There was a nice story that made me realize that in John Brooks' "Business Adventures"
The one about electric companies colluding, where the execs kept telling their subordinates not to collude with competitors, while said subordinates thought it was some sort of inside joke and just kept doing it.
Funniest part is, the execs apparently did not know, while their subordinates thought they were "clearly" communicating they were.
The morale, to me, was that management, at any scale or level, really only has as much power as their subordinates let them have.
And that implicit meanings, in communication, are absolutely and deeply unreliable.
The one about electric companies colluding, where the execs kept telling their subordinates not to collude with competitors, while said subordinates thought it was some sort of inside joke and just kept doing it.
Funniest part is, the execs apparently did not know, while their subordinates thought they were "clearly" communicating they were.
The morale, to me, was that management, at any scale or level, really only has as much power as their subordinates let them have.
And that implicit meanings, in communication, are absolutely and deeply unreliable.