Above the Clouds

A Guide to Trends Changing the Way we Work

EFQM

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781874719946
• eBook ISBN: 9781351280549
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Some of us work to live. Some of us live to work. Some of us, by design or default, don't work at all. Whatever your position, as a stakeholder in today's society, there is no avoiding the complex web that is the world of work. Everyone is affected to some degree by issues such as stress and work-life balance, teleworking, offshoring, stakeholder democracy, globalisation – the list goes on. But, as things continue to change at an ever-faster rate, what can we expect work to look like in the next five, ten, or twenty years? Above the Clouds is the result of a future studies project carried out by the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), a not-for profit foundation that promotes excellence in European business. The project aimed to identify trends that will have an impact on the world of work over the coming decade. Work here is defined in terms of methods, organisation and future challenges. It took two years to create the full picture, which is now available in this book.

"Trendspotting" sessions were organised across Europe as a means of gathering ideas on where work was heading in the future. The experience and insights of people from a diverse range of backgrounds were included in the project. Working with raw material from these sessions, researchers investigated each of the trends and their possible ramifications on the world of work. The resulting articles were posted for comment online. People from all around Europe responded and some of these views are quoted in this book. In addition, academics and leading CEOs and executives were asked for their reactions to these trends. Each of the 15 chapters of Above the Clouds analyses a trend in detail and includes perspectives from business, academia and comments from the European public.

There are disagreements, but also a surprising amount of convergence on issues such as leadership, outsourcing, global risk, women, age, spirituality, stress and technology. Rather than trying to offer certainty, the book aims to equip people and organisations with the awareness and adaptability they will need to meet tomorrow's challenges to the way we work. It is fascinating reading for anyone interested in how the big issues of work are likely to impact on us all.

1 The end of big ego leadership

Lorraine Mallinder

In days of yore, they ruled. Back in the second half of the 1990s, when hype alone could inflate share values and stock markets were caught up in a self-perpetuating state of euphoria, CEOs of hot companies became minor celebrities. This boom-time economic environment, fuelled by the effects of globalisation, accelerated deregulation and the advent of new technology, proved to be an extremely fertile breeding ground for the monster ego. CEOs delivering quarter after quarter of mega-buck profits strutted their stuff before us all, waving their magic wands. We loved them and didn’t they know it.

But then came the crisis of confidence. The bursting of the ‘bubble’ economy, coupled with startling revelations of high-level corporate misdemeanours, cast a long shadow over successes of old. As newsrooms rang with tales of greed, deception and megalomania in once mighty corporations such as Enron and WorldCom, the charismatic ‘big ego’ managers and leaders started to look just like the rest of us: mortal.

A messy tale

Take the case of Jean Marie Messier, the former CEO of French media conglomerate Vivendi Universal, who experienced a particularly vertiginous fall from grace in 2002. Back in the 1990s, the self-styled J6M (‘Jean Marie Messier: moi-même, maître du monde’—roughly translated as ‘Jean Marie Messier: Me, Myself, Master of the World’), was riding high after masterminding the spectacular transformation of the decidedly unglamorous utility group Compagnie Générale des Eaux into sexy global media giant Vivendi Universal.

Hailed by Forbes magazine as a ‘rock star CEO’, his power and influence were such that French commentators joked about a forthcoming acquisition of heaven itself. Not noted for his shyness, and perhaps rather in thrall to his own hype, Messier set up J6M.com, a platform dedicated to . . . himself! However, the glitz soon wore off when it later transpired that Messier’s six-year spending spree on overpriced holdings had left Vivendi with debts to the tune of $17.1 billion. Messier’s delusions of grandeur cost shareholders and employees dear.

‘No’ to the yes men

Harvard professor Rakesh Khurana (2002) describes how the bulldozer behaviour of big ego leaders creates a ‘yes man’ culture that can be detrimental to organisations:

Charismatic authority, by its very nature, discourages criticism. Visionary leaders generally do not respond well to questions or complaints. However, without being able to hear any critical, questioning voices, the charismatic leader in a large, complex organisation has no way of knowing whether he or she is being effective—let alone whether the pursuit of grandiose visions has led across legal or ethical boundaries that should not be crossed.

Khurana reckons we are now getting wise to the dangers of relying on the charismatic leadership model embodied by CEOs such as General Electric’s Jack Welch and Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary. In the same article, he announces that ‘with each new revelation of a CEO’s grandiose promises falling flat—or of actual corporate wrongdoing—the folly of relying on this leadership model is becoming clearer’.

Other business pundits join Khurana in sounding the death knell on big ego leadership. Wharton professor Michael Useem (The Economist 2002) declares: ‘Nobody is so smart that they’ve got all the strategic thinking wrapped up in their own head. They need to be humble enough to learn from others.’ While Andrea Redmond (The Economist 2003), a managing director at US head-hunters Russell Reynolds Associates, tells it like it is: ‘humility is in, arrogance is out’. The big ego leader is well and truly an endangered species.

Soft Sven

As the sun sets on the glory days of the big ego leader, we now look towards something quieter, more modest, and who’s to say, perhaps more enduring. Our gaze comes to rest on a quiet, unassuming type from Torsby, Sweden: England football manager Sven-Göran Eriksson. In a career filled with its fair share of highs and lows, the single-minded Eriksson has come to embody a new leadership archetype. In Leadership the Sven-Göran Eriksson Way (Birkinshaw and Crainer 2002), his approach, characterised by attributes such as listening skills, sensitivity and humility, is discussed at length:

Sven-Göran Eriksson is, in many ways, the archetypal new leader. He has soft skills, he is definitely not charismatic, but gets things done through people. He achieves results in different ways than the dictatorial leaders of yesteryear.

This lurch towards a softer leadership model would appear to be more than just an overnight consequence of our recent disillusionment with messianic CEOs. In fact, the trend could be said to be the product of a school of thought that emerged in the early 1990s. According to Birkinshaw and Crainer, it all began in 1991 with a highly influential article published in the Harvard Business Review. In this article, William Pearce, a Westinghouse Electric Corporation executive, launched the debate with his opening line, ‘I am a soft manager.’

Another significant marker in the evolution of this trend is Daniel Goleman’s best-selling book, Emotional Intelligence (2000). According to Goleman, the emotionally intelligent leader exhibits five key characteristics in the workplace: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skill. Goleman’s influence on current leadership thinking has been massive. When the Harvard Business Review published an article on the topic in 1998, it attracted a record number of readers, more than any other article published in that periodical in the previous 40 years. The CEO of pharmaceuticals giant Johnson & Johnson was so impressed that he had copies sent out around the world to the company’s 400 top executives.

Blessed are the meek

Perhaps one of the most cogently argued contributions to current thinking is Jim Collins’s bestseller Good to Great (2001). In his book, Collins brings some hard facts to bear on what could risk becoming a purely moral debate on the virtues of humble leadership. Extensive research into companies that have made the leap from mediocre to excellent reveals the pivotal role played by what Collins calls ‘level 5’ leaders. According to Collins, these leaders ‘embody a paradoxical combination of personal humility plus professional will’. He explains how such leaders ‘channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company’. What makes Collin’s argument particularly compelling is his claim that discovery of the level 5 leader was based on empirical evidence, rather than on a predetermined ideological stance. The humble leader is presented as a proven necessity for any company aspiring to enduring greatness. Former Kimberly-Clark CEO Darwin Smith is cited in the book as an example of a level 5 leader. When reflecting back on an extraordinary career, in which he turned Kimberly-Clark into the global colossus we know today, Smith said simply, ‘I never stopped trying to become qualified for the job.’

Interestingly, religious groups, no strangers to the virtue of humility, are quick to identify with level 5 thinking. It’s true that, in the grand scheme of things, the concept of the humble leader is nothing new. ‘Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth,’ said Matthew in the Bible (although he probably wasn’t thinking of management trends at the time). In an interview with a Christian magazine (Lee 2003), Collins does not shy away from associating level 5 leadership with the greater universal truths. ‘You would hope that . . . the findings would map with the teachings of great world religions,’ he says. ‘If you thought you had to be anti-Level 5 to be successful, but now you find this evidence that your instincts were right all along, that can be powerful.’

How the pendulum doth swing

So, the age of the humbler leader would appear to be upon us. But fashion, as we all know, can be fickle. Could it be that, at the first signs of trouble, we shall find ourselves running straight into the arms of the next management guru offering some inspiring answers to our organisational dilemmas? Among those who doubt the staying power of the new leadership model is London Business School professor Rob Goffee. In the Sven-Göran Eriksson study (Birkinshaw and Crainer 2002), he is quoted as saying:

The trouble with leadership is that, academically speaking, it is a weak field—there are few fundamental truths. And as such, it is susceptible to fads and fashions. At the moment, the emphasis is on emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and Level 5 leadership. But the pendulum will swing again.

Michael Maccoby, psychotherapist and author of The Productive Narcissist (2003), flies in the face of current thinking with his defence of supposedly misunderstood narcissistic leaders such as Microsoft’s Bill Gates. In his book, he reminds us of Freud’s assessment of the narcissist as ‘the type of person who impresses us as a personality, who disrupts the status quo and brings about change’. ‘The current tendency to link successful leadership with empathy, listening to others, sensitivity to feelings, anger and impulse control, and working through consensus,’ argues Maccoby, ‘is the business equivalent of wishful thinking.’ He goes on to proclaim that narcissists have got what it takes to lead innovative companies, such as Cisco and Intel, while level 5 leaders are best suited to the more staid enterprises—hardly a flattering assessment of the latter.

Beware those false gods

But the prevailing wind does seem to be blowing in favour of the nice guy. While there is almost certainly an element of faddism in our current fascination with all things soft, there is reason to believe the humble leader could be sticking around for a while yet. Companies would be wise, however, to keep an open mind when it comes to selection of their leaders, rather than relying excessively on rigid leadership templates. Rakesh Khurana (2003), although himself critical of the excesses big ego leadership can bring, is equally worried when it comes to our current infatuation with the more humble, ethical CEO. ‘If “integrity” becomes—like “charisma”—just another shibboleth for directors focused more on the candidates’ individual traits than on concrete skills, the quality of corporate leadership will not improve,’ he warns.

Looking to the past, it might be worth taking a tip from one who definitely does not fit into the mould of the humble leader: Winston Churchill. ‘There is no worse mistake in public leadership than to hold out false hopes soon to be swept away,’ thundered the mighty one. In our rush to embrace a brighter new leadership model, albeit one that does seem to offer hope of real improvement in the world of work, we need to beware of worshipping at the altar of false gods.

Case study: what makes Sven so great?

Now they are writing a lot of good things, but if we lose it will, of course, be the opposite. So that is why as a football player of manager, you have to try to be in the middle, always. Always think you are never as good as they tell you when you beat Germany 5-1 away, and you are never as bad as they tell you when you lose. You are some place in the Middle.

SVEN-GÖRAN ERIKSSON

Sven Eriksson is a man with his head firmly screwed on. Unlikely to get carried away on a Mexican wave of ephemeral glory, he’s aware of his strengths and limitations. Still, back in the halcyon days when these words were uttered, Eriksson was blissfully unaware of the controversy his off-pitch activities would go on to generate in the UK press.

Off-pitch scandals notwithstanding, three characteristics make Eriksson a world-class player, according to Leadership the Sven-Göran Eriksson Way (Birkinshaw and Crainer 2002):

• Situation sensing

Eriksson spends most of his time in silent observation, sensing the atmosphere. London Business School professor Rob Goffee says of great leaders: ‘[they] can sniff out the signals in the environment and sense what’s going on without having anything spelled out for them’.

• Authenticity

Eriksson is true to himself. Despite his less-than-perfect command of the English language, he appears at press conferences unaided by interpreters, often speaking in simplistic or stilted phrases. ‘We are all born with a built-in bullshitometer,’ says Professor Goffee. ‘Sincerity can never be faked.’

• Empathy

As Professor Goffee observes, ‘knowing when to be close with your players, and when to pull back, takes world-class situation sensing. And Eriksson seems to do this really well.’

Source: J. Birkinshaw and S. Crainer, Leadership the Sven-Göran Eriksson Way: How to Turn Your Team into Winners (Oxford, UK: Capstone, 2002).

References

Birkinshaw, J., and S. Crainer (2002) Leadership the Sven-Göran Eriksson Way: How to Turn Your Team into Winners (Oxford, UK: Capstone).

Collins, J. (2001) Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap . . . and Others Don’t (New York: HarperBusiness).

The Economist (2002) ‘High Climbers’ [online], The Economist, 28 January 2002, www. economist.com/business/globalexecutive (accessed 14 June 2005).

— (2003) ‘Tough at the Top’, The Economist, 23 October 2003.

Goleman, D.P. (2000) Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ (New York: Bantam).

Khurana, R. (2002) ‘False Prophets, Lost Profits’, The Globe and Mail, 3 July 2002.

— (2003) ‘Toward More Rational CEO Succession’, Chief Executive, April 2003.

Lee, H. (2003) ‘Good to Great’s Leadership Model Looks Familiar to Christians’, Christianity Today, 24 February 2003.

Maccoby, M. (2003) The Productive Narcissist: The Promise and Peril of Visionary Leadership (New York: Broadway Books).

Respect is a two-way street

Paris Nikou and Eugenia Lianou, Maxi Coco-Mat

At Coco-Mat, we actually have three leaders, which doesn’t leave much room for ‘big egos’. This is even more the case because, when the company was set up, the main idea was to create a family atmosphere.

From day one, the vision was not only to create a world leader in the production of mattresses, but also to create a family-oriented company, one that would act without discrimination, hiring people from different social categories, including refugees and ‘special skills’ people (CocoMat’s definition for people with special needs). There are very few companies in Greece, or even in the world, with the same attitude.

Coco-Mat started as a small shop in Athens, but now we have shops all over the world: in...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• 1 The end of big ego leadership
• 2 The fragile condition of CEOs
• 3 Give us more shareholder democracy
• 4 Outsourcing: a zero-sum game?
• 5 Risky business: the domino effect of global risk
• 6 Ctrl-Alt-Delete: generation Y reboot the workplace
• 7 Ageism in the era of workforce shrinkage
• 8 Changing the game: women at work
• 9 Under pressure: stress in the workplace
• 10 Can work and life be friends?
• 11 Spirituality in the workplace
• 12 Love me do: engineering products and services with emotion
• 13 The age of rage
• 14 Productivity in the IT age
• 15 The multiplication of not-for-profits
• About EFQM
• Credits