Will no one rid me of this priest?

As we consider the leadership failures that led to the current debacle at Volkswagen, we can take a lesson from English history.

Henry II, facing a disagreement with Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Beckett in 1164, is reported to have shouted out in frustration, “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?” Four knights heard what Henry had shouted and interpreted it to mean that the king wanted Becket dead. They rode to Canterbury and did the deed.

This story exempifies the term myrmidon. From this source, we get the following definition: “A loyal follower; especially: a subordinate who executes orders unquestioningly or unscrupulously.”

One of the dangers for a CEO is the tendency for your subordinates to take what you say and execute it to a degree you never intended.

Now, let’s take a quick look at the VW story, courtesy of the New York Times:

One way Volkswagen aimed to achieve its lofty goal was by betting on diesel-powered cars — instead of hybrid-electric vehicles like the Toyota Prius — promising high mileage and low emissions without sacrificing performance. 

The determination by Mr. Winterkorn, the company’s hard-charging chief executive, to surpass Toyota put enormous strain on his managers to deliver growth in America.

Volkswagen officials now state that Mr. Wintrerkorn knew nothing of the regulatory cheating that his engineers had designed into the company’s engines.  Some are skeptical:

“For something of this magnitude, one would expect that the CEO would know, and if he doesn’t know, then he’s willfully ignorant,” said Jeffrey A. Thinnes, a former Daimler executive who works as a consultant for European companies on compliance and ethics issues.

We may never know.  But what we can be sure of is that the myrmidons at VW thought they were carrying out the intent of the CEO.