Toby Futrell Put This Porn on My Computer!

Mike Levy is a man of letters. Surely you've seen some missives from the Texas Monthly founder and publisher – they've landed in your mailbox before, especially around City Council elections, whether you wanted them or not. But he's always got something to say - especially anything involving the city manager's office, which he's made his personal flogging horse over the years.

This letter to council is more of a stretch than most, demanding Toby Futrell repent for the EMS PornoGate scandal, but make of it what you will.

"A heads up.

"The CMO apparently knows about EMS paramedic heads rolling for watching porn on city computer terminals, involving somewhere between 12 and 18 paramedics, a very small fraction of the total paramedics in a formerly great organization, but probably symptomatic of a much greater problem associated with the lack of effective and adequate operational and medical leadership within EMS that the CMO has known about for a very long time.

"And it's a good bet that this same violation of the City's most appropriate computer usage policy is happening within other city departments, and is clearly wrong, but the CMO has favorites amongst department heads, and some are just a whole lot more favorite than others.

But this story really is NOT about a few people who for some strange reason like porn and misuse City of Austin resources to watch it.

"So what is it about?

"As expected, a hand will NOT be raised by the CMO and/or by the department head to assume ultimate responsibility, and say '!Mea culpa! This happened on my watch, so I am ultimately responsible.' Instead, lesser souls will be thrown under the proverbial bus.

"Remember the awful 'Burn, baby, burn' incident? Same thing. Neither the CMO or the police chief would assume direct responsibility, that the incident happened on their watch, and they ultimately were culpable.

"Ditto: The recent dispatching error on the Bert's barbecue fire.

"(And these are just the ones that we know about!)

"The real culprits: The members of the Council who have never forced the CMO to be accountable for anything. And the CMO has refused to be held accountable. It's always someone further down the food chain who is expendable.

"No accountability.

"No responsibility.

"It's always interesting to watch what happens to the City's 'manager types' (I'm ever so tempted to call them 'empty suits') when they learn the media is hot on their trail. Typically panic and reaction is the mode of choice, and so it was this past week when what was going to be a 'sweep under the rug' operation has transformed into a 'heads must roll' spin control operation. It gives the impression of vigorous corrective action, but is it and does it truly address the deeper issues in play? With the CMO it has always been about appearances and spin control and 'behind covering,' the CMO's behinds primarily. These problems don't just happen, they evolve over time because of complacency and organizational drift and disconnect. It's a clear sign the City's entire workforce, in all departments, is de-moralizing, and the personnel no longer identify with or take pride in their organization. If you want to identify the true basis of origin, go to top of any organization because it always begins there. The CMO's managers will find this revelation highly threatening and will go all out to discount any hint of their connection to the issue, but the fact remains, the department's head and key assistants are ultimately responsible for any and all things that go on under their watch. While manager-types always like to avoid accountability, the fact is they are paid the big bucks to be among, others things, 'accountable.' The porno issue is a symptom of a dysfunctional executive management. Fix this problem and you fix these types of issues, ignore them and the problems will only multiply.

"And it's all compounded by the CMO which has institutionalized in departments a culture of retaliation, especially for dissent from the partyline and management viewpoint.

"Vision, values and culture start at the top, not the bottom of any organization. They start with leaders, not managers. The CMO has refused to acknowledge that there is a profound difference between 'managers' versus 'leaders.' Leaders are strategic, visionary and connect to others at an emotional level. Heart to heart, passion to passion. They operate from a position of respect, trust, commitment and thrive on the possibilities of possibilities. Change is always part of their world. Leaders think as 'we.' Managers on the other hand are tactical. They think as 'I.' The managers world is defined by process, task, rules, policies, procedures. They are the institutional police who maintain the culture via the rule of authority. Stability and routine are important and their goal. They are not comfortable with the intangibles of possibilities, broad sweeping vision or change, and this is especially true if the change threatens to disrupt the manager's perceived power and authority. Managers love well defined tasks, and view life from the safety and simplicity of black and white. Risk taking and innovative, entrepreneurial actions, thinking organizationally and not departmentally, are not their comfort zone. They love the safety of well defined structure.

"The CMO's department heads are mere managers. They should be the 'leader of leaders.'"