The Screwtape Slack

One of my opportunities as a parent is “consuming content” with my teenage sons.  They introduce content to me that I would otherwise be oblivious to and I, of course, get to in turn reciprocate.  I’m re-reading C.S. Lewis’ classic The Screwtape Letters and introducing it to my 15-yr old.

The Letters were originally published in 1942 but it’s the preface to the 1962 revised edition that recently caught my eye.  Here, Lewis reflects on the original letters, his intent, how our culture caricaturizes angels and demons, and the nature of evil itself.  He writes, “I like bats better than bureaucrats.  I live in the Managerial Age, in a world of “Admin”.  The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid “dens of crime” that Dickens loved to paint.  It is not done even in the concentration camps and labour camps.  In those we see a final result.  But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice…”

Lewis continues, “…picture an official society held together entirely by fear and greed.  On the surface, manners are normally suave.  Rudeness to one’s superiors would obviously be suicidal; rudeness to one’s equals might put them on their guard before you were ready to spring your mine.  For of course “Dog eat dog” is the principle of the whole organization.  Everyone wishes everyone else’s discrediting, demotion, and ruin; everyone is an expert in the confidential report, the pretended alliance, the stab in the back.  Over all this their good manners, their expressions of grave respect, their “tributes” to one another’s invaluable services form a thin crust.  Every now and then it gets punctured, and the scalding lava of their hatred spurts out.”

Some may look at Lewis’ words and my implication and react, “WHOA!  Hang on just a minute!”  And that’s OK.  But before we dismiss or rationalize our way to a more comfortable seat, let me ask you:

·      Where in your organization are egos driving the agenda?  (even your own)

·      Where are bullies tolerated because they put up numbers?

·      Where is credit stolen or blame redirected?

·      When are prime assignments withheld in favor of ranking leaders’ own privilege?

·      In what ways are your people no longer people, but rather “human resources” or your companies “biggest asset”?

I’ve been around long enough to know that there remain a few organizations that are modern day “labour camps”, sanitized and cleaned for the world’s engagement.  Fortunately, these are the exception.  And I also know that even in our better organizations, pockets exist where something south of our best intent is the chronic norm left unaddressed either due to a lack of awareness or simply apathy. 

As leaders, we’re responsible for more; to have a higher standard; to manage our trade-offs according to a different economy; and to be challenged (occasionally) to reflect on where we (and the leaders under our charge) fall on this.