In December of 2007, I retired after 31 years of dedicated and honorable service to the people of Culver City.
I have never doubted my Loyalty to the city of Culver City, although others in the city have.
Today my loyalties have remained the same: God, Family, Country, My Community and the people of Culver City even though I do not live in the city and I no longer work there.
The one thing that has changed for me since my retirement is that I no longer have to ascribe to the additional Culver City Leadership Trait of Blind Loyalty.
Blind Loyalty is defined:
Loyalty to an individual in the organization, promoting their personal advancement and your own at all costs to the organization.
These individuals in city government lack almost all of the leadership traits defined in last week’s frontpageonline.com series that discussed the necessity of showing loyalty and respect, especially those traits of integrity, knowledge, tact, justice, unselfishness, and loyalty.
Culver City’s Blind Loyalty requires that for an employee to advance in the Organization, he or she must participate in the advancement of their leaders’ personal gains, even in the face of unethical, immoral or criminal acts.
In order just to stay in the Organization, you must remain silent. You must not question leadership at all.
The Fine Qualities of McCarthy
As a private citizen, I no longer have to remain silent.
I have known Dave McCarthy, Deputy City Attorney, ever since he started working for Culver City 13 years ago.
I have seen him leave the city on his many deployments and return to the city as the same dedicated employee each time.
I have never heard anyone question his leadership, legal abilities, or his Loyalty to the city.
Because of Dave McCarthy’s ability, experience, and leadership skills, the only threat he posed upon his return were to those individuals in positions that he was more qualified to hold.
How We Learned a Lesson
What better way to discredit and humiliate a fine, outstanding individual like Dave McCarthy.
After serving his country on the battlefield, do not allow him to return to work before undergoing a psychiatric evaluation. Make him and others question his psychological fitness, no matter what the results of the exam disclosed.
In the late 1970s or early ‘80s, if a police Ooficer was involved in a shooting, a sergeant would immediately respond to the scene, take the officer’s gun from him and transport him to the station.
Then we discovered that those two simple procedures did more to harm the police officer psychologically than the shooting itself.
Role Reversal
Police officers are trained to remove a suspect’s weapon and take him to jail. When this happened to the police officer involved in a shooting, the officer immediately believed that he was a suspect being arrested, and he began to doubt his own actions.
We learned what an impact this had on the police officers. Years ago, we stopped doing it.
Since no one individual will take credit for this decision, then I will have to question the leadership abilities and Loyalty of all three individuals involved in this joint action — City Atty. Carol Schwab, City Manager Jerry Fulwood and Personnel Director Serena Wright.
Stopping Short
These managers expect everyone to follow this idea of Loyalty.
But they always stop at the words “Faithfulness to your Superiors.”
They leave off the last two words “and Subordinates.”
Where is Loyalty shown by these three leaders of the city of Culver City to their subordinate?
What faithfulness was shown to Dave McCarthy after all he has done?
The answer: None.
Dave McCarthy’s leadership abilities and Loyalty are intact,.
All he did was follow orders and do his job.
He made one statement:
The experience was humiliating to him.
But he continues on as a Dedicated, Loyal employee of the city of Culver City.
Let me use a leadership trait definition to describe Dave McCarthy’s actions in this matter.
Courage: A mental quality that recognizes fear of danger or criticism but enables a man to proceed in the face of it with calmness and firmness.
