Category: Blog

I was delighted to shoot in the only all-girls team yesterday at Peter Jones’ Fourth Annual Clay Pigeon Shoot in aid of the Peter Jones Foundation at the Royal Berkshire Shooting School as a guest of leading executive search firm Taylor Bennett.  Heather McGregor, MD of Taylor Bennett and who also masquerades as the FT columnist Mrs Moneypenny, is a great shot and much fun to be with, as were the rest of the team.  We came 4th out of 23 teams – no mean feat with some pretty daunting stands and high, fast birds and some equally competitive gents to contend with!  But I digress…

Peter Jones – famous for his role as a Dragons Den investor – has set up the National Enterprise Academy – opening in September 2009 – which aims to encourage entrepreneurial activity amongst young people by providing them with the skills and confidence to aim higher and be more successful, working to unlock talent amongst disadvantaged young people.  The Academy will deliver the UK’s first accredited qualification in enterprise and entrepreneurship.   Peter’s vision is for this centre of excellence to become the ‘beating heart of enterprise across England’, pulling together all the strands of other enterprise organisations and developing a unique curriculum that can be rolled out nationwide.

More can be found at the Foundation’s website.  It is a truly inspirational concept which, coming from a group of entrepreneurs in our own organisation, I most wholeheartedly support.

In the political maelstrom that Britain is currently experiencing, much of the mud-slinging that’s been levelled at the Labour party this week has focused on the PM’s personality and style of leadership. It raises questions for many about leadership communication – how different personal styles influence people, and the importance of authenticity in order to maintain credibility.

 

There is no doubt that Gordon Brown carries a very different personality and style to his predecessor.  Tony Blair is personable, warm, charming….and could muster up a grin at any given opportunity that any Cheshire cat worth his salt would envy.  At ease in almost any social situation, nobody would be surprised to see him at a pop concert, social event or London fashion week, grinning away heartily as the statesman in touch with his people.  Gordon Brown, on the other hand, is more of an introvert, his passion for his job and all things related hidden behind a grim and sombre veil. The very thought of him lifting the phone to speak to Simon Cowell to enquire after the health of a Britain’s Got Talent contestant (or chortling smilingly away to a stranger’s baby in a photo opportunity) makes us cringe.  It’s so…..not him.

But whatever your political views and personal opinion of our politicians today, it begs the question of whether a good leader has to be an extrovert to be credible and keep people on board in times of change and turmoil. In my view, the answer is no.   Authenticity is what makes people credible, whether shy, quiet and serious, or an ebullient, magnetic and truly charismatic character.  As a leader you will only cut the mustard if your people see you as you really are – not trying to be something you’re not.  Peter Mandelson laid this on thick during an interview with journalist Andrew Marr on Sunday, warning the media not to ‘paint on the personality of a PR machine’ when criticising Mr Brown’s leadership style (although I can’t help observing that he has been at the front of the queue in his own criticism).  Authenticity is everything; in the stories you tell, the manner in which you tell them, your body language and personal style of interaction.

Of course that’s not to say that leadership communication can’t be improved – and training and coaching can do a lot to help.  My colleague Martin may well blush when he reads this, but we are always in awe of his ability to whip away a script and a lectern from every CEO he coaches in presenting their Story, and get them walking up confidently up and down the stage, owning it, talking in simple, personal and conversational terms, and loving the audience response.

But here’s a warning.  If ‘charisma’, ’sunny personality’ and ‘magnetism’ aren’t words that you’d use to describe yourself, don’t try to adopt such traits to get people to follow you.  They’ll follow you if they see that you are sincere, caring, trustworthy, authentic, fair and unprejudiced – and someone who is willing to listen, communicate regularly, honestly and with respect for your people’s opinions as much as giving your own.  Leave the big personality traits to the big personalities.  Good leadership is about depth, honesty and trust.  Politicans take note.

Unless you’ve been living on planet Zog, you can’t have failed to notice the huge publicity Susan Boyle, contestant on the TV show Britain’s Got Talent, has attracted.  Famed for her bushy eyebrows and the voice of an angel, the singer is tipped to win the competition.  But what if she had been an investment banker, or a politician? Would Britain be behind her in quite the same way?  What has touched the hearts of the nation?  Is it her looks?  Is it her voice?  Or is it her personal story which has propelled her into stardom?

 

Last year’s winner Paul Potts went on a similar journey.  These are ordinary, unglamorous yet highly talented people, living in very ordinary places and with ordinary jobs, often carrying a surprising lack of self-confidence.  Sometimes the idea of sending them back into obscurity makes us feel almost guilty.  Take Andy Abraham, runner-up from the X-Factor, who pleaded and sang his way out of a future working as a dustman for a local authority and is now making a successful career from his talent (apart from Eurovision, obviously).

We empathise with these people because we can relate to them.  Their ordinaryness makes us warm to them, want them to succeed.  Susan’s story, which is peppered with emotional strings (eg she has allegedly never been kissed … this support has made her feel like a worthwhile person etc ), has clearly resonated with the British public.  Britain loves an underdog.  Their physical appearance and talent aside, their personal story has as much to do with their success as anything else.  I can’t help feeling that if Hazel Blears or Sir Fred Goodwin stood up and sang – even if he was a match for Frank Sinatra – they just wouldn’t quite have the same effect.

I’ve just finished reading a great book called ‘Ghost’ by Robert Harris. It’s an engrossing thriller about a Ghost Writer employed to write the memoirs of a former British Prime Minister responsible for waging a highly controversial war in the Middle East. (The book is fiction but you would be entirely forgiven for assuming the PM is based on Tony Blair).

Throughout the book the reader is given a fascinating insight into the world of ghost writing. The ‘Ghost’ describes the challenges of his job: How to stitch together his subject’s patchwork of time addled memories to form a coherent and compelling story that will be thoroughly convincing to the reader.  The Ghost tells us that he applies ‘The Seaplane Test’ to his finished manuscript in order to assess just how convincing his gap filling will be.

So what exactly is ‘The Seaplane Test’?

The Ghost describes a book he once read. We never find out the name of the book but it opens with a high profile US politician arriving in Central London via a giant seaplane landing on the Thames. The Ghost tells us that as soon as he read that highly unlikely scenario, he was unable to read the rest of the book. In that moment, the story had lost all credibility, leaving the Ghost unable to take the rest of the book seriously.

The lesson here is that, whilst it’s fun to suspend belief for the sake of entertainment, credibility is key if you want your story to resonate with its audience. Just like the Ghost in Harris’s novel, we believe in ‘The Seaplane Test’ – We help our clients to tell their Story in a compelling way but in a way that never compromises accuracy or truth.

Dave Ulrich told last week’s HR Leadership Alliance of Warren Buffet’s latest investment in GE and Goldman Sachs.  Why?  Not simply because of their performance, but because they are known to have excellent leaders.

In fact the message was simple – more and more investors will be looking to invest in companies with good leaders, and good leadership will come from LEADERS – not HR – training leaders.  And there are some great insights into what the most important skill of a leader is in the latest issue of Business Strategy Review:  Communication.  Here Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove explain the eight key disciplines for communicating clearly:

1. Always on:  As a leader you are communicating 24/7, not simply to employees but the media, analysts and shareholders.  The smallest thing or an off-the-cuff remark can get amplified – and distorted.  Remember Gerald Ratner?

2. Know your messages:  Consistency, repetition and staying on message is vital.

3. Distil it:  Keep it simple, boil the message down to its essence, make it memorable and repeat it endlessly.

4. Think audience:  Make the message relevant to your audience.  Use the right tone, level of energy, language and make it meaningful

5. Find your own voice:  Be authentic.  Know your strengths and your weaknesses and choose the most effective medium.  Whether a handwritten note or a Richard Branson-style antic, be you.

6. Tell stories:  Who are you?  What do you stand for?  What does this mean to your followers?  Make a rational and emotional case.  Leadership communications expert Terry Pearce says “While the mind looks for proof, the heart looks for engagement.  While the mind looks for information, the heart looks for passion.  While the mind looks for answers, the heart looks for experience.  The mind makes a decision, but it is the heart that makes a commitment.”

7.  Use symbols:  Actions speak louder than words.  Be a role-model.  Do as you would wish others to do.  Take a leaf out of BBC Director-General Greg Dyke’s book to show that cost-cutting starts at the top, and get rid of your senior exec chauffeur-driven cars!

8.  Stay in touch:  Work hard to stay in touch.  Keep listening.  Keep talking.  And don’t just listen to the loudest voices.

Anyone who attended last week’s HR Leadership Alliance in London will know what I’m talking about.  This is a phrase coined at the conference by HR Guru Dave Ulrich, who gave some fascinating insights into the role of HR in business today.

I must admit, I was really surprised after two days to feel that the HR Community represented at the conference gave every indication that it still isn’t focusing on its contribution to the wider business.  HR is often accused of navel-gazing – a comment which no doubt will be met with gasps of indignation and horror – yet when Dave asked the floor what their biggest business challenges were, the response came back as ‘retention, talent management, recruitment….’ and so on.  Excuse me, but the question was “what are your biggest business challenges today?”, not “what are the biggest HR issues today?”.  And for each answer given, Dave’s phrase “So that…..?” challenged each and every individual until they got to the kernel of the question.

We may have been in a conference setting that day, but those two short words ‘So that…..?’ are what we should all be asking ourselves.  Every day and indefinitely.  Why are we doing what we’re doing?  How is it contributing to the success of the business, and how is it addressing the challenges the business is facing? It struck me that although it was an HR Conference (so yes I forgive you, folks), there was little discussion or debate about the role of HR at the board table, and the interaction with the senior executives (in particular the CEO).

Thank you Dave Ulrich for picking up on such a serious issue and ensuring that the message came over loud and clear.  And, by the way, for telling everyone to turn their strategy into a Story.  I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, put the spotlight on the benefits and not the process, and you’ll be perceived in a completely different light.

Halloween has come and gone and there may have been more than a few HR people feeling like the Grim Reaper than usual at this year.  Slashing costs and making redundancies is never easy at the best of times – and never more so than now in the knowledge that it won’t be easy for people to find new jobs, particularly in the manufacturing, construction and, dare I say it, corporate finance sectors.

In fact I was at a wedding recently, talking to the Chief Executive of a large and well-known investment management business.  It was the week when Lehman Bros collapsed, AIG was bailed out by the US government and HBOS announced its merger with Lloyds TSB.  This CEO recalled how he was standing in the middle of a room full of investment managers (those who weren’t lined up on the windowsill) amidst the chaos of the markets going crazy, and someone came up to him to ask what was happening and what should they do?  He simply said, “I don’t know.  I don’t have the answers.  I have never seen this before and I hope I never will again.  But we’ll adapt – we have to.”

Since mankind began we have adapted to our changing environment.  We have no choice.  In this world of change, volatility and uncertainty we will need to adapt to the change that so many see as a threat.  Like the CEO I quoted, we don’t have all the answers. But it doesn’t have to be a threat; in fact I think this downturn will do us a favour in sorting the wheat from the chaff.  I’m not saying this in a glib way – it’s all very worrying and we will almost certainly see it impact on colleagues, friends or family.  But I read a newspaper article at the weekend which highlighted the change in direction that some people are taking as a result of being made redundant.  Former corporate financiers are starting afresh in a completely different career.  Budding entrepreneurs who never dared make that leap of faith from the security of their cosy (but perhaps gruelling or meaningless) career have found themselves with no option.   We adapt, we change, we survive.  For those who have to change radically it may mean losing some of their former way of life, but it may just be the making of them – the time to reflect, re-evaluate and move out of the comfort zone into something which actually could change their lives for the better.

Steering through the economic crisis without being the victim of major headcount reduction, budget cuts and major restructures is going to depend on smart thinking, innovation and agility for every single organisation, and every single function with that organisation.  And when push comes to shove, it’s going to be all about how you sell yourself, both to your customers and your employers.

You can have the most well-designed processes, the most committed, talented people and the greatest product and reputation in the world.  But unless you can spell out your business case, the return on investment and how it’s going to add value you will be at risk.  No business or business function is recession-proof (well, with the exception of loan-sharks, pawn-brokers, undertakers and the tax office perhaps), but smart businesses would do well to think carefully about how they position themselves in the market, and what it is that their customer – either internal or external – is looking for at a time of uncertainty and financial hardship.

Sell the benefit – not the product, tactic or process.  Be strategic.  Think through scenarios now during the calm before the storm and plan ahead for any eventuality. Be quietly confident.  Be honest.  Be prepared.  If you’re smart you may just survive – and then your value will be held in greater esteem than ever before.

The Olympics have been over for just over 24 hours and I’m already experiencing withdrawal symptoms. You couldn’t be anything but awe-struck at the monumental spectacle that Beijing has produced over the past fortnight. Terrific performances by so many athletes from so many countries, superb TV coverage (well done the BBC), incredible opening and closing ceremonies in an iconic venue, and flawless execution by the organisers.

How do we Brits feel? Well, speaking for myself, the words ‘proud’ ‘engaged’ and ‘inspired’ come to mind. Proud to be associated with an Olympic team that did brilliantly, and proud to be hosting the next Olympics in 2012. Inspired, not simply to get on my bike and go pedalling but to give even more support and encouragement to the youth who will be competing in 2012. I think the whole country will be feeling the same way, perhaps with a slight apprehension that it just won’t compare to 2008. We have to hope that more young people will be inspired to take up a sport or excel at it in a way that they hadn’t wanted before.

You also have to wonder how our Olympic team (and those of the best performing countries) were feeling watching their fellow competitors win medals time and time again, and whether that impacted on their own sense of pride and purpose as they went into their own competitions. If they were inspired and feeling positive as the great results kept flowing through, could that have influenced their own performance? Did living together in the Olympic Village help encourage and inspire their fellow competitors who had yet to complete their own Olympic journey? Did Ben Ainslie’s success inspire Tom Daley, consciously or sub-consciously? Did the joy of Bryony Shaw or Chris Hoy somehow filter into the psyche of others competitors before their own event?

Pride, euphoria, joy and positive thinking can only help inspire others. As we bounce back to work (think positive, folks) after the long summer weekend, we may not necessarily be experiencing euphoria or joy, but positive thinking and pride in our co-workers, our respective brands and organisations will almost certainly have an impact on our performance. And here’s the message for business leaders: It’s not just understanding and engagement in strategy and vision that will improve productivity and performance, but a fundamental pride and sense of purpose that will motivate and inspire people. Mix this together and you will have a truly energised, powered and committed workforce. Start telling some stories that make people proud.

So the Olympics are over and lots of people return to work after the summer tomorrow morning. Hey ho. No more gold medals to be won for now, but perhaps the odd person will take to the bicycle, and a few inspirational stories will start to flow…