The Leader’s Notebook

Hard questions, ambiguity and opinion for leaders

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Leadership Lesson from the World Cup: How to Be Your Own Worst Enemy

June 23rd, 2010 · Uncategorized

An American with no street cred whatsoever writing about the World Cup may be a dangerous thing.  While I am a fan, I cannot pretend to understand the subtleties of a game I did not ever play much.  And certainly I barely understand the arcane workings of FIFA, the governing body of the World Cup competition.  But I cannot resist wading in.  Not about the football, but about the sad implosion that is the French team.

The meltdown of the French has been painful and gruesome to watch.  While only those involved directly know what really happened (despite the very public nature of the revolt) there are some powerful lessons to be taken for leaders who deal with very high-pressure situations.  If you are not following the cup, take a moment and go to this article for a briefing about the goings on.

Lesson One: Karma Matters- So Does Hubris

The French squad should not have been in South Africa at all.  In a final qualifier against Ireland, French star Thierry Henry’s clear hand ball violation set up a winning goal for France, eliminating Ireland from the World Cup and sending France on to South Africa.  FIFA is not the NFL.   There are no replays or appeals.  So France got a lucky break and Ireland has to live with it.  That, if nothing else, should have set the French up to respect their good fortune and honor both the spirit of the event as well as the randomness that could have as easily gone the other way and eliminated them.  After all, even if you do not get caught until after the match, it is still cheating.

Lesson Two: Making Private Disputes Public is Like Throwing Gasoline on a Fire

There are plenty of reports of foment and unhappiness between players and the French coach Raymond Domenech before the altercation between he and Nicolas Anelka.   Whether this was a clash of two large egos destined to get out of hand or an example of an escalating amygdala hijack, only those in the room would know.  Either way, once it was public, the stakes for taking a deep breath and appearing weak by “backing down” went way up.  What was a private agreement between player and coach, no matter how toxic, was just that – private.  Just as telling others about personal goals makes a development process a bigger game, so does airing a spat publicly.

Lesson Three: Sometimes Leading Means Being the First to Offer a Hand in Concession.

I have often written here about the unseen emotional material that drives and ongoing conflict.  Opposing groups get into a pattern that is self-reinforcing and as such only escalates.  This was a perfect storm for a meltdown as well as an opportunity for Domenech to model mature leadership.  He was the picture of a lame duck.  The French football organization had already replaced him with former captain Laurent Blanc.  He had nothing to gain by insisting on being right.  Like Odysseus on his first stop after Troy, he had no control of his troops.  And like Odysseus it cost him.  By insisting that Anelka apologize, he set up an impossible condition (and got the opportunity to be righteous about it on TV).  Rather than swallow his pride, Anelka got on a plane for London.  Even if Domenech was right, his choice of strategy made him look petty and did not get him control of his troops.  The team demonstrated their disdain, in the clothing of support for their teammate, by boycotting an official practice.  After all “Le Greve” (going on strike) is practically a national pastime in France.  And to be certain their disdain was clear, they turned in what can only charitably termed a lackluster showing in their final match against host, South Africa.

And if Domenech had supporters in his corner, he likely did them no favors either by refusing to shake the hand of the South African coach at the end of what was the final defeat for France.  His focus was so clearly on disappearing that he managed to add insult to injury at an event he would have done better to respect.

I do not mean to ignore the players’ role in this.  One would hope that superstars who play for such powerhouses as Manchester United, Barcelona, Arsenal and Chelsea would shown more respect for the game and for the event, if not for themselves.  One can expect that a group of major talents would also include major ego’s.  Clearly Anelka could have swallowed his own pride and apologized.  But if the bigger outcome is to restore the French team’s morale to put them in fighting form for the event, it was the coach who had everything to gain and little to lose by extending an olive branch.

Lesson Four: A Toxic Environment Spreads Fast

While the initial drama was between a star player and the coach, multiple conflicts broke out feeding the toxicity of the environment.  A row between the team captain and the fitness coach was very public, fanned by the players’ attention to the adoring crowd at a public workout where they refused to train.  Conflict that has become personal allowed to fester will destroy any camaraderie or team spirit by feeding on itself.  And like a small child, the more it is ignored,  the greater the escalation will become.  Have a look at the Youtube clip and you can see the enmity and disdain feed each other.

All of this has had a bad ending for the team, the coach and the country.  Even the involvement of the Minister of Sport (yes, they have one in France) and Nicolas Sarkozy himself made no difference.  And the war is not over.  Rather than returning in first class on an Airbus 380 as they went to South Africa, the French team traveled back on a cheap and not-so-cheerful coach charter, booked at the last minute.  It is a sad state for a country that has been a powerhouse in the sport for decades.

Lastly- I could not help but notice a missed opportunity.  Where was Laurent Blanc?  I do not know much about him- except that he is now the new coach.  What could his voice and his presence have done?  Could he have been the person who could have put the vision of the French side as a competitor of class and capability in front of the personal squabbles?  We will not know since he passed on any visible attempt to make a difference.

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PonderThis: Which Risk Are We Managing?

June 17th, 2010 · PonderThis

Risk Management is supposed to be about insulating your business from the conditions and occurrences that could threaten continuing operations.  I can imagine that drilling for oil in deep oceans is a serious risk management challenge- since the impact of a system failure is so high.

So the question I have is? “Which risk were the managers at BP managing?”  Given what we know about the economic pressure on the rig and the likely bets placed on questionable operational safeguards, it is a good bet that BP was managing the risk of getting by- rather than the risk of actual breakdown.

It’s easy to point fingers here, but businesses make that bet all the time.  It is always a balance of practicality and profit.  In short, leaders make bets based on the likelihood of an event vs. the consequence of its actual occurrence.  That makes it easy to take a position that a high unlikelihood trumps caution in the decision, especially in the face of strong economic and cultural pressure to go forward.

But sometimes the consequences are so high that they simply trump any attempt to balance against even the remotest chance of actual failure.  In the case of BP’s operations in the gulf, the test of leadership is not one of balancing risk, but one of integrity and courage.  Bravado and economic pressure likely led to decisions to push forward when courageous integrity would have meant saying “no”.  What would have happened if the rig manager had made a different decision?  Would he have been backed up or backed into a corner?  Would the career impact been to see his courage lauded or a lateral arabesque into an out of the way staff job in favor of someone with higher levels of testosterone poisoning?

Now we are hearing all the other oil companies decry BP’s decisions and brag about their culture of safety.  But cultures are reinforced by rewards, both formal and informal.  My bet is that while the companies’ values statements may say safety first and protect the environment at all costs, the economics down the line invariably favor the machismo of drill baby drill- get the oil out of the ground.

And after all who can blame them?  Aren’t we the ones with the unquenchable thirst for oil and stock dividends from the companies that get it?

So what risk are we all really managing here: the actual risk of a catastrophe or the risk of getting caught taking chances?

PonderThis is published to arrive in your RSS/ mailbox on Fridays as a concept to ponder over the weekend and goes to thousands of subscribers on 4 continents.

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A Little Research Help?

June 4th, 2010 · Uncategorized

I am working on an article this month and need a little help from anyone reading here, and anyone you are willing to enroll.  Yep, one more web survey.  This one should take about 10 minutes tops, unless you really really want to put on the thinking cap.  The main body is two questions asking about what you remember about myths and mythological creatures.  A few optional demographic questions and you are done.

Sorry, I cannot tell you why I need this without spoiling the research, but if you leave your email, I will send you an abstract and how the data will support the white paper.

Thanks for the help,

Barry

Take the survey here

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We See What We Are Looking For

May 25th, 2010 · Great Questions, Playing a Bigger Game

The World Cup begins next week in Africa.  Ironically, according to a recent publicity poll, about 30% of those reading this blog post from the U.S. do not know what I am talking about.

The FIFA World Cup is possibly the largest and best known single sporting event on the globe.  Literally billions of people follow the international football/ soccer event with an intensity and team loyalty that we in the U.S. reserve for college football.  While commerce slows and fortunes rise and fall based on the performance of teams at the world cup, the U.S. remains the only developed country that is so statistically oblivious.  How is it possible for us to be so largely unaffected and unaware of an event this important to most of the world?  Despite references in major media, the recruitment of David Beckham to a U.S. team  and a new generation of kids who have played soccer from childhood, we are still largely nonplussed.  We even hosted the World Cup and much of the country was oblivious.  So, what is the point?

If that is possible, how likely is it that there are major events happening in your own organization that are all but invisible.  Is there a financial policy that is too tight, allowing a compromised piece of safety equipment to go without repair?  How about a risk management standard that allows for too much exposure?  Perhaps there is even a part of the organization involved in lines of business that leadership is completely unaware of,  All of these examples as you no doubt have already noticed come from recent business news.

We in the U.S. do not put the same attention on the World Cup because teh game is not deeply embedded in our culture.  Everyone has areas that they are interested in and feel comfortable with and others that are less familiar.  Our natural tendency is to pay more attention to what we know and be less vigilant about parts of the business with which we are unfamiliar.  One CEO I work with came up through finance.  Even after 4 years in the big chair, he still has a financial view of the business.  Recently, she authorized a new GL system when the service organization was desperate for help and she is infamous for reviewing the financial aspects of all new proposals first.  Sometimes, she does not even read the narrative.

No leader can be everywhere and certainly no one should expect to be an expert in everything.   That is why teams are effective governance organizations and why we have boards of directors.  But the savvy leader is willing to put time and attention into what is not his strong suit- both to learn and to avoid nasty surprises.  And if you think that important things cannot be invisible at the corporate office as well as in sport, have a look at what some of these CEO’s discovered by going undercover at their own companies.

Oh, and by the way, the U.S. does have a team at the World Cup.  We open against England on June 6.  More information here.

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Ponder This: Hunker Down or Pedal to the Metal?

May 21st, 2010 · Follow the Leaders, PonderThis

I have been in New York this week in a meeting room with a very globally diverse group of leaders.  The free-floating stress is palpable. And the variety of ways that leaders are responding strategically is fascinating.

I asked a few of my colleagues about the impact of tough times on strategy.  The responses seemed to group into two divergent groups:  hunker down and pedal to the metal.  Here are 2 dynamically opposed points of view, both from successful leaders:

COO at a process manufacturing firm: “We go back to basics.  We hunker down and focus on the core of our business.  I have reduced spending and time allocated to anything that is not directed at our core business.  As soon as we saw the bottom starting to fall out, I reduced headcount, travel outside consulting and anything else we can operate without.  If this blows a few of our competitors out of the market, so much the better.  I want everyone in the place sharing the pain and understanding that we are positioning to be the last firm on our feet if that is what it comes to.  Strangely, I sleep well at night knowing that we are operating lean and will likely outlast our competitors should this be a longer trudge than we all thought.”

CEO, mid sized services firm: “Our billings per client are way down and the competition for new engagements is very intense.  Our strategy has been three pronged.  I want our existing accounts to be unassailable.  I want to make a full court press for any new opportunity that represents a new client.  I have allocated staff to R/D for new service lines so that we are ready when the market turns.  The bad news is that this is expensive.  The good news is that no one has lost their job- at least not yet.  The firm is energized, but this is a higher risk strategy than what I am seeing competitors do.  I guess it is a big bet.  If we run out of runway before the economy turns, it will be very painful and messy.  But as it stands, we are holding our own.  On the other hand, the staff is energized when there is turn, we bet the best talent in the market.  I would rather that I am worried about the hit on our reserves and challenges managing cash flow than have everyone in the place gloomy and looking over their shoulders.  When this all clears, we will be the guys who did not lose our heads and were innovating all the way through.”

As I listened to these two executives discuss strategy over lunch, I kept remembering the old joke about 2 shoe salesmen who leave for a faraway land.  One writes back and says, “Cancel plans for factory here.  No one wears shoes.”.  The other cables the same day and says “Triple production forecasts, no one here has shoes”.

Only time will tell whether one or the other strategy will be more successful, but I will bet on both of these companies for their clarity and consistency of execution against what they believe to be the most sound strategy for their firm.

PonderThis is published to arrive in your RSS/ mailbox on Fridays as a concept to ponder over the weekend and goes to thousands of subscribers on 4 continents.

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