During my MBA, an investment bank was visiting the campus for a pre-placement talk. After the talk, students were mobbing the visiting bankers, trying to impress them with earnest-sounding questions.
So one of them asked, “What makes your bank different?”
The guy said, “We have a no-jerk policy.” (He used a much stronger word than ‘jerk’ but I am paraphrasing for politeness.)
He said that if someone acted like a jerk, that person would not be tolerated under any circumstances.
It sounds like a really good policy. But who is going to identify the jerk? If a junior analyst finds the MD to be a jerk, will they dare to flag it? If they are not believed, could there be revenge?
All corporate policies are well-intentioned. Companies have lofty value statements, talking about about respect, meritocracy, fairness, yada yada…
But the big question is, who bells the cat? How does the value system survive the power equations?
I am absolutely not saying that companies can’t be true to their values. But it is only possible when they are willing to sacrifice for that.
If you will let go even your best performer or top rainmaker for being a jerk, then you can have functional ‘no-jerk’ policy. Not otherwise.
– Rajan