If you would like to know more about how not to be top-down, take a look at an interview of me at
http://www.extensor.co.uk/articles/int_simonton/interview_ben_simonton.html

and my articles at
http://www.bensimonton.com/articles.html

Thanks again, Ben

Awesome comment! I love it, great stuff. I especially like the top-down command comments. It reminded me of one of the very reasons I took the entrepreneurial road – to build a company that I’d like to work for, a company that attracts hard working people who actually want to wake up and come to work every day, and truly enjoy it.

I also appreciate the comments on fight-or-flight and character vs humanity – keep commenting, please!

Ben

Good subject and a very important one. Some comments.

Fight or flight is not the issue with humans. Unlike the bear, we don’t have instincts that tell us what to do, only habits we have built over time. If your habit is to quickly analyze the situation based on knowledge acquired, your chances of making the right decision are pretty good, but only if you have a strong character.

You wrote – “The hard times in life test people – test our instincts, like our will to survive. Hard times test our humanity, shape us into who we are.”

Yes, they do test us. But it is not a test of our instincts or our humanity. It is a test of our character and it can build character.

In the case of a business owner, hard times test the character of the business and that character is actually the culture of the company. If the culture has been led by the traditional top-down command and control approach to managing people, it will have very weak character because it will have demotivated and demoralized its people to a greater or lesser extent. This culture won’t survive well. If, however, its culture reflects the opposite approach, that of bottom-up wherein each employee’s full potential of creativity, innovation, productivity, motivation, and commitment has been unleashed, it has a very strong character, one that will survive and actually come out stronger.

The choice of character is always up to the management. I fear that most bosses don’t even understand that there is a choice to be made much less make the right one.

Best regards, Ben