Pulling Rank

Hierarchy in the military is incredibly important. The entire structure works because several people have to listen to the orders of one person, who tends to listen to the orders of someone else.

Rank is what tells you what someone’s position in a hierarchy is.

It is everyone’s duty in the military to know what their rank is, and to be able to determine the rank of anyone they interact with. Someone with a higher rank can order someone of a lower rank to do something, but on the flip side, they also have a heavier responsibility to take care of the people ranked under them.

Now, this is not just some formality! Order-following in the military is an absolute necessity. Without a clear structure of who commands whom, any sufficiently complex plan is very likely to fail. It’s clear to see how important rank is in such a setting.

Not all settings are like this, though. The business world, for instance, mirrors a lot of the structure the military uses. There’s a boss at the top that’s usually called a manager (or, if the business is big enough, a CEO), and then there are several assistant managers underneath them. There might be a handful of employees for each manager, depending on how big the organization is.

However, business and the military have plenty of notable differences too. For one thing, it’s almost never life-or-death in business, although people’s livelihoods and quality of life can certainly be affected, and I don’t take those things lightly as a business owner myself. Still, opening a new gym isn’t storming the beach at Normandy.

For this key reason, collaboration is a lot more desirable in a business setting. In a military setting, the leader presents the strategy to use and the soldiers agree to act. In business, leaders often want to strategize with their team. This can lead to some healthy (and sometimes unhealthy) back-and-forth, where new ideas can be generated and observations about the plan can be discussed.

All of this healthy brainstorming and analysis is only possible when the leader(s) put aside their position in the hierarchy. By operating as though the playing field is level, a good leader makes it safe for everyone to participate in the discussion.

However, there is an inverse phenomenon that can do the exact opposite of this. Over the last century, this destructive act has come to be called pulling rank.

If you’ve ever heard because I’m the boss as a reason, you know what this feels like. All of the collaborative energy is sucked out of the room, and everyone kind of gives up. Pulling rank means you don’t need to hear what everyone else thinks about an idea, since you’ve already made up your mind.

If you’re an employee or manager working in this type of culture, it feels like the rug is ripped out from underneath your feet. Good luck getting meaningful engagement from someone this has happened to more than once.

I should be clear that there are certainly times when pulling rank is appropriate, like when there isn’t any time for discussion at a critical hour in a project. Likewise, if there’s some kind of safety emergency, there can be little room for debate and discourse, especially if a leader sees more than their staff (so often the case).

Ultimately, rank in business should be something like a tiebreaker during healthy discussions. If you can reach consensus, go for it, but don’t rely on it. It should be used as sparingly as possible.

Have you had rank pulled on you? Have you pulled rank on someone recently? What did it feel like at either end?