A Retired President of UPS International on How to Bend the Rules
Highly successful leaders bend and break rules.
The gray areas make or break you.
The art of leadership happens outside the lines. Staying within the rules is safe and easy.
“Not all rules apply the same to everybody everywhere.” Ron Wallace, ret. President UPS International
An exception:
Ron told me the story of a driver he could have terminated for his third accident. Ron chose to tear up the accident report.
The story interests me because sometimes doing the right thing is doing the “wrong” thing – breaking the rules.
Ron’s decision to make an exception turned a resistant employee into a powerful ally.
Rigid adherence to the rules isn’t always the best thing.
Ron Wallace in his own words on when to bend or break the rules (6:32):
How to make exceptions and bend the rules:
- In most cases hold the line.
- Don’t engage in illegal or unethical behaviors.
- Go with your heart.
- Seek the best way (which isn’t always in the lines).
- If you don’t have experience, seek advice from a boss.
- If you’re concerned about legal issues, seek advice from legal counsel.
- Move forward if you have reasonable confidence you won’t do harm. (Reasonable confidence is the best you’re going to get in gray areas.)
“If there’s doubt, ask somebody else.” Ron Wallace, author of Leadership Lessons from a UPS Driver.
What suggestions do you have for breaking rules and making exceptions?
This is grace.
Thanks Brandon.
Dan great subject. Two comments:
1. I often tell people you need to Learn the Rules in your firm. This is especially critical with all the Human Resources ones about Rewards and Compensation. You can then bend them a bit to maximize what your key employees deserve to receive.
2. In my book I have a story called Black and White vs. Grey. It deals with the fact that where you stand in a firm, title or role, often causes you to look at things as Black and White or Grey. And as you move up your view will likely change as well!
Brad
Brad James, The Business Zoo
Thanks Brad. Learn the rules first. Wonderful contribution. You make me think that if we can’t identify and navigate the gray, we can’t succeed in upper leadership.
I picked up on this one: “Move forward if you have reasonable confidence you won’t do harm.” I would add ‘and some (probably heart related) thinking that you will likely do good.’
Thanks John. Love it!
I work in med tech consulting where there is a high degree of ambiguity, since we only work with cutting edge innovations. Obvious channels don’t quite work for what we’re trying to accomplish with our clients; often, we have to pave the (new) way. In this sense, the concept of leadership outside the lines, and knowing when to bend rules, holds very true. “Reasonable confidence is the best you’re going to get in gray areas.” <– This really resonates.
Thanks threecharms. Every time we pave the new way, things get ambiguous.
I hear a lot about leading innovation. If you’re going to lead innovation you’re going to live in the land of reasonable confidence. I wonder if sometimes it looks unreasonable to someone looking in from the outside?
“What suggestions do you have for breaking rules and making exceptions?”
I suggest you be very, very careful. If anything goes wrong, your good intentions probably won’t help you when the inevitable fallout comes. Most organisations don’t care what you meant to do. It’s what you did they will judge you on.
Thanks Mitch. Your comment reminds me why this topic is so important. How organizations/leaders deal with mistakes is one of the most important things about them.
This can be successful as long as those who report to you accept that every situation, every decision where bending is being considered, should be treated individually. There is NO one size fits all. Each carries its own set of circumstances. Grey for you may not equal grey for him. People MUST trust you/that or I imagine it can become divisive.
Thanks Will. You bring out the importance of playing within the rules most of the time. I think that builds trust. An exception is just that, an exception.
Perhaps the degree to which our industry is innovative is an important factor in this conversation?
Interesting post and conversation. I think an important corollary of bending the rules is the well known maxim that it’s ‘Better to Beg for Forgiveness than to Ask for Permission.’ Often being too focused on rules can slow you down so forge ahead, make things happen and then deal with the consequences afterwards …
Rules or not, it seems best when we choose Right over Easy. Right is always harder, otherwise we’d have called it ‘easy.’ LOL.
When Right goes against the rules, we exercise our greatest contributions as leaders. Rules should come with a warning…’for now, not forever’ Context is king.
Right over rules had a huge impact on my life when my wife was diagnosed with Leukemia, 19 days after my daughter was born. The Cleveland Clinic saved our lives in more than one way.
This quick video summarizes the process.
https://youtu.be/w0zoOecQXY0
One thing to take into account is that different human personalities have varying capacities to deal with coloring outside the lines. For some it causes too much stress and at the very least has to become a learned behavior, vs. it can be a natural thing for others. And this includes dealing with the fallout. Just something to think about.
One example of fallout I was witness to was second shift production supervisor who had the best production efficiency and thruput numbers for beverage packaging plant. The way he got his was results was by walking onto the production floor for his shift and immediately shutting down all the machines. He then proceeded to set the machines to his own personal settings instead of what the installation team had developed. After a few reprimands from management, who handled these sessions poorly, and to which the supervisor responded poorly, he was fired. A “lose-lose” for the company’s stakeholders and the employee.
How many times do we hear, “You have to follow the channels?” Even if we want to say, “But sir, there is a dead horse in the channel, and I had to go around it.” Rules are important. When used right, they create order, method and goals. When rules are used injudiciously though, they can strangle innovation, progress and hope. Rules should always be the tools; not the actual goal. A good leader knows that some rules must be broken. A rule must often be broken in order to instate a better rule. Needless to say, you must learn the rule well before you can break it.
Breaking some rules are imperative. Early on during the COVID-19 pandemic, anecdotes and news articles abounded about health care workers who were told not to do patient care while wearing masks, as it would “cause unnecessary panic.” It is now clear that such a rule could have had deadly consequences. If a rule or order is clearly illegal, immoral or dangerous, it must be broken. Other rules should only be broken in extraordinary circumstances, like running a red light to let an ambulance pass.
Rules are not always immutable. They get outdated, become a hindrance, or simply are ignored. Humorists are fond of writing about outdated statues that are still on the books somewhere (in Cleveland, it is illegal for women to wear patent leather shoes). When rules start being ignored, they need to be re-examined. Having rules simply for the sake of rules means that the rule has become the goal, rather than the instrument.
Finally, do not be afraid to break your own rules. Many leaders are reluctant to break their own rules lest they be seen as unsure or a flip-flopper. When your rule no longer serves it purpose, the confident leader will admit it, and let it go.