Posted by Peter Samardak on Wed, Dec 16, 2009 @ 08:52 PM
Sports figures are often forced into a leadership role they do not want, nor can fulfill. I have heard some basketball players even make the statement, "I am not a role model. People shouldn't follow me." I can't remember who exactly made that statement, but I often think of business leaders, managers and current golfers who neither fit the role nor know how to maintain their leadership.
Recently, Bob Moffat, a former executive in IBM was arrested for insider trading and, having personally met him, I found him to be approachable, to have seemingly high values and to be driven. I guess the real question is, what does someone with high values look like? Is it a visual? Not hardly. Maybe that's it, he was so driven there was a fear of falling short of expectations. Maybe with the pressures of success, or the pressures of not failing were too much. Maybe it was simply greed and ego. Ego, its a funny dynamic which enters into everyone's life from time to time.
Once you start comparing yourself to others, you are either behind or ahead. I'm not sure at what time or age you reach a point where you are happy with you. I am sure Maslow identified it as self-actualization. However, it seems that today's mediocre leaders find excuses to blame everyone but themselves. Its always been somebody in their lives who caused them to do whatever it was. I remember a series on TV where "the devil made me do it." Guess what, its no excuse.
There is no excuse for harming others. There is no excuse for poor leadership. There is no excuse for not taking responsibility and not motivating others to excel. There is no excuse for letting people go because you could not identify the unique skills they had and capitalizing on that strength.
Leaders need to be able to synthesize the differences, turn it into an innovative driving force and then getting out of the way enabling those who are empowered to excel.
True global leadership is unique because it recognizes even some of the deep seated cultural differences which have existed and then turns it into a knowledge base driving excellence. Leadership is not easy. Nobody said it would be.
Posted by Hilka Klinkenberg on Fri, Aug 07, 2009 @ 10:24 AM
In an article entitled "Illuminating outline" in the July 30th edition of the Financial Times http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/486b1160-7c83-11de-a7bf-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1, Richard Milne and Andrew Ward write about the Nordic model of social capitalism. The writers describe small domestic markets driving an openness to globalization. They write of strong social protections and a deep sense of egalitarianism and equality, educational opportunities for all, and quota laws to ensure women get their fair share because "it is not who you are but what you can contribute." They go on to describe the much smaller gap between executive and worker pay and worker participation in the strategy of companies.
While this system may sound ideal to some, the autho
rs also state that this Nordic model of social capitalism is difficult to export outside of the Nordic countries. It is difficult to export precisely because it is based on a strongly-held set of values by a relatively small, homogenous population. For those fond of the Nordic model, it is unfortunate that the world is a much messier place, comprised of a multitude of cultures that hold very different values, whether based on religion, geography, economics, or history, to name but a few influences. And, when you look at heterogeneous countries like the U.S.A., or even Canada, China or India with multiple cultural influences, the Nordic model becomes even more unsustainable.
Even in the Nordic countries, as our team confirmed when we were working in Sweden last autumn, the Nordic model is losing ground. An aging population is putting a strain on the social services available and creating a shortage of working-age contributors to the tax base without immigration. Meanwhile, immigration is eroding the homogenous values of these countries while raising their social costs, and suddenly you have the local population reexamining their attitudes to that Nordic model of social capitalism.
Consequently, there are a number of risk factors for any company going into another market. There is little likelihood of a shared set of values, beginning with something as seemingly simple, especially in the current global economy, as attitude toward work and leisure. Are employees gung-ho to get started every day or do they mark time till it is time to go home? Is overtime desirable or an infringement on personal time? And, what about attitudes to hierarchy? Do employees need command-and-control leadership or participative roles in management? What motivates them...the carrot or the stick? And, we haven't even begun to discuss issues of communication, regardless of the language or languages spoken.
Those are just a few of the more obvious issues confronting a leader confronting a different culture. Now, just imagine you have a global team comprised of people from a variety of cultures with numerous conflicting values, attitudes and communication styles. It can become a minefield for companies, leaders and their teams. As admirable as the Nordic model of social capitalism, the American model of management, the Japanese model of quality or any other economic or business model may be, the moment you move from a small, homogeneous group, culture rears its fascinating head and plays havoc...unless you have done your homework and are informed, adaptable and open to whatever may happen.