Similarly I’d like to share another case in which one of our senior managers observed a conversation between Greg Jensen, who was then CEO, and a junior employee, and felt that Greg was speaking to that employee in a way that discouraged dissent and independent thinking. She raised this in feedback she gave Greg. Greg disagreed, asserting that he was simply reminding the employee of relevant principles and her responsibilities to either adhere to them or openly question them. The two sought to get in sync through a series of emails, and when that didn’t work, they raised their disagreement to the Management Committee. A case based on the meeting in question was sent to the entire company so everyone could judge for themselves who was right and who was wrong. It was a good learning exercise that Greg and the senior manager appreciated. We used it to reflect on our written principles for handling situations like this and they both got a lot of useful feedback. If we hadn’t laid out our principles and used them to judge cases like this, we would have people with power making decisions however they wanted instead of in mutually agreed-upon ways.

The principles that follow flesh out how we do this. If they are adhered to, you will be well aligned with others and your idea meritocracy will hum with productivity. If they are not, it will grind to a halt.

Recognize that conflicts are essential for great relationships . . .
