“He’s a mad dog!”

“She’s a bully!”

“He’s a snake!”

When we see people out of control, we often compare them to animals. That’s because we know that humans, unlike animals, have the ability to reason. We can choose not to surrender our reason to our passions.

The jerks in the office – those who constantly yell, pound the table, denigrate others – have lost control of their human ability to reason. They mistake their weakness for strength. They behave like dangerous animals. People around them spend their time trying to stay safe rather than taking risks and innovating.

Jerks don’t get more out of people. They are a drag on your business. Fire them and reap two benefits: less drag on your business and more drag on the competitor they join.

According to Harvard University expert Ronald Feiftez, “the role of a leader is to help people face reality and to mobilize them to make a change.”

Many business leaders fail at this because they speak of a change without an accurate description of reality.

Let’s say your organization has faced several cases of harassment. The leader stands up and says “We have seen poor behavior recently and we need to change. We need people to respect each other and communicate better. A respectful workplace is conducive to better performance, which is good for everyone.”

That’s not facing reality. Yes, there has been poor behavior. But why? That’s what needs to be discussed. The people listening to the leader know that it’s partly because of the emotional and financial pressures put on employees. New hires are not qualified, compensation is not adequate and incentivizes shortcuts, jerks are promoted, etc. So when the leader paints a beautiful picture of a harmonious workplace but doesn’t acknowledge the root cause of today’s daub, no one is inspired.

Leaders must face reality first if they want to help others do the same. That’s how change is made possible.

When we write policies that scream “we don’t trust you” to our employees,

When we train with the aim to scare,

When we presume guilt when conducting investigations,

When we compensate exclusively on commission,

When we hire the unqualified son of our largest customer,

When we promote the jerk,

When we don’t fire the jerk,

We get the compliance that we deserve.

Culture is an outcome of how we do things.

If we want a better compliance culture, we need to have better processes.

Processes that put employees first.

Aren’t they our most valuable asset?