Gus Van Horn blog Posted June 29, 2016 Report Share Posted June 29, 2016 Suzanne Lucas, a fellow fan of my favorite Harry Pottercharacter, Severus Snape, took the occasion of Alan Rickman's passing to pen "5 Management Lessons From Professor Snape." (Rickman quite memorably portrayed Snape on the big screen.) All of these are quite good, but I am partial to the first (save for the unfortunate equation of altruism with being good): Be virtuous instead of signaling virtue. Snape was good. He made huge sacrifices for the good of others, but he didn't run around talking about it. You know who did run around talking about how much good he was doing? Lucius Malfoy. Malfoy signaled virtue. Snape was virtuous. As a manager, simply be good. You don't need to send out press releases every time you give your employees a perk. Just give the perks.I'll concede that, at work, where one's compensation and progress do somewhat depend on the opinions of others, that there is a time and a place to toot one's own horn. But that should be done sparingly. Constantly doing so falls under the same umbrella as "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." Some of the biggest scoundrels I have ever had the misfortune of knowing made just a little bit too much of their own virtue. Consequently, even the truly virtuous can raise doubts by talking about it too much.-- CAV Link to Original Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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