The Lone Ranger (P---)

What happens when an organization has a manager who is a knowledgeable achiever, a doer, an outstanding (P) but no capability to (A), (E) or (I), who functions like the ideal railroad engineer? You show him the track, tell him what stations to go to, give him the train, and off he goes, full speed ahead – through walls if necessary. He is such a good doer, such a good achiever, and so diligent, that naturally, you promote him to a higher level of management.

That’s when the problem arises: He’s not an (A), not an (E), not an (I). I don’t know why. It’s irrelevant. I am only marginally interested in the why of behavior. I am mostly interested in what that behavior is and what to do about it. The fact is that he can’t (A)dministrate: Organize, coordinate, delegate, follow up, supervise, and control. He’s not an (E)ntrepreneur: He doesn’t come up with new ideas; he’s not creative, and he dislikes taking risks. And he’s not an (I)ntegrator: He is not sensitive to interpersonal relations; he doesn’t worry about group dynamics or individuals’ feelings. He does not relate well to people.

He does not build a team or develop the capabilities of others around him – he is too busy (P)roducing.

In the United States he is called The Lone Ranger. In Mexico and in Scandinavia he’s called the Lonely Wolf. Every country has a name that reflects the style that might be different, but the behavior of that style is identical.

Once he identifies a task, the Lone Ranger is a good soldier. And he will get the job done. That’s his advantage: He’s loyal, dedicated, and a compulsive doer – but because he overdoes one aspect or role of management to exclude the other roles, he can become a liability.

What are the characteristics that typify a Lone Ranger? The Lone Ranger focuses on the what, not the how, the who, and even the why. “What do we need to do now? Come on, guys, let’s go to it. Let’s not waste any more time.” He doesn’t really care whether he is doing the right thing as long as he is doing something.

Does he work hard? Yes, very hard. Too hard. When does he come to work? First one in. When does he leave work? Last one out.

In fact, the Lone Ranger measures his success and his value to the organization by how hard he works. When you ask him, “How are you doing?” his typical answer might be, “I’ve been working till midnight lately.” And “lately,” in his case, might be his entire working life!

How is his desk: Clean? Never. It’s piled to the ceiling with papers, and somehow, although he’s always working hard, he’s always behind, always complaining that the day is too short. “The new week has already started, and I haven’t even finished last week’s work!”

Yet how would he feel if he came to work and found his desk clean and nothing to do? He would panic. Why? Because he’s worried when he’s not worried. He needs to be constantly doing something.

Over the years, I’ve discovered that the Lone Ranger is an addict, just like an alcoholic. He is a workaholic.

One of the characteristics of an alcoholic is that he’s never far away from a bottle. Similarly, the Lone Ranger is never far away from work. It’s 11 o’clock at night; what is he carrying home with him? A briefcase full of work – in case he can’t sleep, at least he can do some work.

To a workaholic, going on vacation is a punishment. It’s like saying to an alcoholic, “You must go to a dry island for two weeks.” That’s scary. So what will he pack for his vacation? A trunk full of work, like an alcoholic who hides a bottle in his suitcase.

If you say to an alcoholic, “I have a bottle of the best booze there is; what should I do with it?” he’s going to say, “Give it to me.” Similarly, if you go to a Lone Ranger and say, “I have a problem; what should I do with it?” he’s going to say, “Put it on my desk.” In fact, the more difficult the problem is, the more likely he is to say it. Those tons of overdue paperwork and projects on the Lone Ranger’s desk aren’t work. They are all bottles. Bottles, bottles, bottles. Only when he’s sure he cannot do a job by himself – only then will he delegate. But by then, of course, the problem is already a crisis.

The (P---) is like a kid: “Let’s go! What’s next?” He has only a short-term attention span; he moves quickly from one thing to another, and if it doesn’t work out, he loses interest and goes on to the next thing. When a new problem is brought to his attention, he drops whatever he is doing and plunges indiscriminately into the new task. In fact, he is always rushing from task to task, from crisis to crisis. The more running around he does, the “better” he thinks he is working.

The Lone Ranger takes things literally: ”Yes” means yes, and ”no” is no, even if that’s not what other people really mean. Lone Rangers do not understand nuances. For them, everything is simple. Everything is literal. Give them a ”yes” or a ”no”; just don’t give them a “maybe.”

Lone Rangers hate to deal with uncertainty, with alternatives, with ambiguity. They see everything as either black or white; (P---)s are exceedingly uncomfortable with gray. They can’t take the pain of sitting in a meeting, thinking things through. They cannot accept that it might take three days to solve a major problem. They want things simple, and they want them now. Going full speed ahead makes the (P---) feel good – even though he might be speeding directly into an abyss.

The (P---) prefers doing the job himself to directing others. Let’s take a (P---) architect as an example. He is such a good architect that eventually he heads his own firm and hires other architects and draftsmen to work for him. But when he comes to work, where do you think he drifts? Does he drift to the accounting department? No! He drifts to the design department. He watches his employees work for a little while; then he says, “OK, let me show you how to do it.” And he sits down at the drafting table himself and starts designing.

Why does the Lone Ranger prefer to do everything himself? One reason is that he wants to make sure things are done properly. “If you want to be sure something is done right, you’d better do it yourself,” is one of his typical expressions.

Also, he hates being idle; it makes him feel like a parasite. The Lone Ranger measures himself by how hard he works – so if he were to delegate, what would be left for him to do? He needs to be indispensable, to have problems waiting in line for him. He is always rushed, and he likes it that way.

The (P---) only delegates when it’s too late or almost too late. He delegates today what should have been done two weeks ago. That’s why he is always in a crisis. His subordinates are hanging around, waiting, coming in late, doing very little. Then all at once there’s an emergency: Everybody’s running here and there, firefighting. That’s why another nickname for the Lone Ranger is the Firefighter.

Lone Ranger types are like bulldogs; they get their teeth around the other dog’s neck and lock their jaws and don’t let go. They are compulsive about getting the job done unless there is a bigger or graver crisis that needs to be addressed. For them, more is better. They confuse quantity with quality.

And this is also how they treat others. If they want to make something happen, they do not touch, they hit. A (P---) will come down on others in a dictatorial style, telling them what to do and when he wants them to do it – “You do it right now!” He overdoes it.

By the same token, if you want to convince a (P) to change direction, hinting will not work. You’d better hit him with everything you have. A (P) will hear you only when you are deafeningly loud.

Managing, to the Lone Ranger, means managing the task, getting the job done. To him, other people are merely tools for serving that goal. As a result, the Lone Ranger is politically naive. He doesn’t realize that people’s judgments might be colored by their own needs and desires. He can make political blunders that lead you to question his intelligence seriously.

The ultimate do-it-yourselfer, the Lone Ranger hates meetings with a passion. If he is required to come to a meeting, he will come reluctantly.

The same principle applies to the Lone Ranger’s own staff meetings: He will avoid them as long as he possibly can. “There’s too much work to do; I have no time for meetings.” If you force him to hold meetings, he’ll probably initiate a conversation, one-to-one, very likely standing in the hallway on his way to somewhere else, and he’ll call that a meeting. Because he’s addicted to e-mail and voice mail, he truly believes that leaving messages or short instructions is sufficient for fostering teamwork, and is certainly a fine alternative to those time-consuming meetings.

The Lone Ranger’s subordinates are the same everywhere, though their nicknames vary from country to country. In the television series “The Lone Ranger,” the subordinate was called Tonto. In the United States, they are called gofers. In Mexico, they are called inginiero ibeme, which means, “Go bring me something.” In Israel, they are called errand boys.

Since the Lone Ranger cannot do everything himself, he uses his subordinates as “expediters” who assist him with errands and shortterm assignments but have no permanent, long-term responsibilities. These people spend most of their time waiting to be summoned to deal with the next crisis – for which they generally have no experience or training. These gofers and errand boys are not always low-level managers. In many companies, top vice presidents are gofers for a Lone Ranger. I once worked in a developing nation with a Prime Minister whose style was predominately (P). He had cabinet ministers waiting in the corridors, never knowing when they might be summoned in.

When do these gofers come to work? Late. When do they leave? Early. What do they do in the meantime? They wait.

Does the Lone Ranger delegate to his subordinates? No. When you ask him, “Why don’t you delegate?” he responds, “They can’t do it. They’re not ready. They’re not prepared.”

“How long have they worked for you?”

“25 years.”

“So why don’t you train them?”

“I have no time to train them.”

“Why don’t you have time to train them?”

“Because I have no one to delegate to.”

Because everything has to go through him, the Lone Ranger inevitably becomes a bottleneck. Since he has limited time, not everything gets done and things get lost on his desk.

The (P---) sees no value in the systematic ex catedra classroom training of subordinates. He prefers the apprenticeship approach: Subordinates learn how to perform a task by watching him do it himself. “In this business there aren’t any secrets; just get the job done,” he insists. “If someone is willing to work hard, he should have no problem getting the job done.”

The Lone Ranger has a very limited, short-term perspective; he sees only the nearest horizon. Thus he is typically an improviser – “All right, let’s get going! Does it work? Done! Finito! Go! Next!” He won’t take the time to pay attention to the larger questions: What is ultimately needed? What are the details that are necessary to make it work? His view of time is that it should be used to solve the immediate problems of the organization. He has no concern for “ten years down the pike,” and is always promising to plan later, “after I finish clearing my desk.” But of course that never happens.

The organization that a Lone Ranger manages cannot grow, since he is not growing. He is inflexible and simple-minded. He can easily burn out and become obsolete. When he leaves a company, he leaves untrained people behind.