Leaders In London

So, that’s the third time I’ve heard Michael Porter. I’ve also interviewed him. And, the question arises…Just how important is it to ‘have a strategy’ in the way that Professor Porter defines it?

Yes, he’s the king of strategy. Yes, you can’t study business at Harvard without taking his strategy course: it would be unthinkable not to. Yes, if you don’t understand his five forces model, you might miss the dangers and the opportunities out there.

But, I analyzed the three strategic goals that Martin Sorrell, one of the most successful business leaders in the world, laid out for his company, WPP, the same morning that Prof. Porter was presenting and, it seemed to me, WPP doesn’t have a strategy according to Porter’s definition.

And, as Professor Porter himself said, Jack Welch’s famous strategy for GE of “be Number 1 or Number 2 in every market you are in, or be clear on how you are going to be Number 1 or Number 2 very quickly, or get out of that market” was “not a strategy, but an aspiration.”

GE, the company without a strategy, became the most successful company in the world by some measures. WPP, without a Porter-endorsed strategy (if I analysed it right) is arguably the most successful advertising and marketing services group in the world.

Is it just me, or am I missing something? Do, please comment, as I’m assuming the latter until I hear otherwise. I think we need to tease this out a bit more. Oh, here are a few words from Kenichi Ohmae, the world’s other ‘greatest living strategist’ to help us focus:

“Traditional frameworks for strategy no longer work. My friend Michael Porter and others will tell you your strategy is based on how you create value through your value chain. But, good strategists by-pass the value chain completely. Michael Dell’s business plan was rejected by his Professor because it defied Porter’s reliance on a value chain. So, Dell launched it anyway.

Don’t use frameworks or case studies to learn. Think about the product, service or company five years from now and how it should be. That is where your strategy starts: it frees you from having a limiting framework.”

What do you think? Leave a comment, below, to help me and your fellow Leaders in London attendees sharpen this up a bit in our heads.

Phil Dourado of www.TheLeadershipHub.com

for www.LeadersinLondon.com

While the testosterone-fuelled boys were snapping at each other (see the post below), the panel of women leaders in the afternoon showed how to lead through listening and collaborating.

As Rene said, traditionally ‘feminine’ traits are an exact match with the traits needed in modern leadership, with flatter hierarchies, less deference, and people who don’t like being told what to do -

“Women link; men rank.

Women listen; men tell.

Women share; men confront.”

said Rene.

So, why aren’t there more women leaders?

“Big business isn’t discriminating against women: women are discriminating against big business. They look at the politics and they say ‘No thanks. I’ll choose to do something else’.” - Nicola Horlick (who pointed out that 40% of new SMEs are run by women).

The three key things your people need to know

1. Where are we going?

2. What’s my role in it?

3. If I contribute, what’s my reward?”

- Karren Brady

Phil Dourado of www.TheLeadershipHub.com

for www.LeadersinLondon.com

Clash of the day (1)

“That just shows the limited utility of research. I hate research. It takes your attention away from new ideas and makes you look backwards instead.” - Michael Eisner

“I heard that. Research is two and a half billion of our twelve billion pound business, so I’m offended by what Michael Eisner just said.” - Martin Sorrell

He’ll get over it. This one was a bit of a sharp exchange, too (But that’s good, as it makes us think: “If two people agree with each other, one of them is redundant” - Mr. Wrigley, the founder of Wrigley’s)…

Clash of the Day (2)

“I did some work years ago with the NHS - worked in GP surgeries and hospitals to ‘listen to the river’. Sometimes we are critical of the NHS and forget it’s the best health service in the world and we should be proud of it.” - Allan Leighton

To which Michael Porter replied, having heard it (but only replying after tall and burly Mr Leighton had left) “It’s hard to find any measures by which the NHS is the best health service in the world. So maybe that’s just more of that BS (he was talking about).”

Phil Dourado of www.TheLeadershipHub.com

for www.LeadersinLondon.com

Quotes of The Day

1. “Leadership means inspiring us to manage through our fears.”

- Al Gore

Mmmm, I like that. Reminds me of the real dialogue that takes place between leaders and the people they lead, summed up in this Christopher Logue poem:

Come to the edge, he said

They said, we are afraid

Come to the edge, he said

They said, it is too high

Come to the edge, he said

They came

He pushed them

And they flew

2. “In a way, the good leader has nothing to do.”

- Nick Wheeler

Yep, as Sinclair Beecham, the co-founder of Pret a Manger, puts it, your job is to make yourself dispensable.

3. “Leadership is a choice, not a position”

4. “Live life in crescendo. The most important work always lies ahead of you.”

- Both from Stephen Covey

Fact that makes you go ‘Hmmmm’

“Gandhi never held a leadership position” - Stephen Covey, backing up his quote 3., above. So, thinking you can’t accomplish the changes you want because you are not the boss misses the point, non?

Forged through adversity?

Possibly one of the profoundest learning points of the day was buried in the laughter we all reacted with to Gerald Ratner’s moving and funny talk. Warren Bennis, whom the FT calls The Dean of Leadership, says some of the best leaders are forged in adversity; they come through tough times and emerge as better people; better leaders. He says they are fired in the crucible of tough times.

Hemingway put it this way: “The world breaks all of us. But, some are strong at the broken edges.”

Listening to Gerald Ratner, I couldn’t help but think he had emerged from his own tough times as a better, more humble, nicer person (and possibly leader). And as Marcus Buckingham said today, success and failure are just two sides of the same hand.

Even if Gerald says he would rather have the money he used to have rather than the learning experience of losing it…

So, when you are recruiting for leadership positions, do you always look for a track record of success, a safe pair of hands? Who are you missing out on by ignoring those with one or two spectacular ‘failures’ in their past? The very forged leaders you might be in need of, perhaps.

Contentious claim of the day

Plausible but…?: “There are no great companies. Because there is no single company culture. the best you can say about a great company is that it is an accumulation of great teams.”

- Marcus Buckingham

Discuss. And is ‘playing to your strengths’ anything more than self-indulgence and an excuse for ignoring the things we don’t like doing, because life is too short? What do you think? OR what were your favourite moments from today? Most inspirational learning points? Use the ‘comment’ button to add your thoughts.

This blog only has room for a few highlights. The fuller write-up comes after the event is over and we’ve had time to write it up for you.

Phil Dourado of www.TheLeadershipHub.com

for www.LeadersinLondon.com

“The conductor doesn’t say anything. He depends for his power on the ability to make other people powerful.”

“In a survey of happiness at work, chamber musicians came up happiest. Orchestra musicians ended up one up from prisoners at the bottom. What’s the difference? No conductor.”

- Benjamin Zander

So, is your job as a leader to just empower them and get out of the way, as the founder of one of our sponsors at Leaders in London, Ken Blanchard, always says?

“It’s the same for parents. If their eyes are shining, you know you are doing it. If they’re not, you’ve got to ask a question - who am I being that my children’s eyes are not shining?” said Zander.

So, is your job to make yourself dispensable?

And what about size? How do you get that ’small, in control, free to express myself’ chamber musician feel in a large organization?

How do you hand over power without creating chaos?

Zander’s answer is a shared guiding vision. At the Boston Philharmonic - his orchestra - they don’t follow a person, he says. They all follow a guiding vision: passionate music open to all, with no barriers.

That vision guides all their conversations and decisions, he says. What do you think?

Phil Dourado of www.TheLeadershipHub.com

for www.LeadersinLondon.com

Each year IBM surveys 400 business leaders worldwide and asks them what their top concerns are. And each year for the past three years, lack of effective leadership has been right up there at or near the top, as holding back growth. This year’s report (The Global Human Capital Study, 2008) was published this week and goes further than any previous reports in saying there is a leadership vacuum in large organizations. Here’s what the report says: 

Direction, feedback and clarity needed 

“Companies are finding themselves with a leadership vacuum, with fewer individuals who have the knowledge and experience to guide others through necessary business transformations. Without leaders who can provide the direction, feedback and clarity needed to navigate in a more complex world, companies will struggle to achieve business goals.” 

A significant barrier to growth 

“A lack of leadership capability has become a significant barrier to growth for many organizations… Without sufficient leadership talent, who will setthe direction? Who will paint the vision? Who will lead the change? It’s not only an HR issue. It is a business imperative….” When asked “What do you see as the primary workforcerelated issues facing the organization?”, the second highest answer was ‘lack of leadership’, coming second only to ‘inability to rapidly develop skills to address current/future business needs.’  

Inability to develop future leaders is a major problem 

The report goes on to highlight that most organizations are struggling to develop  future leaders. The report says:  “Not only are companies concerned with their current leadership capacity, they are confronted by their inability to develop future leadership talent …. Over 75 percent of companies indicate building leadership talent is a significant challenge. 

So, what do we do about it? 

We seem to learn best and be inspired by real leaders with real stories to tell, backed up with practical experience-sharing. Joining a community of practice – real leaders really doing the job in real time – and learning from each others’ experience, is likely to be an accelerant to any in-house leadership training and development initiatives. You could start by attending Leaders in

London at the end of this month, being inspired by the bank of world leaders on the stage, and networking with the hundreds of practising leaders among the attendees. And Leaders in

London attendees are entitled to free membership of www.TheLeadershipHub.com, the world’s online leadership community, where leadership practitioners and experts share experiences and learning. 

Good luck in dealing with that vacuum!