THE MYTHS OF CORPORATE AUSTRALIA

Just as in any culture (or sub-culture), the corporate world generally has many assumptions which have come to be taken for granted, with the result that the participants in that world often end up unaware of their existence, or they end up accepting them as a given. These embedded beliefs underpin decisions and actions, often unconsciously. Like many aspects of corporate culture, they become part of managers’ assumption sets, and so underlie much of their day-to-day thinking. They can’t be seen directly, so can only be inferred from common behaviours, such as managers’ actions and the conversations they have with each other. Managers are further inducted into a selection of these assumptions as they prepare for senior office.

While there is often no way of knowing whether we are ‘right’ about what these assumptions are, it can be useful to see whether we can find our working assumptions, as a way of seeing how we are limiting our options, so we can open up our thinking and possibilities.

I decided to identify some of those widespread assumptions which colleagues and I have questioned over time. To the extent that they are indeed false or ill-founded, they thus constitute a shaky foundation for our actions and decisions in the corporate world. For that reason, I’m calling them “myths”.

For your consideration, here’s a rough list of our corporate myths as I’ve inferred them from observing and listening to managers in a wide range of industries …

You have to pay CEO’s to an international (USA/Europe) rate in order to attract the best talent
The more you’re paid, the smarter you are
Private enterprise is more efficient than government
The short-term interests of shareholders are aligned with the long-term interests of the company
Managers in corporates work harder than those in government
With the right policies, structures and processes, you can control corporate culture
Operational staff have no interest in initiating business improvements
Experience = capability
Industry self-regulation works
CEO’s make all the difference
Financial rewards and incentives are the most powerful motivators for good management
There are “secrets to success”
Conflict and dissonance are bad and should be avoided
People earn a right to highly-paid top jobs
Wealthy entrepreneurs got to where they are on the basis of being “smarter”, working harder, or because they took risks, in a way that others don’t
Independent directors provide a check on senior executives and can control wayward CEOs
Managers may be emotional, but senior managers are rational
Engaging consultants to make decisions will protect executives from adverse outcomes from those decisions
People are, or are primarily, motivated by self-interest
Managers who promote to senior levels must know what they’re doing (including relationships, dynamics and culture), otherwise they wouldn’t be there
It is possible, and worthwhile, to put a dollar value on everything
The larger the business asset base and more employees the higher the CEO remuneration should be
If it can’t be measured, it isn’t worth doing
Everything that needs to be done is controllable
Good leadership and management require senior people to always take an objective position, above and disconnected from the system
When the going gets tough, cover your backside/tracks/electronic records
Competition is the best motivator
We need to maintain competition, the end result of which is usually to minimise competition, or generate monopolies
The free market operates freely
The worth of a business is calculated financially
The CEO/MD knows everything about the business
Effective relationships are "nice"

(Many thanks to Graeme Addison for his contributions)