Gil the Jenius picked up my short piece on the management/employee disconnect in Puerto Rico and ran with it. He pulled no punches, and he’s right to a degree – but… let me add a little more personal detail to my opinion to clarify. I believe in the Puerto Rican employee. The sickness that befalls them, the sleepiness, the rudderless attitude, cluelessness, listlessness, and lack of initiative that we might see isn’t because they are naturally that way.. I think they get a bum rap. I’ve always said it (actually it was Demming, but I can steal, no?):

Bad results are 85% the fault of management.

With that said, my only direct experience with leading/managing a large group of Puerto Ricans was in the Army. I commanded roughly 128 soldiers most of whom were local. I took a dual track with my management style. I made sure that I engaged them, both by seeking and accepting opinions/advice. After all, I wasn’t afraid of being wrong, I just wanted the best way forward.

You know what happened? They came alive. The zombies warmed up, their pallor turning from a gray to a clean clear sun kissed tone. They responded with enthusiasm. They took ownership of their jobs. They accepted responsibility. They became agents of the organization. Once they had authority to match their responsibility, they rose to the occasion.

In fact, they did BETTER than their American compatriots.

I didn’t do much, and I can’t take extreme credit for everything. All I did was treat them as valued assets. I didn’t take privilege. I sleep and ate and suffered as they did, simple stuff, really.

But they’d never been treated that way before. They’d never been given respect the way I respected them.

In my little essay, I do recognize that there are two problems. Employees who won’t act and managers who won’t lead. So yeah, it takes two to tango.

But guess which one I would change first, if I could?