Tuesday, August 17th, 2010
It’s inevitable in challenging economic times that the media spotlight falls on senior leadership remuneration highlighting the allegedly ‘disproportionate’ rewards for those at the top of the business tree. The rumblings at the recent appointment of Philip Green as the UK government’s waste watchdog is case in point, very little written about his character, skill and accomplishments, plenty written about his wealth and tax status.
So are the so-called fat cats worth it? What justifies such an enormous difference in salary and bonuses in relation to other senior level colleagues and the rest of the employed workforce?
It’s no exaggeration that the average employee could competently accomplish 95% of the duties a typical CEO undertakes on a day-to-day basis. The difference is in the 5%.
It simply boils down to the ability to make difficult decisions, not just the every day decisions that most of us make (although many people shy away from making the simplest decisions, unaware that not making a decision is a decision in itself), the 5% is represented by the kind of decisions that make or break not just the leader, but also the company and everyone connected with it.
These are the tough calls, and anyone who thinks that the risk doesn’t justify the reward has never made a tough call or understood the level of risk a leader at this level often has to take. It’s the kind of decision that sucks the life right out of you. Having your hard earned career and reputation put on the line is one thing, having the livelihood of hundreds or possibly thousands of people with families and homes to support is quite another. It’s easy to forget that senior leaders are human too.
It’s in having the courage to take personal responsibility for making the tough decisions that the fat cats justify getting their cream.
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Monday, May 24th, 2010
They say a week’s a long time in politics, and the old axiom certainly applied to recent events in British politics, which created an extraordinary turn around in how a large proportion of the population view the political system and those within it.
I found the general election campaign and it’s eventual outcome fascinating, especially from the perspective of observing leadership. The age of celebrity inevitably dawned with the live TV leadership debates gripping millions of apathetic non-voters, many seduced by, as it initially appeared in the opinion polls, more by personality than substance.
That seduction failed to materialise on polling day. For the more studious of political voters it became a matter of policy, for others it was tactical, and for many it was less about choice and more about tradition. In modern leadership, charisma and charm are powerful character traits, however, they only carry you so far.
The outcome of a coalition government has been billed as a new dawning for British politics, and, should the leaders concerned have the integrity and influence to navigate the inevitable dissent and opposition from within their party ranks, a new order could emerge. It could also represent change of a much broader magnitude, the birthing of a new world order that transforms the way we lead our global community.
In business, the intricate and increasingly matrixed collaboration between leader and follower, distributor and supplier, affiliate and partner, consumer and enterprise has never been so imperative for success in the fast-paced and complex economy of today. Now the heads of the political duality that is the British Government have a unique opportunity to lead by example, to ‘become the change they seek in the world’, by demonstrating what setting aside personal differences for the greater good can achieve for both their country and, if they get it right, the rest of the world.
It may be naïve, wildly unrealistic and ridiculously idealistic, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. Given the increasing challenges of a world torn between economic fragility, poverty, ideology and the futility of extremism, demonstrable collaboration in times of adversity on a global stage from our prominent and visible world leaders could just become the catalyst that helps overcome the ignorance that remains the source of our global problems. It may take a decade, it may take a century or longer, whatever it takes, let us pray that it begins.
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