The feedback I am getting on an almost daily basis now is one of “confidence dropping out of the market”. Analysts are predicting a recession and people are starting to panic; everyone is clamouring for the secret to trading through these tougher times.And the government is once again falling short on the leadership front.
They are showing us how NOT to survive in testing conditions.
Turn back the clock for a minute and look at Tony Blair’s leadership in his prime. He surrounded himself with “big beasts” – the big hitters like Peter Mandelson, Gordon Brown, David Blunkett, Robin Cook, John Reid, Charles Clarke and Mo Mowlam.
All were extraordinarily gifted in their own right and all brought experience, talent and expertise to the team. They were easy to lead but perhaps hard to manage.
What Blair knew instinctively was that you can’t micromanage big beasts. In fact nothing offends the big hitters more in business than having people watching over their shoulder every minute, especially when they are more than capable of doing the job in hand.
Brown doesn’t seem to get this. Arguably his only big hitter is none other than David Miliband and yet even he is subjected to having his speeches checked, vetted and re-written.
Understandably this left Miliband feeling undermined and not trusted.
The challenge of having big beasts on your team is that on occasion they’ll want to do it their own way. Sometimes this is fabulous and justifies why you hired them in the first place but on other occasions you may have to face them down. The trick is to know when and how; this is an approach that Brown doesn’t appear to adopt and a telling insight into why his team is so devoid of big beasts.
Blair had a string of explosive confrontations with the likes of Charles Clarke, Robin Cook and even Brown himself but these incidents were always worth the risk compared with having a top team that consisted of no big players.
As we’ve all learnt, the real skill of new age leadership is to know what you do brilliantly and identify positions that expose your strengths. But just as important is the need to be very clear at what you’re not so good at and compensate for these shortcomings by hiring people that are better than you at those things.
It is not clear if Brown knows what he is not good at.
Consequently his team lacks balance and strength. It is a timely reminder for any of us that these qualities are crucial in tough times, including those that have already tasted extreme success and bitter failure.
Like Kevin Keegan.
It is well understood what his strengths are. He is arguably the best man manager and motivator in the Premier League and he has been hailed as the returning messiah in the North East.
I was lucky enough to bump into him recently at the Jesmond Dene Hotel in Newcastle, where even in a casual setting his impact on the locals was quite phenomenal.
And yet for all his presence and charisma, it will be Keegan’s top team that will determine whether the returning hero will bring success back to Tyneside. Firstly there was the “Will he? Won’t he?” Alan Shearer saga and then Dennis Wise was swiftly installed as Newcastle’s Executive Director. In both cases there have been hints that perhaps the vision at the very top of Newcastle is not as clear as it seemed a few weeks ago.
It remains to be seen whether the likes of Dennis Wise has the calibre to surround Keegan with the support he needs. And if these appointments turn out not to be Keegan’s choices after all but those of the Board then it could all end in tears eventually. The truth always outs.
As a lifelong Chelsea fan, Jose Mourinho’s departure was a painful start to the season but I must give some grudging respect to Avram Grant. As an almost unknown outsider plunged into the limelight, he poached a manager from another big European club to work under him and compensate for his own shortfalls. It was a brave move considering his own position was under intense speculation and bringing any big name into the coaching staff could undermine him.
But the difference between the task Keegan faces at Newcastle with that of Grant at Chelsea is monumental. Jose Mourinho created such a strong culture in his time at the helm that Grant merely had to move into the successful house that Jose built; he didn’t need to redecorate. Keegan has had to overhaul the whole operation and for that to succeed he needs the best of the best around him.
Most contemporary organisations are far too complex for one person to be able to deliver leadership all the time and on their own. Leadership now means the whole leadership team but it still takes an inspired leader with huge self belief to surround themselves with people better than them.
