Your post on “leadership by threat” triggered a memory. My example occurred in a vastly different environment – mine is not from a combat theater situation – but there are a few similarities.

Years ago while working in private industry in Denver, CO; I faced a hard core policy about contributing to a charity. First let me say I’m most definitely in favor of giving generously to charity!!! I just don’t like being told WHO I give to and HOW MUCH I give.

That’s exactly what the policy was. A sliding scale dictated how much you gave depending on your position. And no one had a choice on which charity – there was only one specific national charity that received our donations and I won’t name the charity here.

Given my position at that time, I was told my “fair share” was 1% of my gross salary. I declined. I did give something but it certainly wasn’t 1% of my gross salary. And I can’t begin to describe the pressure levied on me to increase my giving.

Every year during the “annual campaign” I sat through several ‘discussions’ with my immediate boss, and on up into the executive level of management, plus folks from the Personnel Department. It was incredibly stressful for me.

I have never been able to understand any company with a policy so strict on charitable giving that its leadership felt compelled to put unreasonable pressure on employees to comply. And although giving to charity is part of the social responsibility of a strong business . . . that responsibility doesn’t justify extortion.

I say extortion because I was ultimately told the following (and I quote): “Karen, either you start giving 1% of your gross salary through payroll deduction to XXX, or you won’t ever receive another promotion. You’ve gone as far as you’re going to go unless you change your attitude.”

What did I do? I held my ground. And within 6 months I voluntarily changed employers. This policy wasn’t the primary reason I left but it was a significant contributor.

That policy created an incredible amount of stress, uneasiness, and conflict among many, many employees. I wasn’t the only one who left and some left for that sole reason. Losing experienced and skilled employees certainly doesn’t help any company’s bottom line.

Leadership by threat is not only a weak form of leadership; it can also be a costly form of leadership.