Perhaps one of the greatest management lessons ever written was The Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen.

You all know the story.  The King buys a new, custom-made suit from two swindlers posing as weavers.  The suit was to be made of a material that “possessed the wonderful quality of being invisible to any man who was unfit for his office or unpardonably stupid.”

Although it is a sham, everyone is afraid to admit it, for fear that they themselves would look stupid.  Even worse, they are afraid to tell the king.  Only a little child breaks the chain of self-deception, and even then, the King refuses to listen.

Many organizations suffer from exactly this problem.  The CEO loves himself more than anything else.  He chases fanciful new ideas, convinced of their brilliance.  He hires only yes-men who will tell him what he wants to hear.  And he creates an environment where everyone is afraid to tell them the truth.

Often, like the king, they even refuse to listen to the wisdom of an outsider, who like the little child, has no reason to lie.

In Good to Great, Jim Collins admonishes us to “confront the brutal facts.”

Maybe now would be a good time to reexamine your organization.  Have you created an environment of self-deception?  Are people afraid to tell you the truth?  Do you “shoot the messenger?”

Shift Your Thinking.  Accelerate Your Results.

For those who want to read the whole story, you can find it here:

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Emperor%27s_New_Clothes