After hearing about the release of "Rebels at Work" next month a friend told me that we should write a prequel called "Train Wrecks."
"There are so many stories about messes at work that could have been avoided if managers had listened to employees. It never fails to amaze me at how long managers can deny a problem."
You don't have to look far to find train wrecks at work -- where good rebels warned that the train was going to go off the rails.
- Financial train wrecks: How have big banks been able to get away with outrageous behavior, creating rippling financial shitstorms? The New York Fed, the chief U.S. bank regulator, created a culture where raising problems and asking questions was shunned. When Carmen Segarra, one of its regulators assigned to Goldman Sachs, actually went about doing her job -- thinking that her and her employer's job was to fix the financial system -- she got fired. This September 26, 2014 ProPublica article is a great read about how culture, consensus, and discrediting good rebels have allowed our financial system to become a train wreck: Inside the New York Fed: Secret Recordings and a Culture Clash.
- Automotive train wrecks: Yesterday General Motors issued its 76th recall of 2014, calling back 7,600 police vehicles because they could roll away when drivers thought they were in park. Following an internal GM investigation earlier this year, CEO Mary Barra said, "The lack of action was a result of broad bureaucratic problems and the failure of individual employees in several departments to address a safety problem.… Repeatedly, individuals failed to disclose critical pieces of information that could have fundamentally changed the lives of those impacted by a faulty ignition switch.” GM knew about the ignition switch safety issue for 10 years before they issued a recall. My guess is that good rebels in GM raised the problems -- and their bosses failed to act on that information.
- Health care train wrecks: As reported by Charles Duhigg in The Power of Habit, there were many instances where nurses at Rhode Island Hospital warned surgeons about patient issues and procedures only to be told to shut up. "If I want your damn opinion I'll ask for it. Don't ever question my authority again," a doctor said to a nurse who questioned the appropriateness of a surgical procedure. "If you can't do your job, get the hell out of my OR." Only after several reported incidences of surgical errors, like operating on the wrong side of a patient's head, did the hospital address its corrosive culture, a culture where good rebel nurses were habitually dismissed by surgeons. Talk about a modern day caste system.
Being an optimistic type who likes to create solutions rather than muck around in problems, I'll probably never write a book about train wrecks. One reason is that it would a really long book to write.
The real reason, though, is that I think my time is better spent helping positive people inside organizations band together and get their ideas heard before the emerging problems cause real damage. Plenty of researchers, academics, books, and consultants help executives. Not many help employees on the front lines.
Here at Rebels at Work, we're all about supporting the people who care enough to say, "Houston, we have a problem."