I believe in learning all I can on any topic from anyone at any time. Dan Rockwell shares leadership insight from some most unlikely sources! As leaders we should always aspire to improving and getting better at what we do so we can honor the one who saved, called and sent us.
Originally posted by Dan Rockwell
Would your organization thrive if governments spent billions of dollars trying to destroy it?

Criminal organizations overcome all the challenges and obstacles of legal organizations plus the opposition of law enforcement. And they still thrive.
Organizations that last a long time, “Hold on to a credo.” Daniel Forrester
- Attract the right people. Passionate believers deliver great results.
- Embrace values: customer focus, freedom, loyalty, resourcefulness, speed, and immorality. (The inclusion of immorality is not an endorsement but an acknowledgement of criminal values.)
Organizations that outlast the competition, cling tenaciously to values and attract the ‘right’ people.
3 things that are remarkable about criminal organizations:
#1. Decentralized decision-making.
They push down almost all the day-to-day decisions to the people on the streets.
Mafia bosses do not decide which heists to do.
#2. Long-term recruiting mechanisms.
It’s difficult to get in. You might have to do crime for 8 or 10 years before you’re finally admitted to the Mafia.
#3. Incredibly strong culture.
It’s a badge of honor to belong. Even if you’re just a friend of a Mafia boss, they’re going to protect you.
The primary role of the boss:
Top leadership in organizational life solves the challenges of Strategy-Incentives-Alignment. Beyond that…
“The primary role of the Mafia boss is keeping peace in the family.”
Organizational success distills into 4 pillars:
- Effectively delegate. (empowerment)
- Consistently measure performance.
- Reliably reward or punish performance. (incentives)
- Intentionally create corporate culture that executes on strategy.
“The Four Pillars determine what is produced, how it is produced, and for whom it is produced, and as such determines an organization’s success and survivability
Recent Comments