Leaders make decisions, Nice guys won't.

The Anna Nicole Smith hearing wrapped up today, after the judge decided that he wouldn’t decide at all. Larry Seidlin, the Broward County Florida judge, turned over the responsibility of burying the body of Anna Nicole Smith, to the guardian of her infant daughter that he had previously appointed. This afternoon, the guardian was advised by the emotionally shaken judge to confer with Anna’s mother and two of Anna’s former boyfriends before making his decision. At the same time however, he specifically told the baby’s legal guardian that he wanted Smith buried in the Bahamas, along side her son, Daniel.

Larry Seidlin’s style of leadership doesn’t stop at the doors of the American justice system. There are managers around the world just like him. They’re well-educated, layed back, and enjoy nothing more than saying something to you that will make you laugh. They’re the kind of people who have signs on their desks that intend to drive home the fact that they have a sense of humor. But, if the sign says “I said no and that’s a maybe”, beware. Yes, I worked for someone who had that kind of sign and I tell everyone that “he’s a great guy” but he’s too nice to be in a management position.

The decision made by Judge Seidlin today gave me one of those deja vu experiences. Yeah,  it was one of those weird experiences that made you feel like you’ve “been there” before. His non-decision, I think, was typical for a person who wants to be all things to all people, all of the time. Confrontation with anyone is a barbed wire fence they’ll avoid at any cost. Their main objective of keeping everyone happy, just doesn’t work.  Within an hour of Judge Seidlin’s decision today, Anna Nicole Smith’s mother filed an appeal.

People are individuals with individual opinions, so don’t expect everyone to agree with you.  If you accept a position that requires that you manage others, you must accept the fact that all people won’t think you’re wonderful. In fact, you won’t think you’re so wonderful either, when you have to make decisions that you know will create hardships for your employees. I met a CIO, a few years ago, who told me that had to lay off several employees, because of budget cuts at the company. He said that what troubled him the most was having to lay off a married couple. The couple, who he liked very much, worked in the one of the departments where cutbacks had to be made. Try as he might, he realized that there was no way to keep everyone working. He struggled to get to sleep at night because of it though.

Dawn Turner
The Searchlogix Group