted the authority in the first place, right?
The key to avoiding falling into the entitlement trap is simply by learning a little good ol’ fashioned humility. Start by walking over to your company’s customer service center and imagine there’s no one there to answer the phones, to take orders or to solve problems. You’re not going to sell anything.
Next, walk down to your company’s shipping and receiving department and watch the employees
loading and unloading trucks. Now close your eyes and pretend that those workers aren’t there… your products are just sitting on the docks and the trucks are not getting loaded. How much money will you make if you don’t ship your products to customers?
It’s easy to think of all these workers as not being important because almost anyone could do these
types of jobs. Answering the phones or loading and unloading trucks are cheap but also very critical.
In other words, the labor costs are inexpensive but the work is valuable.
Now extrapolate these examples out to your entire organization. How much value are all your other employees contributing to your long-term success? Who really produces and who is overhead?
Enlightened self-interest should tell you that without workers you’d have no income.
So while you may not be willing to pay much for a person working in customer service or shipping and receiving, enlightened self-interest should tell you that a relatively low paid employee might be critical
to your long-term success and you should begin to treat that worker with the respect their contribution,
not their cost, deserves.
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