As the past week shows only too well, critical lessons can be learned outside the daily office grind, if we will only take the time to reflect on what is going on all around us.
At a time when the country needs a "hearts and minds" leader to take us to a brighter future, Gordon Brown remains stuck in his groove of the solid but uninspirational dour manager.
The trouble is, when uncontrollable factors such as global food shortages, oil-price bumps and credit collapses coalesce to create a major crisis, we need Churchillean leadership. We need a force for passion, with a clear direction and resolute momentum behind which we can swing. And we need someone to batten down the hatches in the storm. In a crisis, a great leader is capable of lifting spirits and horizons above immediate fears and bills, to keep focus on the place beyond the crisis where we would like to reach.
"We will fight them on the beaches..." gets to us more than, "we will abolish the 10p tax band". The last thing your team needs in a crisis is lightweight leadership by an overbearing manager listening to short-term focus groups. I suspect that the battering the government took in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election last week had less to do with the 10p tax debacle than the danger we all sense in employing a manager to fill a leader's shoes. This is a phenomenon often witnessed in Venture Capital mutinies, when the business hits a crisis and the founding entrepreneur is made to walk the plank. Just as you come to most need what he does best, the committee elbows him overboard. Good management is essential, but strong leadership is a critical non-essential that makes the difference. Bereft of Blair, New Labour has little reason to exist, let alone win another election.
In the week when the IMF advised that the next move in interest rates should be up—to fight what is now the inevitable pressure for wage inflation—I could only smile at the unhappy and negative reaction adopted by some of my team to a whopping 10 per cent pay rise. The cyclone in Burma is showing us the horrific damage that can be done by a government in denial that refuses to listen to the international community, nor to reflect the realities of the storm in which it finds itself. Are we listening to the IMF?
The economy is now griped by the impact of higher oil prices and reducing economic activity. Just look at the airline business. New airline Silverjet has a really clear, well thought through business model, an innovative idea and a superb product. But this week it faces the same fate as Maxjet, Oasis and Eos before them—the collapse of the undercapitalised. BA's Willie Walsh expects his profits to be wiped out by the end of the year and had to refuse his £700,000 bonus on the back of Terminal 5 angst. Easyjet's share price has dropped by 60 per cent, while Ryanair confirmed this week that they are mothballing planes in significant numbers. I suspect international travel is once again becoming a luxury and a business necessity.
Policy decisions now have a similar feel to the appalling state-funded voting system of the Eurovision Song Contest, which bears little resemblance to a winning formula. If factors like talent, merit and likely competitive success in the market are ignored in favour of politics and mutual back scratching, is there any wonder Europe is being eclipsed and outpaced by Asia and the Americas?
Sometimes tough decisions need to be taken, as Alan Sugar demonstrated when firing Raef in the Apprentice. Being an affable, well dressed, intelligent, generally good egg is not enough to justify high office. At least we know he was fired on perceived merit, even if many of us didn't agree with Sir Alan's judgement on this occasion. Compare this winning approach to Labour's attempted toff-bashing campaign in Crewe and Nantwich, which sought to deflect voters from the relative talents of the candidates and elect Ms Dunwoody on the basis of an artificial class distinction.
Finally, we all know that the final analysis will come down to a few precious remembered moments won or lost. Consider two recent losers. Would you rather lose like John Terry, having won your place in the spotlight on talent, reached the European Final on merit, stepped up to the plate with courage, but missed your penalty in the crucible of free and fair competition? Or would you rather be Ms Dunwoody? Your answer defines you.
Alex Pratt OBE is founder of the SME seriousreaders.com
Posted 26 May 2008 : Director.co.uk
