Lust, Favors and Nepotism: Leadership Promotions Turn Toxic

The secret is out. As an Executive Coach I see that the brightest and best are frequently glossed over for promotions. Resentment and conflict builds when a seasoned veteran candidate for a COO position is bypassed for one of the president’s love interests. Somehow, decades of workplace discrimination legislation is brushed aside when lust arises. Compliance becomes a mere ten letter word. A president is guided by a back door affair and not by conscience or even the ultimate threat of legal scrutiny.

Scorn and seething in the form of multiple retaliations will soon greet the offender. Within corporate communities employees have radar. Colleagues are uncanny about detecting ethical breaches. They grow extrasensory perception particularly when it comes to significant promotions within their immediate world. Legitimate candidates who are snubbed will not completely turn the other cheek when witnessing a promotion based on who is sleeping with whom. Understandably destructive responses emerged when a Chief Operations Officer choice is whispered to be bogus.

Personal vendettas arise. Grievances and passive aggressive slowdowns of productivity are byproducts of promotions born of lust, favors and nepotism. But why is this scenario so commonplace? Does a carnal thrust in a corporate leader’s brain and loins merit a sudden lapse of reason, fairness and EEOC compliance? Isn’t the year 2015 a little late in the game to be rolling dice that will wind upon on the desks of Human Resources and the corporate attorney on retainer? Why get involved in lustful promotions when the oddsmakers are whispering that sooner or later you will be faced with discrimination and non-compliance allegations and suits? Since when have corporations been governed by emotionally unintelligent and toxic leaders?

The warning is a simple one. Corporate leaders have heard it repeatedly from HR and their attorneys. Proceed at your own risk if you do not follow the letter of the law on promotions and if you promote based on irrelevant factors such as nepotism or personal and personality preferences. Your clever, snickering, hysterically funny bedroom conceived scheme can unhinge everything you ever accomplished. I can testify by way of experience that your suspect selection may be far more transparent within the organization than you realize. Wobbly, questionable standards and unethical decisions guiding leadership appointments resonate and reverberate throughout the company’s corridors and the ensuing damage can be far reaching and irreversible. Bad upper level promotions go vigorously viral and contribute to leadership casualties and overall company toxicity.

Let’s briefly play devil’s advocate. We of course realize that many mountains of workplace legislation have not resulted in Fortune 500s who are a strict meritocracy. In other words, leadership positions are not filled solely on the merits and qualifications of candidates. Micro levels of emotional impulses, gut instincts and unquantifiable nuances sneak into our most objective good intentions. But in an imperfect workplace we must strive to reach for legitimacy in our promotions by doing our best to quantify track records, recommendations, and observable performance through carefully thought through and structured rounds of interviews. Selection and promotion to top corporate perches is a serious matter. Include as many qualified interviewers as possible and consider a high level of companywide transparency throughout the process. Consider inviting external experts into strategic hires and promotions and open the door for training and feedback for continuous improvement on hiring and promotions. The bottom line must always be “who is the most meritorious, qualified candidate” for a promotion and not what went on behind the corporate curtain, who disrobed whom, or did the candidate display the “IT” factor.

If there is any reverence for ethical, lawful promotions, whatsoever, there must be hard data justifying the choice as the overwhelmingly #1 candidate. Once the dust settles, in the light of day it is more than difficult to justify that this lover, husband, cousin or country club partner be promoted into a leadership slot when they are at best the third or fourth most qualified candidate. Glib doubletalk and evasive responses following illegitimate hires is a loser. Sobriety will typically prevail. Company engineers, human resource and IT specialists will silently wonder about your COO selection and calculate the human equation in their heads and in the corporate and waterhole trenches. Was that fairly green, awkwardly outspoken, arrogant first cousin and inexperienced engineer from Burlingame, California, truly in the running, in the top two or three, and worthy of the COO appointment? Or was the promotion another act born of lust, favors and nepotism?

Illegitimate promoters can also be quite innovative in weaving their upper echelon deceptions. For example, on one occasion I had the privilege of witnessing a CEO, executive board and HR director in cahoots in a dimly lit corporate conference room at 8:30 P.M. conspiring to designate the COO position as an “Acting COO” appointment. How ingenious. This was all part of a devious strategy to avoid posting the position and inviting far better and more qualified candidates than their highly questionable and unanimous insider choice. Their insidious plan was to slip “Joe the Lover” or “Tina the Chosen Colleague” into the COO position without meeting competencies already established as necessary. The antidote is to establish a clear set of competencies as a basis for hiring and promotions, insist on these competencies as a minimal standard, and do not deviate from these requirements. Go subjective or break hiring and promotional laws at your own peril.

In addition to potential legal hammers and compliance woes do not overlook how wronged company members will communicate their gripes on the internet and social media. I have experienced more than a few employees who felt betrayed and passed over. Hell hath no fury like that of an ignored, invalidated, insignificant midlevel manager hungry and qualified for promotion. Such employees may be more than capable of launching hurtful internet messages and campaigns, casting a light on allegedly illegitimate promotional practices, and attacking the brand. Meanwhile the chances of legal detection are dramatically enhanced with negative internet and major market coverage. Media blowback is a guarantee. Expect stakeholders to appear electronically at 3 A.M. and throughout the day. Enjoy.

Think twice, think three times and avoid the temptations addressed. Do not send or sanction a lethal email during a weak moment abruptly announcing an illegitimate promotion. Sit on it. Reflect. Dig deep for conscience. Do not succumb to illegal and indefensible promotional practices. Companies rot from the head downward. Finally, know that as an Executive Coach I would much rather celebrate your superb COO choice than receive a bottom of the 9th inning call from HR after your illegitimate promotion turns toxic.