Fractured Relationships and Their Impact on Business and Politics – Part 1

Robert Hall, businessman, consultant and author: This Land Of Strangers: The Relationship Crisis That Imperils Home, Work, Politics and Faith, joined us a while back for a two part program on our relational decline and the societal trends that got us there. In the face of the backlash and continuing protests following the election results, his thoughts are insightful and shed some insight into the trend the elections followed.

In his most recent Huffington post article titled: “Tribal vs. Team Leadership: Trump, Hillary & You”, he mentioned that “more than half of Americans say the 2016 election is a major source of stress (American Psychological Association)”. He goes on to say, “Much of the stress associated with the Presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton can be attributed to how two different types of groups – teams and tribes – have run-amok. In fact, much of employee disengagement in business, church defections from denominations, and institutional distrust emanates from dysfunction within tribal and team-oriented groups and their leaders”.

He describes how teams and tribes work well or don’t, and how “teams become dysfunctional when their focus on accomplishing or winning causes them to abandon their values, ethics and loyalty.” Tribes become dysfunctional when their commitment to rigid, uncompromising beliefs feed never-ending conflict and warfare”.

His compare and contrast of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and their election strategies is worth a read. He critically evaluates them both and ties it back to his studies on relationships; the good and the fractured ones.

According to Robert Hall, “Teams and tribes are our most valuable and highest form of group. But, when we as members become singularly obsessed with winning or our own ‘rightness’, our groups become dysfunctional and everybody loses”.

On the program, he said he’s “never seen anything like the dysfunctional mess we are in. Leaders who feel entitled to lose touch with followers evoke a specific kind of costly broken relationship- the popular term, disengagement”.

“Leaders used to be able to say one thing and do another, because no one would ever know,” Hall says. “Not today. There’s virtually nothing you can do that’s not out there to be found. We want leaders who will authentically tell the truth. Instead, we get people who manipulate us. And we’re less willing to put up with that every day.”

Left to Right: Robert E. Hall, Dennis McCuistion, and the late Jim Underwood, PhD

On that program, host Dennis McCuistion was also joined by: (The late) Jim Underwood, PhD, former Professor of Management at Dallas Baptist University and a prolific author, including, the best seller, What’s Your Corporate I.Q.?

According to Dr. Jim Underwood, a spirit of transiency is everywhere. Two hundred of the Fortune 500 companies have relationship issues in management or in their culture, with many companies experiencing a 70% turnover rate among their CEO’s. Research indicates as organizations become larger, the atmosphere becomes toxic if management does not align its leadership with a relationship culture.

Left to Right: Terry Brock, Gina Carr, Niki Nicastro McCuistion & Dennis McCuistion.

Gina and Terry join in to talk about tribes and social media.

Is there hope? While the jury’s still out -our guest’s state we’re starting to recognize the need for positive emotion and a return to our core values. Yet, we sometimes have to be hit over the head.

Niki Nicastro McCuistion:
Executive Producer/Producer
(214) 394-6794
Business consultant, speaker and coach:

Aligning Purpose, Performance and People
www.nikimccuistion.com
nikin@nikimccuistion.com
Google+ Profile

Save

Save