Tim Harford, one of my favourite podcasts Cautionary Tales in a recent issue discussed how to succeed without being a jerk. It’s based on David Bodanis’ book The Art of Fairness: The Power of Decency in a World Turned Mean.
The episode uses the story of Paul Starrett, who in 1928 won the building contract for the tallest building in the world. In the nineteen twenties, across the United States, labour relations were rough, Starrett had a lot on his plate and an impossibly tight deadline for the contract.
Starrett and his brothers decided to provide efficiency wages, the idea is that if you pay more and treat your workers better, then you’ll get better, more motivated staff. If they were going to meet their deadline, they needed motivated staff. At the time this was revolutionary thinking, as most employers in the construction industry treated their very badly, minimum pay, no job security, terrible working conditions, with a high fatality rate.
The art of fairness
Can you succeed without being ruthless? The maxim has it, ‘nice guys finish last’. Does that mean you have to go to the other extreme, and be a bully or Machiavellian to get things done? Bodanis says he was fascinated by the question and that, at first, it seems obvious that the answer must be ‘No’, but in a world where Donald Trump is elected President and takes office, it’s impossible to say that good guys or women always win.
Bodanis uses the Starrett case study to show there’s a better path, a path to greatness that doesn’t require crushing displays of power or tyrannical ego; simple fair decency can prevail. Harford says the book explores what makes us human and how decency and kindness can win out even in dark times. The core message can be found in the subtitle: ‘The power of decency in a world turned mean’.
His premise is that when fairness is applied with the right skill, it can accomplish wonderful things. It led to the Empire State Building being constructed, by Starrett’s company, in barely a year. Ruthless people often succeed, that’s a given, but decent people also make it to the top, even in hard, competitive fields, and can help shift things for the better.
Be a nice guy
Everyone knows the phrase ‘Nice guys finish last’. In July 1946 Leo Durocher, the combative Brooklyn Dodgers baseball manager, told a group of newspapermen that the opposing team were ‘All nice guys. They’ll finish last.’
The phrase stuck with him, he’d liked it. ‘I don’t think,’ he said, ‘it would have been picked up if it hadn’t struck a chord. Because as a general proposition, it’s true.’ Durocher was not a ‘nice guy’, he was a jerk who alienated those around him. Someone who had managed him, earlier in his career, said Leo ‘possessed the fertile ability to turn a bad situation into something infinitely worse’; his team fell into a record-setting losing streak.
The Mets manager, Gil Hodges, known as one of the most decent men in baseball, did finish first beating the Dodgers. What Durocher missed was the space between being absolutely ruthless and being too over accommodating. Obviously, you need to defend yourself, if you are ‘merely’ nice then everyone will walk over you. However, going too far in the other direction is also a mistake, it’s no cliché to talk about reaping what you sow.
Fairness in the workplace
In a difficult economic environment and volatile marketplace organisations expect their staff to engage beyond their contractual obligations, delivering over and above job descriptions. The quid pro quo is that organisations need to be real models of integrity and the quality of the relationship between the employee and the employer, is crucial. Bodanis illustrates the ways in which leadership can have a marked impact on a challenging situation and ensure their teams succeed.
He doesn’t imply that being fair is the only way to be successful, we can all think of examples of people who became successful without being, or even seemingly trying, to be nice. But remember, Machiavelli said it was better to be feared than loved and he ended up banished. If people are your greatest asset try treating them like assets – something you value as an investment rather than as resources that you will use up and replace.
