s who ran the shops that maintained the vehicles of our private fleet. It was called empowerment.

When it hit the street it reminded me of the old quote from Alfred E. Newman, the one from Mad Magazine when he said, “Just because everything’s different doesn’t mean that an

During times of change in an organization people tend to freeze and not want to take responsibility. As a change leader you need people who are empowered, yet many a leader just sits back and blames the people and become a dictator extraordinaire. As a Marine sniper in Vietnam I saw leaders empower us young kids who knew nothing. One leader, Colonel Masterpool, had people that would follow him to hell and back just because of who he was and how he treated and communicated with us.

When I worked for Frito Lay back in the late seventies and into and through the eighties, they came along and decided they’d ‘empower’ our mechanics that worked in the shops of our extensive private truck fleet. They wanted to elevate them, they said, to positions of more responsibility. It was a big change in our modus operandi.

Headquarters Human Resources were in charge of this charade and it became a program that was rolled out across the country. When it hit the streets it amounted to nothing more than a headcount reduction, we eliminated the vast majority of our Fleet Managers as they were called, the folks who ran the shops that maintained the vehicles of our private fleet. It was called empowerment.

When it hit the street it reminded me of the old quote from Alfred E. Newman, the one from Mad Magazine when he said, “Just because everything’s different doesn’t mean that any

saw leaders empower us young kids who knew nothing. One leader, Colonel Masterpool, had people that would follow him to hell and back just because of who he was and how he treated and communicated with us.

When I worked for Frito Lay back in the late seventies and into and through the eighties, they came along and decided they’d ‘empower’ our mechanics that worked in the shops of our extensive private truck fleet. They wanted to elevate them, they said, to positions of more responsibility. It was a big change in our modus operandi.

Headquarters Human Resources were in charge of this charade and it became a program that was rolled out across the country. When it hit the streets it amounted to nothing more than a headcount reduction, we eliminated the vast majority of our Fleet Managers as they were called, the folks who ran the shops that maintained the vehicles of our private fleet. It was called empowerment.

When it hit the street it reminded me of the old quote from Alfred E. Newman, the one from Mad Magazine when he said, “Just because everything’s different doesn’t mean that an

d through the eighties, they came along and decided they’d ‘empower’ our mechanics that worked in the shops of our extensive private truck fleet. They wanted to elevate them, they said, to positions of more responsibility. It was a big change in our modus operandi.

Headquarters Human Resources were in charge of this charade and it became a program that was rolled out across the country. When it hit the streets it amounted to nothing more than a headcount reduction, we eliminated the vast majority of our Fleet Managers as they were called, the folks who ran the shops that maintained the vehicles of our private fleet. It was called empowerment.

When it hit the street it reminded me of the old quote from Alfred E. Newman, the one from Mad Magazine when he said, “Just because everything’s different doesn’t mean that an

ters Human Resources were in charge of this charade and it became a program that was rolled out across the country. When it hit the streets it amounted to nothing more than a headcount reduction, we eliminated the vast majority of our Fleet Managers as they were called, the folks who ran the shops that maintained the vehicles of our private fleet. It was called empowerment.

When it hit the street it reminded me of the old quote from Alfred E. Newman, the one from Mad Magazine when he said, “Just because everything’s different doesn’t mean that an

s who ran the shops that maintained the vehicles of our private fleet. It was called empowerment.

When it hit the street it reminded me of the old quote from Alfred E. Newman, the one from Mad Magazine when he said, “Just because everything’s different doesn’t mean that anything’s changed”. And nothing had changed except we were short several Fleet Managers and our all ready hard working mechanics were now disgruntled and severely over worked.

The mechanics clearly understood day one that they would now do the work of their former boss. They would now do all the paperwork, the parts ordering, the warranty claims, you name it. Of course the company rolled out systems to support this new work, right? No way. Come on you say, the company paid them, the mechanics, a little more money for the new work, right? Not on your life. They should be happy with their new responsibilities. One HR Manager actually said, “They should be happy we trust them with this work”.

When you are leading organizational change you cannot treat empowerment this way. The key to empowerment is having a clear vision that is communicated and people know what the end result looks like. Let me explain. People are surprised when I tell them in my thirty plus year management and leadership career I was most empowered as a United States Marine. That’s right, the Marine Corp, known for its discip