Tales from the dark side

Workforce, June, 2003 by Carroll Lachnit

The guest on National Public Radio was just background noise until I heard words that make a Workforce editor all ears: "Innovative organization." "Good at moving people forward, moving them up." "A deep bench."

Our editorial mantra is "Workforce management is everywhere' so I was ready to pay attention to this organization's story.

The guest continued, saying the organization has "rapidly filled those openings that were created by arrests or killings."

What? Arrests? Killings? As the host recapped the interview, I realized that this marvel of organizational development wasn't a great start-up or a Fortune 500 powerhouse. It was Al Qaeda.

It's probably because I wrote a quartet of murder mysteries that I find myself tuning in to stories from the dark side of life, even when it comes to workforce issues. It happened recently aboard the Adonia, the ocean liner that served as a floating conference platform for Richmond Events' HR Forum last month. The keynote speaker was retired Army General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who talked about two secrets of modem leadership: When placed in command, take charge. Then do what's right.

As Schwarzkopf talked, some other, less ideal leaders came to my mind: Hitler, Stalin, Saddam Hussein, and Osama bin Laden. They most assuredly didn't do what was right, but they are recognized as leaders.

And so during the post-speech Q-and-A, I asked Schwarzkopf about that. Wasn't Saddam Hussein a leader? Isn't bin Laden? People do follow them, after all.

His eyes narrowed. I was glad there were a dozen rows of plush theater seats between us.

Saddam was not a leader, he said emphatically. "He got to power by murdering his enemies. He stayed in power by killing his friends." But then he allowed that Osama bin Laden is (or was) a charismatic figure. Next question.

Schwarzkopf would never have entertained my questions about Al Qaeda's workforce-management style, but I hoped the expert I heard on NPR would. Daniel Benjamin is a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, was the National Security Council's director for counterterrotism during the Clinton administration, and is co-author of TheAge of Sacred Terror (Random House, 2002). As we talked, I started to apologize for what might seem like off-the-wall questions, but he interrupted me.

"Organizations are value-neutral' Benjamin said. He went on to say that what makes them good or bad is what they do, not how they're structured. With that in mind, here are some comments from Benjamin about Al Qaeda workforce-management strategies:

Recruiting and orientation: "These are religiously motivated terrorists. Motivation is not a big problem. But there's lots of indoctrination early on to really ensure that they have the same world-view."

Freedom to do the job: "Many of them are functioning in cells that are given a fair amount of autonomy, although they're clear about their direction and functions. That also makes them good managers."

Commitment: "We may find it disturbing, but the fact is that overwhelming commitment to your cause is an enormous benefit to any organization. These are people for whom this is not just the most important thing they do, it's the only thing they do," he said.

I thanked Benjamin and hung up the phone. Our editorial mantra is true. Workforce management is everywhere--whether we like it or not.