There are thousands of books on management styles. These books are written by some of the most notoriously happy, peaceful, and Zen-like people you have ever met. (oddly, they are also usually on their fourth marriage, too… go figure). They teach us various and often conflicting ways to supervise and manage the rest of us in a way where we willingly work at twice the speed of sound all the while singing hymns to the company.

“Hallelujah, Hallelujah, I cook fries for a living.

Hallelujah Hallelujah, I would do it for free.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, My boss is my master.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, It’s great to be me.

These wonderful volumes teach us to manage scores of people by a thousand different strategies.  Some teach that all issues can be managed in a minute, some show us that by moving cheese we inspire people to greatness, others teach of trust and empowerment, while a few explain that at the heart of any employee lies the heart of Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli and the knife of Jack the Ripper.

Many of these books become required reading because, we are told, they reflect the culture of the organization we work for and its warm analogies and fables outline the utopia that is our work life. The truth for most companies is the book you are asked to read, absorb, and assimilate into your working style, like a Borg soldier on crack, has been forced on you because someone higher up (oddly going through his/her sixth divorce) had a life changing experience by reading the tome and thinks that everyone should have the same rapturous epiphany experience. The truth is, each of us is wired differently and, yes, there are books, movies, songs, and styles that ring true to our nature. There will be a book that resonates with how we see the world and in that visual reflection we find validation and perhaps an easier way to express our foundational beliefs. (It’s the only way to explain some peoples love for square dancing and MTV reality shows.) Because the book articulates our philosophy better than we can, managers assign the book for everyone else to read expecting the life changing euphoria to turn our company from Hell to Heaven (or from Microsoft Corp. to Apple, Inc.).

We read the book as required and, while the book may entertain us and perhaps even provide us with some better ways to manage time, productivity, and sociopathic IT representatives, inevitably we will regress to our rhythm, style, and processes that have gotten us to where we are on the corporate food chain. If the only problem with the “company culture by book” event was that everyone read the book but went back to their lives with nothing changed, it would not be so bad. But as I have discovered, through both research and having lived this nightmare more times than Larry King has said “I do!”, this cycle will often do far more harm than good.

With each person who has been required to book worm a developmental digest, there then becomes the management expectation that the reader will now change into a leadership butterfly. There is also the high probability that bonuses, goals, and operational metrics will have been adjusted to embrace the new bibles’ philosophy and, even if not, the expectation of positive change will have so permeated the entire organization that, should nothing happen, heads will roll.

I remember a great celebration at a company (who shall remain nameless but, if you eat salads, you have probably enjoyed their food) at the arrival of several boxes of books which taught the value of personal accountability. Soon it was to be that all within the company would hold great ownership in their work, take credit for their accomplishments, and hold great personal responsibility for the work they provided. We would be empowered and blameless of others. With great fanfare the books were distributed. Learning sessions, discussion groups, expensive consultants, and recognition events soon followed. It was as though the black plague had ceased to flow through the organization by simply distributing soap and warm water.

It lasted about a month.

As is usual for this kind of event, the senior executives started to falter as they slipped back into their old management styles. Directors and Managers began to openly notice the selective application of who was held accountable and who the fall guy was. The book quickly became a joke as example after example of persons who sinned against the great philosophy without repercussions became the tales by which tribes of supervisors would speak of at the sacred coffee dispenser.

So destructive was this failed effort to change everyone into a management clone that persons with highly effective management styles, which were incredibly inspirational, left the company. This book which changed for the better the lives of perhaps 25% of the readers, created a management nightmare for anyone not wired to fit the style and instruction of the book.

The simple lesson from all this is that each of us is wired differently. We all hear different voices and walk to different drummers. This blend of personalities, styles, and outlooks will never be boxed into any book or singular approach to life. When I consult with a company, I know there will be people who are ignited with inspiration and others who will simmer with opposition. I have seen great managers with extensive libraries of self-help books who take the time to know the members of their team and then customize the books or programs to play to their strengths and not try to mold them into a clone of their boss. We all assume the world thinks like us… pity. But knowing that does explain much of the strife we have at work. You can learn a lot about a person by looking at their bookshelf…but that’s another topic for another article.

Shortly after this great experience I just told you about, any initiative to correct processes, manage people, or build the company failed because everyone would reference the great experiment that disappeared in a puff of paper dust. The company still struggles today to understand how one $11.86 book started a cataclysmic cultural downfall.

So when your boss hands you a book and says, “Here is coming redemption for all of our woes,” take a deep breath, dive in, hold on… and maybe dust off your resume. You will know by chapter 3 how this tale will end.