The Return of Ernie Twum...

A few of you will be screaming in laughter at the mention of Ernie Twum. Quite possibly the worst manager I ever had the luck of working for and quite possibly a terrible person as well.

While here in India, I have been introduced to most of the senior management and have been able to build some relationships with some amazing people. People of vision and candor, thought and experience.
However, one in particular, has not been able to impress.
We have been told to consider ourselves the management of the future. The new batch upon which all of the new MSAT will be based. In that sense, we are the ‘first class’ from this program – the most dynamic sales and business professionals they could find. I say this in all modesty, because MSAT is climbing out of a whole and there is no space for deadwood here.
One particular manager did not even attempt to come and meet us. Most of us travelled thousands of miles to be in India and this man couldn’t make the 45min flight down to see us, even once. He is important because our culture, positioning and behavior will flow from him.

We do the odd video conference with him and it is all a demoralizing affair. He sits in front of a screen with all of us watching him, wide eyed and expectant. The same loud (instead of impassioned) rhetoric is spewed and we boggle at the lack of specificity. He is well-regarded in the industry for his experience – but I see nothing that would make him the leader to follow or wish to emulate.

I have worked with Kishor Patil, Ravi Pundit, Pankaj Sathe, Sachin Tikekar (KPIT), Ravi Krishna, Santhosh Nair (WIPRO) – all men who inspired and led by example. Azim Premji and Anand Mahindra possess gravitas in droves built through years of building multi-billion dollar conglomerates… Even my time in Sodexo showed me much of what leadership is – this guy puts the term to shame.

Our last session started with a request from him to voice any ideas of what he should do to move forward. A colleague of mine started by making some suggestions – and was immediately shot down – the way it was done was rude, disrespectful and almost comical… The net effect was to silence any and all discussion immediately. One other colleague took the initiative to spout out all the points that he thought the manager wanted to hear and was rewarded with a smile and praise.
After that, silence reigned.

Throughout the vcon, the manager kept checking his laptop and answering mails. In turn, all of the people in our room did the same. Very soon, we had the most disconnected open-forum that I have ever sat in. Predictably, the conversation that night and since has been about the treatment of those on the call and the lack of respect that is infecting the team.
For Harvey and Mitul, Ernie Twum lives ! I found him, only now he is my private pain.