My Life as a Jerk

I’ll admit it. I’m unemployable. I cannot work for anyone else. The only way I can survive and make a living is to run my own business. I’m just not good at answering to anyone.  I won’t even take on outside investors, won’t borrow money because I don’t want to answer to a bank, and won’t take on venture capital, either.

 

Of course I have worked for other people, have borrowed money in the past, have raised millions in venture capital, have worked for big and small corporations ‑ but I was just not very good at answering to others. In fact, I dislike it so much that I spent several years designing my life and business so that no one else could yank my chain.

 

The reason I’m in this position today is because I worked for and reported to some first-class jerks.

 

As a young business owner, I, too, was a first-class jerk. No one ever told me it was OK to be a nice boss. All the images I ever received about management involved being a bully. I used to believe that I was smarter than my employees, that I knew better, that they were just pawns in the game. I actually believed that if I showed them I was boss, they would respect me. I would yell at staff, berate them in front of others, criticize them till I brought them to tears, fire people on the spot, and continually remind them that it was my name on the manager’s door, not theirs.

 

I was a hotshot ‑ or so I thought. Then one day, following a tragedy in which one of our employees was killed in an auto accident, everyone on the staff realized that life is too short to work for a jerk like me. Within one 24-hour period I lost almost the entire sales and air staff at one station. “You’ll never work in this business again!” I shouted to one of the employees who resigned without notice. Just like a bad marriage in which we blame the other person, it took me a couple years to realize I was the problem.

 

Finally, the jerk left the building.

 

My father’s generation of managers was autocratic, but people with a choice simply won’t put up with it anymore. Perhaps in today’s economic climate people are fortunate to have a job and have to put up with management’s bad behavior because they have a mortgage to pay and no prospect of another job. But the second they find one, they will be gone.

 

Don’t misread this. Managers have to set the agenda, keep the pressure on to perform to meet deliverables and drive accountability, and sometimes enforce unpopular disciplinary actions. But those things can be done without being a jerk.

 

The most important lesson I’ve learned is that without employee loyalty I can’t grow my business. Without listening to their feedback I can’t capture the beat of the street. When things get tough, loyal employees will come through for you when nothing else will work. Like those classic words from the Bible: Treat others as you would want to be treated.

 

If you’re a jerk manager, you’re living in the dark ages. There is no excuse.

 

Young entrepreneurs like zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh has created a multi-million-dollar company based on the principle of empowering and listening to his employees because he understands they are the front line to the customers. Tony sent me his employee manual, which is the size of the Manhattan phonebook. Unlike most companies that tell you what you can’t do, he focuses on how to build others, how to dazzle customers, how to build culture, and how to make sure you’re having fun in your job. His company grew from $1.6 million in 2000 to ending 2009 with $1.2 billion in sales in spite of the economy.  Last year the company sold to Amazon for $847 million in Amazon shares. Hsieh is writing a book titled  Delivering Happiness: The Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, which will be released June 7. Tony does not manage by being a jerk.

 

I’m not proud of my early years as a jerk, but as Tony says, “You can’t change the past, but every day is an opportunity to rewrite your future.” I was able to change, and you can too.

 

Though I no longer have to work for jerks, I still have accountability to my customers, employees, readers, and advertisers. Like Tony, I’m thankful for all of them and try to focus my attention on serving them vigorously. After all, a manager’s job is to serve, not be served. Changing that single perspective can revolutionize any organization ‑ including yours.

 

 

Comments

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[BAIRDJordan]

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[roger dodson]

I'm dead serious when I say it is imperative to get your article into the hands of presidents, gms, sms...all in the business. Right now with the pressure to perform (by bankers, boards, lenders) the beatings are continuing in greater force and destroying esprit de corps and whole companies. Excellent article but don't let it end with this one edition...mail it, fax it, however you get it to everyone will determine whether or not the radio business will rebound back to great days. Bad management continues to take a huge toll on everyone. Roger Dodson

[Mike West]

Great post Eric! I have known you for 9 years and never knew you were a jerk. :)

[[email protected]]

It is a very unique industry in that it has an enormous public responsibility and a public trust and does everything in public---but there is no budget for management training.

[Eric Rhoads]

Gary:
Anyone else would probably pull a comment like this down, however Im not because its true. I was born into a family with a father who went from nothing to success. I was blessed with his generosity to help me fund my first business and I hope I can do the same for my kids and give me the opportunity I was given. There is no doubt in my mind that I would not have been able to buy the first radio stations (Salt Lake-Provo) without his seed capital. From that point I was able to roll on my own. Everyone needs a start and those who are blessed with some financial success, or other gifts, should use those gifts to help others. -ER

[Gary Wolson]

Okay, you were a jerk, and had family money to start your business.
That's two strikes buddy.

[Dale Tucker]

Eric,

Absolutely excellent. Many of us wish we'd read this forty years ago.

Now's the perfect time for all managers to read it for the first time. Your words are right on target and do NOT exclusively apply to broadcasting.

[Rich]

There are so many incompetent managers out there right that I believe that management is a good place for bad managers to hide. I left a corporate job because I was working for a total jerk as a manager and got fed up with corporate politics. There are so many people out there who have had their passion for their jobs ripped out of them by bad managers that it's no wonder so many companies are in trouble.

[Sean Kelly]

I have employees working for me right now for half of what they made in their previous job because their boss at my competitor was such a jerk. By empowering them to be all they can be, they have created their own jobs, are accountable for the revenue required to keep them on the payroll, and write their own pay raises. Treating people right will take you a long way, especially with employees. They all had jobs before, now they have careers, and a workplace they truly enjoy. In time, they'll be paid their true worth but they're happy now, and that makes my job easier.

[Angelica Balderas]

Thanks for being the voice of reason in our business

[Rich Marston]

Hello my dear friend. First and foremost, you in fact are not a jerk. I have worked with you, for you, advised you, listened to you, and have admired you for almost 30 years now. Have you made mistakes? Yep. Have you done some extraordinary things? Yep. Are you a dear and loyal friend? Yep. Are you a dear and loyal husband and father? Yep. You and I have had the most amazing careers. For me, working with and along side you has been always a journey in faith and unflinching belief. I ahave been gifted to not only know you, but to be your friend. There is no greater gift or goal. Thanks friend you have enhanced and made my life more fruitful. I am now an alchemist thanks to your faith in me.
Rich