Are you the right leader for your firm?
Before you grab at an answer, take a step back and survey the scene.
What kind of people are you leading, and what kind of leadership would bring most benefit to them and to your firm?
Will Carling captained the England rugby team 59 times between 1988 and 1996, with a high level of success. In a question-and-answer session, he was asked what words he could possibly find, as the leader of his national side, to inspire his troops as they headed out onto the field of battle. His answer was considered, and it wasn’t what anyone in the room expected. Carling explained that, at that level of his sport, everyone on the pitch was a leader. Each player knew what he had to do. The leader’s role was to maintain a tone and a cohesiveness. It wasn’t to shout at anyone.
Jean Todt is a thoughtful man in a (literally) fast-moving world. He was appointed to the highest rank of France’s Legion d’Honneur following the first 2 chapters of his career, in which he was a successful rally co-driver, developing the iconic Peugeot 205 and then created and led a Peugeot team which for many years dominated the Le Mans 24 hours event. Post-Peugeot, Jean led the Ferrari F1 team to huge success when Formula One was at its most exciting.
To be in a meeting with Jean at Ferrari was a privilege. He surrounded himself with experts. He respected those experts; he created calm; he asked questions, and he drew the very best from each person around the table.
Contrast Carling and Todt with the brand of leader we see most on TV – the chef in charge of a kitchen. Typically, they transmit, they don’t receive. Asked why it made sense to harangue a teenager on his staff, Marcus Wareing (a very pleasant man whose teams create sublime food) explained that the lad just needed telling, it was the only way he’d learn. Of the two of them, Wareing had the monopoly in skill and experience.
And then there was Fred Goodwin. You didn’t get stronger than Fred. What a mess he made. We all agree now, but not so many people said anything at the time. It wasn’t that nobody noticed – he was much disliked, and dubbed ‘Fred the Shred’ long before he joined The Royal Bank of Scotland – but his style of leadership put up with no questioning. While Fred’s strong style took his bank in a definite direction (and temporarily earned him a knighthood), it flatly discouraged contributions from others and robbed the bank of what they would have had to give.
Back, then, to you.
Do the people you’re leading just need to be taught, or instructed, what to do, or could they be making a positive contribution to the firm, if only you encouraged them to do that?
Do you frighten people, or do you create an atmosphere of calm and trust in which they dare to put ideas forward even when they might not be perfect?
When did someone working for you last tell you that you might be wrong?