Unlearning: 'Corporate Leadership'

Imagine this – your daughter has graduated from university, qualified as an accountant and has landed her first ‘proper’ job in one of the world’s biggest firms. She is very excited and anxious to do well. However, over the next 4 months, you see her having to work extremely long hours, not eating well, not sleeping, and not being allowed to take any time off due to workload. She is even late for her own convocation as she had to complete some work before leaving. One day, she collapses at home and dies. 26 years old. First job. Just starting her adult life.

Sadly, the mother of Anna Sebastian Perayil does not have to imagine this scenario as it happened to her daughter while working at Ernst & Young (EY) India. Anna died on July 20th, 2024.

This was the company’s response:

And, when her mother called out the company when no one even from EY attended Anna’s funeral, Chairman Memani said the following on Linked IN:

"I truly regret the fact that we missed being present at Anna's funeral. This is completely alien to our culture. It has never happened before; it will never happen again."

I have so many reactions to this statement but the one that sits with me most is in the wording of ‘missed being present’. That no one at leadership level thought about and/or made sure that someone was at the funeral (I dunno - maybe her own supervisor?) of a young woman that had given everything she had – time, energy, effort and her health – for 4 months is so maddening. Perhaps not caring about others is not quite as ‘alien’ to the company’s culture as the Chairman puts forward?

Now imagine this – you clock into work on Friday morning at 7am. You die there in your cubicle, but no-one finds you until Tuesday. A security guard finally discovers you after your colleagues have complained about a bad smell. Time of death cannot be determined due to how long it took for your body to be found. ?

This happened to Denise Prudhomme in August while working for Wells Fargo. The company sent an anonymous message out when questioned about it by the media that said they are “committed to the safety and wellness of our workforce.”?Hmm… some of their staff may not be feeling too safe OR too well right now.

The question I have to ask is this – if Denise had failed to show up to work when she was supposed to be there, would it have taken as long to discover that she hadn’t? Or would it have been not only noticed but flagged so that she could be disciplined, have pay docked, etc? The focus of these systems is on productivity not employee safety. ?

Both situations are shocking but sadly they are not unique. People all over the world are over-worked and treated as expendable due to the pervasiveness of what is often referred to as ‘corporate leadership’. Corporate leadership favours strategy, efficiency, productivity, and the achievement of company goals. It is less focused on the human element of work.

For many, this is ‘just how it is’ in leadership everywhere. There is a collective apathy about actually changing leadership. Yes, organizations are paying leadership trainers and consultants (yep – like me!) a LOT of money to deliver leadership programmes and workshops on topics like ‘empathy’, ‘emotional intelligence’, ‘authenticity’, etc. However, the beliefs and behaviours associated with corporate leadership are deeply engrained in those that have successfully risen through the ranks and in organizational culture. Profit over people.

But it did not have to be this way.

The history of leadership matters.

I am doing my PhD and part of my research is about the history of leadership. I have found a couple of crucial points in the past 125 years where we could have as a society taken a different path when it comes to what and who we value in leadership.

Read more HERE ?on my Substack - subscribe to have the full newsletter sent to straight to your inbox every week!

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Join me for a LIVE Unlearning Leadership Lab!

The stories we hold about leadership are deep and in many ways, unconscious. No matter how much we want to be a different kind of leader, we often find ourselves repeating the same patterns we have seen from those that led us (and not the good ones!). You need to identify and unlearn the outdated belief system before you can introduce a new one.

On November 7th & 8th, I am facilitating an ‘Unlearning Leadership Lab’ where we will do exactly that. As a newsletter subscriber, you will have the opportunity to register first if you want to join me. Find out more and get on the waiting list HERE (You will also get a $100 subscriber discount!)

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