February 2009
Brrr, it’s been a bit nippy outside, so this month’s Ramble stays inside and looks at extraordinary talent, young and not so young.
- Obamarama
- Charisma
Obamarama
Gosh it seems quite a while since we watched the inauguration of President Obama. Wonderful to see the complete screw up of the swearing in. And what a speech. Of course, I’m far too young to remember it, but in his inauguration speech, John F Kennedy posed the challenge: “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.”
Maybe in these difficult times we should paraphrase and invert that: ‘Ask not what your employees can do for you but what you can do for your employees.’ For businesses to survive and even prosper in the current climate, it is essential that every single member of the team contributes to their maximum. They will only do that if they feel that they are special.
A couple of years or so ago I heard the England ex-rugby captain, Will Carling, speak at a business event. He told us that when he took over as captain he adopted an unusual tactic to motivate his players. The night before a big match, when all had retired to their rooms, Carling would go round slipping ‘love letters’ under their doors. These notes highlighted the strengths that the player brought to the team and what Carling was relying on them to deliver in the forthcoming match. Maybe a bit late for Valentine’s Day, but perhaps it is time for managers to adopt a similar approach with their teams.
Note: For the avoidance of unfortunate repercussions, it is recommended that the bedroom doors should be metaphorical!
Charisma
Charisma is a much over-used word. I suspect that Tony Blair has it and Gordon Brown doesn’t. I am sure that Princess Diana had it and Margaret Thatcher and almost certainly Richard Branson possess it too. Of course, there are degrees to which people may display it. I have encountered its full magnitude but once. Back in the late seventies the South African businessman Michael Edwardes was brought in to try to sort out British Leyland. I was present at an event attended by Edwardes. When he arrived, even before he came into sight, he projected an aura before him. It was almost as if he gave off some powerful field force. It was quite extraordinary. I have never encountered anything like it before or since.
The Collins English dictionary defines charisma as ‘a special personal quality or power of an individual making him or her capable of influencing or inspiring large numbers of people.’ Few will achieve the status of those icons mentioned above, but surely charisma is a big part of the magic ingredient that is the difference between a manager and a leader.
X-Factor
No, not the TV show but that indefinable ingredient that elevates the ordinary to extraordinary. I am writing this Ramble late at night to the accompaniment of Duffy’s Rockferry album. Here is a singer possessed of Factor X. A voice like no other and a stage performance to match. If anything, I am reminded of a latter-day Dusty Springfield. So what is X-Factor? I have no idea … which is why it is special. In my auto industry day we recognised that some cars had it. For example, the original Renault Clio had it in spades. We tried to analyse why and a complete blank was drawn.
There is no doubt that a fortune awaits the person who can bottle X-Factor and sell it to product designers. But, of course, that is the essence of X-Factor, it cannot be defined, let alone bottled. Which is why, if you should be so lucky as to employ a wayward genius, then for goodness sake don’t try to bring them into line, but let them have their head, and if you are very lucky they may just come up with a product idea that has X-Factor built in.
Look In The Broom Cupboard
Last month I mentioned that I had read Richard Branson’s book Business Stripped Bare over Christmas. Apparently when the Australian airline Virgin Blue was set up, they ran an advert which said something along the lines of, “If you have purple hair and work in a butcher’s shop, you may be just the sort of person we are looking for.” In other words they were prepared to look at the person, not what they looked like or their background or previous experience.
It is this open approach that allowed a former office cleaner to become MD of one of the many Virgin companies. And, of course, it is the sentiment expressed in the Prince’s Trust’s ‘Look Beyond The Label’ slogan.
Perhaps it’s time to look in your office broom cupboard to see whether there is anybody who could become a star of the future.
Inner City Poppies
Duffy has finished and now I am listening to Elgar’s Cello Concerto. This hauntingly beautiful work was written shortly after the end of the First World War and expresses the melancholy that was felt by the composer. We now recognise the poppy as the symbol of remembrance because the tens of thousands of shells that churned up the lands of Northern France and Belgium liberated the dormant seeds of millions of poppies that flowered after the carnage of war.
Moseley School is on the borders of inner-city Birmingham but blows away the stereotypical inner-city school image. This school, of predominantly Asian descent students, held a special event to mark the 90th anniversary of the ending of WW1. Shortly after Armistice Day I was privileged to lead a business enterprise workshop with sixth form A-level business studies students at the school. The teams had to develop a business proposal and present it to a team of ‘Dragons’ at the end of the day. The winning team of half a dozen strapping lads was lead by a beautiful little girl; I think her name was Nagina. By a mixture of charm and determination she organised her team so that it was the only one that completed all of the tasks set by the Dragons.
It is so wonderful to see that poppies of all colours, creeds and genders continue to come to the surface and flower.
Back To School
Since that day at Moseley I have visited a number of schools and colleges for a variety of events. In last month’s Ramble we sashayed down the catwalk with Asos. Shortly afterwards I had a wonderful day with 90 young ladies at a Catwalk Enterprise day. The event was organised by Education Business Links, which does pretty much what it says on the tin.
The day was a kind of fusion between Dragons’ Den, The Apprentice and the Clothes Show. The girls were divided in to ten teams, which became businesses for the day. The teams were each given a bag of assorted fabrics from which to create a catwalk ensemble. They were also given £100 of ‘enterprise money’ to purchase additional supplies if required. They then had to make fashion accessories to sell back to a number of us who acted as shopkeepers for part of the day.
Other team tasks included creating a company logo and advertising slogan, writing the script for a radio advert and creating a business card. And finally there was the catwalk show where a model from each team had to strut her stuff accompanied by a voice-over commentary from one of her teammates.
These events are a wonderful way to fire the imagination and to teach business in an entertaining way. I am sure that these young students will have learned some valuable lessons whilst having fun. But when you participate as a businessperson, you can be brought back to earth pretty sharply. This week I was doing practice interviews at another school. Arriving in reception I was greeted by a girl of 12 or 13 who was delegated to take me to the school hall. Whilst signing in I made some comment about age. Quick as a flash she said, “At least you’re not as old as my great-uncle.” I enquired his age. 102!!!
Talent
A new report published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has found that despite the downturn, keeping top talent remains a priority for most organisations. Of the 700+ participants in the survey, 74% have not changed their approach to retaining talent. Of those that have amended their strategy, 18% are actually placing more emphasis on identifying, developing and retaining talent.
During the recent discussions about ‘the bonus culture’ it has been said that bonuses are necessary to retain the top people. One is tempted to observe that it would have been better not to retain the ‘talents’ of some top bankers!
Those of you who were rambling back in July 2008 may remember another CIPD survey that found 43% of employees were dissatisfied with the relationship they have with their manager. Of course, in this situation performance will suffer and people will leave as soon as they get a better offer … or bonus.
In that Ramble I touched on Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, the top category of which is self-actualisation needs: realising personal potential, self-fulfilment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.
Richard Branson’s Virgin Blue airline offered around two thirds only of the money paid by the Australian national carrier, Quantas. And yet there was no problem with recruitment. In Brazil, Ricado Semler openly admits that his Semco company does not pay top rate wage. But he has a long waiting list of people wanting to work for Semco.
So it could be that spending money on developing people, looking after them and helping them to fulfil their potential may be very cost effective in the long run when it comes to retaining or recruiting staff.
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And Finally
"The nicest thing about NOT planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise and is not preceded by a period of worry and depression."
Sir John Harvey Jones
Happy Valentine’s Day, belated or otherwise.
David