Article originally published in the American City Business Journals on November 20, 2018
Steve Jobs, the late founder, chairman and CEO of Apple, is quoted as saying: “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”
I would add: You should hire smart people of high emotional intelligence with common sense and good critical judgment who will do the right thing, recognize the brutal facts of reality, are committed to delivering a great customer experience, and will lead with the right tone at the top.
Many mission-critical decisions surrounding the Flint, Michigan, water crisis in 2015 were poorly made and serve as lessons for leaders of all organizations, as outlined in the updated excerpts of a January 2016 article I wrote on the crisis that follow.
To reduce costs, in March 2013, Flint’s mayor and its city council made the decision to switch the long-term source of Flint water from the Detroit water system to the Karegnondi Water Authority, which would construct a pipeline to transport water from Lake Huron to Flint. In April 2014, to save $5 million during the remaining two-year period until the construction was complete, Flint switched from Detroit to the Flint River as an interim source of city water.
The water from the Flint River has a high salt content and therefore is very corrosive, causing lead and other heavy metals to leach out of aging pipes delivering water to homes. The addition of an anti-corrosion agent to high salt content water is a well-established and common practice to reduce heavy metal leaching from water system pipes. The cost would have only been $100 per day, but it was not done.
More than half of the population of Flint is African-American, and nearly half of the city’s population lives below the poverty line. Were the demographics of Flint a factor in the decision to switch to untreated Flint River water, as some individuals suggested? If these government and environmental officials experienced the same type of water coming from the faucets in their homes, corrective action would have been demanded and immediately implemented.
The lead levels in water sourced from the Flint River within some homes were found to be several orders of magnitude higher than what was considered acceptable. It was estimated that as many as 12,000 residents of Flint had elevated levels of lead in their bodies. Many of these were children, who could suffer developmental issues and a range of other health problems.
In a January 2016 Washington Post article headlined, “The poisoning of Flint,” columnist Katrina vanden Heuvel wrote, “When complaints persisted, officials assured residents that the water was safe to drink, repeatedly disregarding clear evidence that it wasn’t. But when elevated levels of lead showed up in children’s blood this past fall, the government was forced to admit there was a problem.
“[Michigan Governor Rick] Snyder’s then chief of staff, Dennis Muchmore, acknowledged the [Snyder] administration’s deplorable response in a July 2015 email, writing, ‘These folks are scared and worried about the health impacts and they are basically getting blown off by us (as a state, we’re just not sympathizing with their plight).’”
Snyder declared a state of emergency in Flint on Jan. 5, 2016. He has also acknowledged his role in this crisis. “Accountability” and “austerity” has been Snyder’s political narrative.
Was austerity partly to blame for the Flint water crisis? Due to the weak financial condition of the city, Snyder had appointed a series of emergency managers to oversee the finances of Flint, and it was one of these emergency financial managers that signed off on the switch to Flint River water. What was he thinking?
The Flint Advisory Task Force appointed by Snyder to investigate the crisis has stated, “The Flint water crisis is a story of government failure, intransigence, unpreparedness, delay, inaction, and environmental injustice. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) failed in its fundamental responsibility to effectively enforce drinking water regulations. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) failed to adequately and promptly act to protect public health.”
What is the current status of the water crisis in Flint? Testing has indicated that lead levels in Flint water have now dropped below federal standards, so bottled drinking water is no longer being distributed. Those responsible for the crisis are still being brought to justice.
Tone at the top and institutional culture play a critical role in the success of any organization. Michigan government and regulatory leaders were horribly lacking in both. They did not fulfill their responsibility — protecting the people of their state.
Whether a government or regulatory leader, the CEO of a company or head of a nonprofit organization, these leaders’ constituents — the public, employees customers or stockholders, are counting on them to do the right thing. The Flint water crisis is a lesson in how not to act as a leader.
Stan Silverman is founder and CEO of Silverman Leadership. He is a speaker, advisor and nationally syndicated writer on leadership, entrepreneurship and corporate governance. Silverman earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering and an MBA degree from Drexel University. He is also an alumnus of the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School. He can be reached at Stan@SilvermanLeadership.com. Follow Silverman on LinkedIn here and on Twitter, @StanSilverman.
