peek below the
w a t e r l i n e
By Dr. Hans Finzel
I thought everything was fine
between Brian and me. We had
been on the same leadership team
for years, and I thought he respected
my leadership. But lately, he had
become an iceman. When we
talked, his answers were very short.
When I probed him about whether
something was wrong, he gave
the great answer that we so often
use, “No, everything is fine.” There
was something going on under the
waterline that I had to figure out.
When you talk to people about
big issues that affect them, things
around them that are going to
change, you have to look below the
waterline. Both the conscious and the
subconscious are simultaneously at
work in people’s minds, processing
what’s going on. It’s not only in their
minds; it’s in their hearts. Often, what
you don’t see and what you don’t
hear and what you don’t pick up from
them is what will kick you in the rear.
An old farmer once said, “Go
slow. People are a lot like horses. They
don’t like to be startled or surprised.
It causes deviant behavior.” You can
50 Solutions
almost picture the weathered face of
the man saying that, can’t you? He’s
probably chuckling at the thought
of a vicious kick he once took from
an old mare he startled. As many
old-timers are, he was right: go slow,
because people don’t like to be
startled, and that obviously applies to
the issue of bringing about change.
There is never a time when
communication is more important
than when you are in a process of
implementing big changes. I sat
down face-to-face with each of
my senior-level leaders, as I was
going about a reorganization of our
leadership structure. Brian had been
in our organization for decades, and
I spent considerable time with him
sharing some of the major changes
going on and how they would affect
him.
When I started as CEO, I had
fourteen people reporting to me.
That is way too many for any leader.
As we were growing and expanding
around the world, my board said
to me, “Hans, you’ve got too many
people reporting to you; you’ve got