The top Tucker talent conundrum

This week, Tucker Carlson hit new levels of reach with news of his firing from Fox spreading like wildfire. The entire country was shocked. Some celebrated. Others boycotted. Tech gurus chimed in to say he’d triple his reach by starting his own podcast (this is probably true).

Nearly all of them missed the real lesson here:

No one is above the team.

It doesn’t matter how you feel about Tucker Carlson or his show. I’m not using this current event to share commentary on him as a personality, but it does create a really interesting discussion around culture. If there is any truth to what is being reported, he had to go.

From the WSJ:

“The Dominion court filings are filled with examples of him disparaging colleagues, from calling for the firing of Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich for fact-checking Mr. Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election to complaining about the network’s news coverage, including the decision to call Arizona for Mr. Biden on election night.

Inside Fox News, there has been a growing sense that Mr. Carlson couldn’t be managed, and viewed himself as untouchable, people familiar with the company said. Legal documents also revealed Mr. Carlson was unafraid to run roughshod over those whose views or actions he opposed.”

And finally:

“Mr. Carlson’s derogatory comments towards women, and his disdain for those who dare to object to such misogyny, is well known on the set” of his show.”

Remove the name “Tucker Carlson” and anyone would agree this is not the behavior of a team player. Yet many companies struggle to make the right decision when their top talent belittles other employees.

Weak leaders allow this behavior to exist.

Egos kill morale

It is not weak to be compassionate or to give second chances. But it is weak to compromise your values.

At my company, GoWild, we measure our team by Input, Output, Culture and Talent.

Tucker Carlson had more Output than anyone at Fox. It’s clear. He had their biggest audience by far. These types of shows also require tremendous on-camera Talent (most people will never know how hard it is to carry an entertaining conversation with a guest on camera).

However, the leaked documents and news reports showcase significant issues around his Input and Culture. I promise you, someone sat across the table and argued they couldn’t cut Carlson.

“He’s Fox News’ golden boy.”

“He’s our top rated show. This is insane!”

“Our audience will revolt.”

However, leadership recognized that one person cannot be worth more than the entire team. Disparaging your colleagues, degrading women, trash talking your superiors, going against the decisions of leadership—all of this is creating serious friction that will kill a company’s culture and ultimately, the bottomline. Once a culture is spoiled, it’s nearly impossible to fix.

Many have argued the firing was a vendetta. Maybe it was. Some of you will think I’m taking yet another shot at Tucker—I’m not, I don’t watch any news networks and the loss of the show has no impact on my day to day.

However, I do find it to be a really interesting situation for cultural debate. I’m laying all of this out as a very public example of something that happens in nearly every company eventually.

If you look at just the behavior, the action of firing him is justified.

Firing him had a consequence. But remember, not firing people has consequences, too:

• Keeping a bad cultural fit will have a negative impact on your team. Toxicity is like a drop of a poison in water—it’s nearly impossible to achieve purity again once you let the poison spill.

• Keeping someone who just isn’t as talented as your other teammates will eventually wear on your A+ rockstars who are carrying the load. They want to work with other A players. (None of this was the case with Carlson, but it’s worth noting).

• Keeping someone who isn’t trying as hard or isn’t putting out the same volume or quality of work as everyone else will create tension. Your rockstars will leave.

There’s more to it than culture
The complexity here is the Dominion case, which resulted in a mega payout. I haven’t followed that part of the news at all. But you don’t need that context when looking at the employee’s behavior.

All leaders will face a case like this. Top talent often develops ego. How leadership handles these moments, though, can decide what happens to the other 99% of your team. Is one person worth the rest of your talent under performing? Or worse, leaving?

The answer is no. Every time.

You can’t enforce rules and behavioral expectations when they’re fluid and enforced inconsistently. The moment you allow one person to operate outside of the spectrum of acceptable behavior, you’re sending a signal that the rules—and your leadership—are a facade.

How to evaluate egos vs. performance

1) Create a fair standard

When you’re facing bad behavior from a top performer, this one simple thing will give you clarity on if that behavior is acceptable—imagine if someone else did it. If it’s not acceptable for them, it isn’t acceptable for your Talent.

2) Give second chances—it’s not weakness

Not all of these offenses are created equally. Disparaging women? That could be an automatic firing. But an outburst against leadership? Well, people have bad days. Act swiftly, and inform the employee what they did, and why it is not inline with the company’s expectations. Have this conversation in person, but document it in writing so you have a reference point if it happens again.

3) Remember: No team wins with just a quarterback

No single player is worth more than a team. You can win a game with a decent quarterback if you’re strong across the board. But you will never win by keeping a top talent quarterback if the rest of your team has no chemistry with your best player.

Who I’m listening to: Evan Honer

What I’m reading: “The Naturalist: Theodore Roosevelt, A Lifetime of Exploration, and the Triumph of American Natural History”

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