Lack of leadership is the cry that goes up when a business starts to struggle or fails. It is cited as the single cause that has led to its downfall ( similar cries can be heard in public organisations: health and social care, police etc. ). But what is this panacea for all business ills ?
Business leadership is difficult to define. A quick search on the web shows that there are over 700 million hits for the word ‘leader’ which is halved to 350 million for ‘business leaders’. Web sites will describe a range of traits of a successful business leader: singular vision, powerfully passionate, fearlessness and most adjectives that suggests an other worldly being ! Throw into the mix Business School courses with titles such as: Leading change, Leading business in the future, Essential Leadership and so on, and it is clear that defining business leadership is like grasping a slippery bar of soap !
Of course the person at the top of a business is seen as a leader: the captain of the ship. They make the decisions about the future direction of the business and change tack through investments and re-organisations. But leadership can happen in any part of a business or organisation: production line team leaders, ward sisters, chief petty officers, football captains etc. all have their part to play in the leadership of a business.
The world is a messy place and it is no more less than in a business. Therefore a business has to live with uncertainty. This uncertainty permeates into the daily activities of its people: where will future orders come from ? - will they have a job after reorganisation ? - do I have a career ? and so on. The role of the leader is to make sense of the uncertainty and vocalise it in a way that clarifies and provides support to its people, and through their actions they reinforce the words that they are using.
Many examples can be put forward as good business leaders, but the person that stands out for me is Sir John Harvey-Jones . He first came to my attention on the TV series Troubleshooter with his larger than life character and straight talking ( favourite quote: “there are no bad troops, only bad leaders” ) where he gave advice to manufacturing companies. Also, his book Making It Happen: Reflections on Leadership remains one of the best books on Leadership, and his many articles and speeches ( for example see Turnarounds test imagination and courage ) give fascinating insight into business leadership.
However, it was a chance discussion that sealed my respect for Harvey-Jones. Many years ago I was in a businesses meeting that included three ex-apprentices from his old company ICI who had been made redundant during major reorganisations ( he had turned ICI from a loss making business to the first UK company to make £1 bn profit in 30 months ). I asked them how good was he really. The all answered in glowing terms that what I saw on the TV was what he was like and although his actions had made them redundant they still held him in high regard. Testament to his leadership skills !
Business leadership is difficult to define and yet it has a direct impact of the way that a business manages itself in an uncertain world. The uncertainty brings new demands and ultimately change. Against this uncertainty, business leaders have to spell out what needs to be done in clear and simple words that can reach all parts of the organisation. They have to give their people - who are the best at knowing about the work that they carry out - the responsibility to make the changes to meet the new demands. Finally, they need to behave in a way that reinforces the underlying values of the business which emphasises how a business conducts itself. If this can be achieved then business leadership may gain some respect rather than pointed to as the source of all problems.