Managing nepotism

Managing 26,000 employees in 100+ offices means that you cannot oversee every new hire, it can’t be done. So you have to trust those closer to you and delegate power down the line so that the director who’s 8 layers below has enough judgement to hire someone smart. The reality is, a company that big cannot be staffed with “A” people only. We’ve got “B” and “C” people, and some “D” retards who manage to be billable somehow.

If such was a fixed reality that doesn’t change over time, it would be a perfect world. However, some people wants to move upward in the CGI hierarchy and this is where things get dirty, I mean really dirty.

I believe a meritocracy, a system in which promotions and bonuses are given based upon talent and merit, is way too hard to manage and doesn’t factor the human side of life. People like to brownnose, employees want to suck up in order to get what they want, I mean it’s so funny to look at this from a CEO position.

Some people have wrongfully accused CGI of nepotism, because the word itself describes a system in which relatives get favours. I think cronyism would be a more accurate description of our management style.

Let’s take an example to show you how difficult it is sometimes to manage humans. John is a long time CGI employee, maybe 20 years. John is a total asshole, he treats people like shit, his ego is larger than a Humvee and it’s amazing he got this far with poor communication skills. Yet, he manages to meet his sales objectives year after year. John complies with every single CGI rule and spreads the gospel to other director who prefer a more liberal management style. John wants a VP position so he can persecute a larger pool of people and give his ego a corner office so he can brag about it. His wife is probably very submissive. John likes to drive expensive cars.

So when the prick asks firmly for a VP position and threatens to go to a competitor if he’s not getting it, what do you do? If Sucker John goes out, your revenues go down, you’re likely to miss your target for the financial year and nobody at your business unit will get a bonus. A real dilemna.

My decision would be to give the VP position to Mr. Dipshit because revenues are more important. Yes, the team morale will go down because they’ll see this total retard get a promotion while all the Mister Nice Guys get nothing. John’s a good soldier, and whatever downside he may have, how significant they can be, are offset by the fact that he brings money to CGI. Everybody has weaknesses, don’t we?

So deal with it and get back to work. Be more like John, try to beat his numbers an maybe 10 years form now you’ll get his office. John will be ready for the C-suite by then.