We Are Not Commissars

That's obvious, right? 

And yet I've met executives and managers who seek to control the thoughts of their employees. They want to dictate not just conduct, but also the private moments, in order to ensure that they have both loyal followers and true believers. This ugly tendency is found in totalitarian regimes that strive to control everything. 

That quest is, to use the old term, a fool's errand. It's hard enough to get the behavior you want. If your employees are performing well on a project they may not love, that's a sign of their professionalism and not a cause for concern. Crawling into the recesses of their minds is not only impractical, it is none of our damn business. 

Years ago, when I was handling the anti-discrimination program for a large city, I occasionally encountered executives and managers who were probably closet bigots. I didn't care so long as they didn't commit illegal acts of discrimination and their bias didn't spill over into the workplace. Over time, many of them became avid supporters of the EEO program. 

Why should I have worried if they were still clinging, in their heart of hearts, to a few half-baked prejudices from childhood days?

We are leaders, not commissars.