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The Six Types of Corporate Muck

Excerpted from

Built on Trust" by ARKY CIANCUTTI

Muck happens! There will always be a certain amount of muckiness; it's up to us to do a little muck maintenance on a regular basis. Here are the types you're likely to run into:

1. Coordination Muck: A week before the big first shipment to customers—surprise!—you discover that no one arranged for the packaging to arrive in time.

• Communication Muck: The president calls you to a meeting to discuss the problems between Marketing and other departments, not realizing that the VP for Marketing is out of town on urgent business. The VP hears about the meeting that was held "behind his back" and throws a fit.

• Legal Muck: The VP for Business Development signs a license that exceeds the limits of another, creating a breach of contract without a supplier. The supplier finds out and sues the company. Not surprisingly, Legal is upset that no one checked with them first.

• Financial Muck: Your company is running out of money. Your investors are backing off due to poor market conditions. Everyone looks depressed and worried.

• Entitlement Muck: Senior employees act as if they own their jobs, roles, office space and territories, and expect raises and bonuses no matter what. Management would prefer the staff prove themselves once in a while, which causes surprise and indignation among the staff.

• Original Muck: Two young employees, "born yesterday," act upon the bad advice of a local snake and decide to bite on an illegal apple. The employer rejects them from the premises under the world's first employee relocation package.

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