Mike... I couldn't agree more with your post.  This is the kind of thing that gets my blood boiling too.  I spend a lot of time talking to leaders about their behaviours and, sometimes it feels like an uphill battle.  As one of my members said to me: If I mismanage my budget I'll be fired, but if I abuse the hell out of my staff to drive results, no one will say a word.  Leading through fear and intimidation is easy and can drive - in the short-term - results and profits.  We seem to live in a 12 month / quarterly business cycle where we don't worry about the short-term effects of our actions on others, so long as the results are rolling in.

Motivating and engaging employees to WANT to drive results and take your business to higher levels is hard.  It takes time and effort and a long-term commitment to making changes happen.  Plus, it may mean that, from time to time, owners and managers have to sacrifice their own fat compensation plans to eat the downturns (which ALL businesses cycle through) just like everyone else, instead of going for the slash and burn quick fix of layoffs and downsizings.

The only positive about Cloutier's article being published is that at least it shows that there is still more work to do to change the backwards viewpoints that he shares and let's really bright people know where NOT to apply.