PeopleSmart in Business eBook - The Platinum Rule

We know an elementary school principal who chose to manage her
school in typical Dominant Director fashion—her way. She decided
to arbitrarily rescind the privilege for parents to request teachers for
their children because reading all those forms wasted her secretary’s
time. Th e parents had diff erent ideas and became angry they hadn’t
been consulted. Th e resulting furor could have been prevented if she
had only stopped to ask, “What do you think?” Actually, she didn’t
even have to do what the parents wanted, so long as she got their input.
Th ey resented her dictatorial approach.
Th e principal, following her Dominant Director instincts, focused
on the result, not the steps leading to it. To accomplish that end, she
tried to shape the environment by overcoming the opposition. Unfortunately
for her, she discovered the parents didn’t necessarily want
their environment shaped, especially without their feedback. Even
benevolent dictators collide with their subjects when they try to rule
by themselves.
People, products, and profi ts
Lee Iacocca, a former CEO who had a Dominant Director work
style, talks about how he learned to merge his temperament with
other styles as he fi nally arrived at the following management philosophy,
as described in his biography, Iacocca: “In the end, all business
operations can be reduced to three words: people, products,
profi ts. People come fi rst. Unless you have a good team, you can’t
do much with the other two.” Iacocca, a Dominant Director legend,
illustrates the fact that collaborative team playing pays off for Dominant
people and others!
Hail to the chief!
Since he views himself as a chief, not just one of the tribe, the Dominant
Director may resist deeper involvement in work teams. Stress, es-
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