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It’s Only Common Sense: Don’t Be a Howser—Great Leaders Inspire and Encourage

Back in the dark ages when I started in this business, management styles were a bit different. As a young employee at Maine Electronics—a Rockwell International board house primarily focused on Rockwell’s products, such as the Minuteman missile program, the F-111 fighter, the B-1 bomber, and the Space Shuttle—delivery dates were more than critical. They were all that mattered.

We also had some non-Rockwell customers, but they took a backseat to mother Rockwell. The saying was: If you were late on an outside customer’s boards, you were yelled at; if you were late on Rockwell boards, you were fired. One time in particular, like all board shops, we found ourselves in a bind. We had installed a new plating line that was not up and running yet, and the old plating line had broken down, so we were in a world of hurt with catch-back schedules and milestone charts. Remember those fun days? I shudder just at the thought.

As you all know, you just cannot build boards without a plating line. So, finally, when the new line came on board, we were back in business, which was good. But the problem was that we were now really behind the eight ball when it came to working through our backlog of late PCBs—so much so that our Minuteman boards were so late that Rockwell’s lines in Anaheim went down, and that’s when the real trouble began. The powers that be sent us one of their “torpedoes” (no pun intended) to straighten us out and get us back on track.

The little red-faced guy they sent by the name of Howser obviously had some clout because his very name struck terror in the hearts of our bosses who could strike terror in our hearts! This guy answered right to the big guy—a guy who was so big that his last name was Rockwell. And that’s when I learned what a “war room” was. Apparently, Howser snuck into town late one night, and the next morning when we went to work, everything had changed.

Howser had transformed a small square office into what he called the war room. And we were soon to find out exactly what the term “war is hell” meant. All of the furniture was removed from the office, and the walls were covered with floor to ceiling whiteboards. As we walked in for the first time between 7:30 and 8:00 am as usual, Howser ordered all of us into the war room—expeditors, supervisors, managers, directors, and even the facilities manager. By the time everyone arrived, there were at least 30 people lined up against the walls with Howser standing in the center, glaring at all of us.

The first clue that this was not going to be business as usual was when one of the supervisors turned to another to whisper something, and Howser heard her. He jumped at her, put his finger in her face, and yelled, “Shut up! Nobody talks. I talk; you listen!” except that he managed to insert more profanities than I had ever heard in my life between those few words. It went downhill from there.

After we were all assembled and Howser screamed and humiliated the latecomers, we started. Rather, he started with a rant about how we were a bunch of losers, and that he was asked by Mr. Big to straighten us out. Howser then went into all the things he was going to do to our rear ends (from chewing them to frying them, kicking them, and even making us a new one) if we did not step it up. He made sure that everyone understood the message that there was a new sheriff in town, and the screwing up and goofing off was over.

For the next two weeks, we met every day at 5 am. Attendance was mandatory, of course, and we had our final meeting each day at 6 pm. Howser continued to scream and humiliate all of us twice a day. But did it do any good? Not really. The problems were nearly solved anyway, and the only person who seemed to have any fun was Howser himself, berating us each day and mostly getting in our way.

So, why am I talking about these bad ol’ days? Simply to point out that this old style management does not work, nor has it ever worked. All it did was create resentment among the workforce. We wouldn’t have followed Howser across the street for a free buffet. Hate might not a strong enough word for what we felt about the guy. Let’s just say there were no going-away parties when he slunk out of town.

A true leader would never act like Howser. A great leader inspires others to greatness and encourages people to do things amazing that they didn’t know they could do them in the first place. A great leader treats his team with the utmost respect, which they will get back in return. It’s as simple as that. A great leader will do whatever he can to make sure that their team succeeds.

No matter what you’re leading, from a sales team to a boy scout troop or a major corporation, always make sure that you’re a great leader and not a Howser.

It’s only common sense.

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.