Great organizations have positive direction and good management. Why are there more mediocre than great organizations? This case shows one example of how completely the top person can undermine his own organization.

John recently hired Ed as GM to take charge of day-to-day operations. John was tired after 30 years, and hoped that someone with fresh energy would do a better job and revive the company. After five months, John called me to express fear that Ed will be like the others who worked for him; mediocre people whom did not show creativity and initiative.

Is the problem Ed or John? To answer the question, John must be willing to step back and consider the possibility that he, himself, is the problem.

To begin dialogue, I asked John to fill out a self-assessment instrument called Personal Profile System. This is commonly used to help people understand their own and others style. It help gain self-insight and insight for the improvement of communications. The Personal Profile is divides the styles of normal healthy people into four types.

People with two of the four styles are driven to take charge. These use either a task focused or a people focused means of influencing and controlling their environment.

• Dominance Style These people seek challenge. They are direct and self-assured. They seize challenges and are competitive and results-oriented. They may be boastful, dictatorial, blunt, and argumentative. They are often not good listeners.

• Influence Style These are people persons. They tend to be enthusiastic, persuasive, self-assured, optimistic and entertaining. They may be risk takers. They are good at outward communication. They may avoid confrontation (to preserve popularity), exaggerate, be overly enthusiastic, talk too much, and have difficulty with focus. They also might have listening issues.

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People with the other two styles are more laid back. Rather than attempting to influence charge, they like to work within current ground rules. These laid back people can also be separated into task and people oriented styles

• Conscientious Style These people are interested in good analysis. They do not like errors and tend to be critical thinkers and very good problem solvers. They are detail oriented, precise, and accurate. They also tend to be tactful and not be direct when they think someone is incorrect. They might be perfectionists, and overly critical of the way others do things. They have difficulty with change and see few gray areas. They may be detached and aloof.

• Steadiness Style These people emphasize acceptance and stability. They are great listeners, are consistent, patient and persistent. They are also loyal and supportive. They tend to be sensitive, passive, indecisive and overly tolerant. They also resist change until they understand it impact on them personally on others in their reference group.

John has a style that combines "D" and "C." Ed, the GM, has a style that combines "D," "I," and "S." He is not as analytical, but his approach has other strengths and sensitivities. People with the D style NEED to take charge of events. They are oriented toward getting tasks accomplished. People with a D style, who also have a concurrent C style are in a more complicated motivational situation. People with a "C" style NEED to analyze, and often do it better than others. Therefore "Cs" tend to believe that others don't think things out as well as they do. A person with this combination might want to delegate but will often analyze and think things out before doing so. Doing their own analysis, leads the to the "right answer!" As a result, others can only agree or be wrong. What happens over time? The people who work for such a person stop thinking and wait for the boss to tell them what to do.

John has managed this way for 25 years. Although he has good natural analytic skills, it appears that he hasn't questioned his premises about the business for many years. Of course he is tired. Managing the way he does means that he most resolve all of the issues the company faces. Can John turn around this situation by allowing Ed the freedom to take charge?

I don't know if he can. I do know that if he doesn't try, Ed will fail, and John will be forced to continue to do it alone.

Can an owner hire someone to run the business and can such a person be successful. Over the last several months I have talked to 16 owners who did just that. The results of that survey appear next month.