It’s Not Brian Williams’ Fault: Bosses Enabled Poor Behavior

Skip Weisman

Mar. 02, 2015
1 min read

It’s not Brian Williams Fault!

The situation NBC News finds itself in with the Brian Williams’ truth stretching scandal isn’t the anchorman’s fault.

It really isn’t.

I’m not saying that Williams is not responsible for his behavior and shouldn’t take responsibility for his actions.

I’m not saying he turn into the 70s comedian Flip Wilson character Geraldine, of “the devil made me do it” fame.

There are reports released anonymously and with speculation that others in NBC News, e.g., Tom Brokaw, were aware of Williams tendency to stretch the truth.

Those reports are saying they told him to “be careful” with where he was going in certain stories.

If the reports that Brokaw and other senior people at NBC News were aware of his tendencies, they never made it clear to him that it needed to end.

Williams’ behavior was enabled and permitted.

To exacerbate the issue during a period NBC executives definitely knew of Williams’ embellishment tendencies, the network signed Williams in December of 2014 to a 5-year, $50 million contract extension.

Williams’ lucrative new contract rewarded and reinforced his behavior, reinforcing the fault for Williams’ behavior belonging to network executives, not Williams.

Williams learned what behavior was appropriate and would be permitted not by what people said to him but what they showed him by their actions.

NBC’s predicament is not Brian Williams’ fault.

Likewise, if a small business has employees whose behavior and performance is not up to the business owners’ standards, it’s not the employees’ faults either.

It is the fault of the small business owner!

Too many small business owners avoid dealing with employee attitude and behavior issues, wishing and hoping it will stop, while co-workers see it all right in front of them.

In a short period of time, employees’ morale declines as they lose respect for their boss and the company for which they work, causing everyone in the work environment has to tolerate the impact.

To improve employee attitudes, behaviors and performance you may want to download my newest report:

“The Missing Ingredient Needed to Improve Employee Attitudes, Behavior and Performance!”

For the free download visit: www.WorkplaceCommunicationExpert.com/missingingredient

Skip Weisman

Skip Weisman, The Leadership & Workplace Communication Expert, has worked with business leaders and their teams to transform both individual and organizational performance in industries from banks to plumbers since 2001. Skip’s experience helping his clients has shown that the biggest problems in workplaces today can be directly traced to interpersonal communication between people in the work environment. Having spent 20 years in professional baseball management, his first career in which he served as CEO for five different franchises, has given Skip tremendous insights and skills for build high-performing teams. To help small business leaders create a championship culture with employees performance at the highest levels, Skip recently published this white paper report The Missing Ingredient Necessary to Improve Employee Performance. Download a free copy of this report at The Missing Ingredient Necessary to Improve Employee Performance. During a 20-year career in professional baseball management, Skip served as CEO for five different franchises. That experience gave Skip tremendous insight and skill for building high-performing teams in the workplace and championship cultures.