Donkey-Chickens Roosting

Who knew the Democratic primaries would be like a book of small-business lessons? The latest: Business leaders do well to treat employees with respect, during and even after their tenure, the better to avoid chickens coming home to roost. At Tires Plus we worked hard to build a culture that honored our "teammates." When they left, we called them alumnae; they often came back to visit and were always in our thoughts and prayers.

The roosting-chickens lesson came up this week via the state of Indiana, where I grew up. In what has to feel like water-torture to Camp Clinton, superdelegates have been consistently dripping from Sen. Clinton's side into Sen. Obama's side. A few days ago when superdelegate and Indiana native Joe Andrew switched his vote from Clinton to Obama, it had to feel like getting dumped on by a cold bucket of water for Sen. Clinton.

The problem for Sen. Clinton is that Joe, a former head of the Democratic National Committee, appointed by Bill Clinton, wasn't the first Clintonista to jump ship. Others include New Mexico Gov. Bill "Judas" Richardson; former Clinton labor secretary Bob Reich; and attorney Greg Craig, defender of Bill Clinton during impeachment. According to Clinton super-surrogates Paul Begala, James Carville and Lanny Davis, the problem is that Joe and the rest didn't duly genuflect in appreciation for what Bill Clinton did for them. Ergo, they're traitors.

According to this logic, leaders should think that our employees are lucky to have jobs with us. I feel just the opposite. A leader should actually feel fortunate that people give themselves over to the pursuit of his company's mission and vision. You'd think that would be especially true of government. I saw Richardson, then energy secretary, in Minnesota the day he faced unmerciful heckling as the Clinton Administration bombed Iraq during Ramadan (and during the Lewinsky scandal). It's so easy for leaders to underestimate the challenges their people face day after day. Generally they don’t merchandise it to us. They just get the job done.

Which brings us back to Joe Andrew and the office he occupied. DNC chair is a thankless job, somewhat like a referee (ask Howard Dean). Notice comes only when there's a problem. Yet Clinton enforcer Terry McAuliffe unceremoniously dumped Joe. No thank you, no party.

Ironically, I happened to have an appointment with Joe the day McAuliffe canned him. Joe still took the meeting and didn't complain, didn't blame. Lawyer, entrepreneur, author, Joe didn’t hold anything against the Clintons and even endorsed Sen. Clinton for president. Then he watched this dreadful campaign deteriorate. Evidently there weren’t enough warm feelings left to overcome the pandering of gun-toting, shot-pounding, gas-tax holiday-supporting Sen. Clinton.

That's the constant drip-drip message for the Clinton camp (and small business) during this campaign: Treat your people well, now and once they move on. Otherwise, watch out for those darn chickens.