The Nutter Butter effect
"Understanding, as we understand it, is misunderstanding." Elias Canetti
In the late 1990's when I was an Army Captain I had a brigade commander - Colonel Terry, a leader everyone admired. He was a southern gentlemen and an intelligent, caring officer. We all loved his common sense approach to leadership. He drove a beat up old Jeep which resonated with us junior officers. He enjoyed breaking up the rigidity of our day in meetings telling stories of his youth and relating them to war fighting. He was a leader we did not want to disappoint. Like any leader, he had his likes and dislikes. One of his favorite snack foods was Nutter Butter cookies.
Outside his office door, on the exterior of the building was a vending machine. He casually complained one day, in an almost humorous way, that there were, "no Nutter Butters in the damn vending machine!" I laughed. It was a classic Colonel Terry. I wasn't the only one in the room. His logistics officer was present and, while he laughed as well, he took action - or overreaction. Later that week, I walked by the vending machine and sure enough, it was full of Nutter Butter cookies. Not just one or two rows. The entire vending machine was full of Nutter Butters. There were no other choices. I laughed out loud.
In a subsequent meeting, Colonel Terry smiled and thanked the officer who had the vending machine filled with his favorite snack, however, he stated, "my intent was not to have all the other snacks removed." Hence the Nutter Butter effect.
Senior leaders must be cautious about what they say. I always joked that I wanted to be a general and ride around my post saying things such as, "it would be nice if that building was blue instead of white." My casual comment would spark an overreaction resulting in a squad of soldiers painting the building the very next day. My point with the joke was that leaders, especially respected ones, ought to use caution when speaking. People latch on to what is said and may take initiative in the wrong direction.
No harm, no foul with the Nutter Butter overreaction but, as Colonel Terry was teaching us, and perhaps himself was, understand intent before you act. His own lesson in this scenario - give good intent because in war (and in business) intent is everything. Do you have a vending machine outside your office?
Make it Personal!
Rob
Rob Campbell