If business is war, then it behooves managers to learn how true warriors not only survive crises, but also emerge as better leaders.
Using the Warrior Ethos to Drive Business Leadership If business is war, then it behooves managers to learn how true warriors not only survive crises, but also emerge as better leaders. By Louis Carter The Òbusiness is warÓ philosophy has been with us for nearly as long as business itself. Smart executives learn valuable lessons from The Art of War and The Book of Five Rings, sales managers admonish field personnel to ÒwinÓ and Òseize territoryÓ, and executives grow accustomed to Òleading the troopsÓ and Ògoing on the offensiveÓ. Rarer, however, is discussion of the necessary mental conditioning and moral responsibilities of war, and too often do the terms Òwhatever it takesÓ and Òat any costÓ creep into our thinking and actions. As a leader, whether in business or the military, achieving victory is important, but how you attain your objectives is equally so. To truly excel as leaders, managers need to worry less about company vs. company pugilism, and focus instead on developing personal ethical frames of reference. To paraphrase Sun Tzu: Know yourself, not just your enemy. In refining this concept, I sought out some truly soldierly advice. For a guy who has come closer to the business end of an incoming guided missile than most of us will to any end of any kind of munitions, Mark Guadagnini is amazingly low-key. ÒRoutineÓ is his description of an emergency manual launch of his A-6E IntruderÕs multi-million-dollar weapons Ð while being shot at by Iraqi air defenses, unable to freely evade, and in the middle of a system malfunction. Oh, and in the dark, too. Today, Rear Admiral Mark Guadagnini is the U.S. NavyÕs Chief of Naval Air Training and a combat veteran of five armed conflicts. He has successfully led men and women through some of the most stressful and challenging scenarios imaginable, i.e., those in which other people are actually trying to kill you. The key to honorable survival and victory, Guadagnini says, is to train oneself to resist the baser urges of the human psyche (like, for example, the natural tendency to avoid climbing into a cramped flying bullseye in the middle of a war zone). He refers to these carefully developed values, priorities, and ideals collectively as a ÒWarrior EthosÓ, to which heÕs committed his professional and personal life, and without which he might not have survived his long military career. Simple in Concept... After much discussion with Admiral Guadagnini, I managed to distill his decades of military leadership training and ethics into four of those pithy bullet points to which we in the business world are so accustomed:
Note that beating bad guys or fighting external opponents arenÕt part of the Warrior Ethos; weÕre more concerned with personal development, and winning is simply a natural extension of being fully committed to this way of life. When striving to develop a warrior mentality, it really is all about you. ...Complex in Execution As with any leadership development effort, reviews and refreshers are vital, but so is actual stress-testing. When training new pilots, the military emphasizes Òramping pressureÓ, using scenarios and carefully designed exercises designed to create the same kind of fear, confusion, and uncertainty that happens in real combat, the goal being to allow the recruits to challenge and refine their ability to apply the Warrior Ethos. None of this is new to even casual readers of business journals. The usual difference, of course, is that for soldiers, these principles determine not only victory, but also survival. These days, though, survival should also be foremost in the mind of businesspeople, too; companies cannot weather this crisis without solid, exemplary leadership, for which demand will surely rise as quickly as tolerance for lackluster performance wanes. Constant application of warrior principles may be difficult, but the payoff is (literally) vital. Mission Refine your sense of mission accomplishment; go out and
get the job done right, every time, making personal sacrifices if necessary. This isnÕt just a one-sentence statement on the inside cover of your annual report. The ÒmissionÓ isnÕt one specific goal (like Òfly here, bomb thatÓ), but rather a group of priorities, some more important than others, but mutable and occasionally conflicting (Òfly here and do some or all of: bomb that, donÕt be early, donÕt get hit, come back alive, donÕt miss, donÕt be lateÓ). The warrior-minded leader must always keep the main mission in mind, know which priorities and goals are allowed to change, and then make those changes in a timely, effective fashion Ð without affecting the goals that are crucial. A warrior leader should always be mindful of the stakes of the game, and to be aware of how each action (or inaction) can cause the stakes to change (or be lost). One should not sidetrack away from primary goals, but the primary goal should not be so narrow that it ignores far-reaching consequences. Emphasis must also be placed on the importance of doing things the right way. In many ways, the Warrior Ethos itself becomes part of the mission, because any success acquired without those qualities isnÕt really a success at all, from a personal development standpoint as well as a military/business one. Courage Learn to overcome your fear; make decisions and take
actions that will garner successful outcomes. In running a business, you may not be in fear of landmines or being shot, but the workplace has its own bogeymen: fear of failing, fear of making employees unhappy, fear of public mockery. The fears born of pride and ego (so common, and indeed necessary, in both business and war) are just as strong, and arguably more insidious, than fear of death in battle. Learn to control them, and move forward with a clear sense of purpose. (Another U.S. Navy Admiral once put it quite succinctly: ÒDamn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.Ó) Sound easy so far? Not so fast. When discussing bravery, the bottom line always comes down to sacrifice, not just from your comrades (which is tough), but from yourself (which is, for most people, tougher). Courage has a cost, be it in lost personal time, changed working conditions, or (as in the case of soldiers) the potential of being wounded or killed. The benefit, however, is that the resulting team is a far stronger and effective performer, and far likelier to collectively overcome extreme difficulties; shying away from sharing burdens and hardships sends a signal to colleagues and observers that you might be all talk and no walk. Discipline Develop the ability to take constant action, to not just
lie back and wait for things to happen, but to operate within strict parameters
to pursue a desired outcome. Resources are always limited. ThereÕs never enough time, manpower, money, or caffeine to pursue every worthy goal to its beneficial end. However, rather than lamenting the difficulties they bring or trying to circumvent them, a warrior leader is glad to meet and hold to those limits. For a warrior, rules, limits, and parameters exist for good reason, though often not self-serving ones. Ê Within those limits, however, the warrior mentality demands total commitment to action. ThereÕs always the temptation to wait for an external savior, be it government subsidization, unexpected bad weather, or some other deus ex savemytuckus, but no soldier or manager should use favorable expectations as an excuse for lethargy. Even when thereÕs nothing to do but wait (which happens to soldiers for long, soul-draining stretches of time), itÕs possible to prepare for contingencies, plan the next steps, or refine skills. The stress can be overwhelming, but not as overwhelming as being unprepared at a critical moment. Ê Flexibility Draw from all your training, experience, and mission parameters,
and then put them together, adaptively, to accomplish the mission despite
circumstances that have changed from the original plan. ItÕs a much-beloved saying in the military: no plan survives contact with the enemy. The weather changes, someone catches the flu, or sometimes the enemy isnÕt even there, and suddenly, a courageous, disciplined plan isnÕt worth the Powerpoint handout itÕs printed on. The measure of a leader, then, lies not in mere planning ability, but in that leaderÕs facility for reacting quickly and appropriately to unexpected situations. No one can, as the familiar paradox demands, Òexpect the unexpectedÓ, and thus the ability to be flexible and adaptive is, by definition, difficult to train; itÕs impossible to rely solely on past experience to make someone react correctly to every possible future scenario. Remember, though, that in the absence of perfection, there can still be excellence, and that some people react well to a larger variety of unexpected events than others. The best leaders arenÕt necessarily able to handle everything, but they can learn (via careful application of intuitive responses to past experience) to shift gears faster and find suitable courses of action better than most. The effective business warrior must maximize flexibility via constant, deliberate exposure to unfamiliar situations in order to grow accustomed to calm, analytical responses to a broad range of Òwhat the heck just happenedÓ events. E Pluribus Unum Perhaps the most difficult aspect of adopting the Warrior Ethos is the need to balance the four aspects, never favoring one at the expense of another, and allowing all four to constantly push and pull on one another as parts of a unified whole. Slavish adherence to mission objectives must sometimes give way to flexibility in the face of new developments; flexibility must not be used as an excuse to avoid facing problems head on with courage; and, courage without restraint often leads to the abandoning of disciplined rules and order. The interactions are manifold, but the gist is that an overabundance of any one element is just as harmful as not having any of it at all. The end result of successful warrior development, be the person a fighter pilot or a business executive, is a leader who not only excels in handling conflicts, diplomacy, and management, but who also exhibits extraordinary loyalty, humility, perseverance, and compassion. A company helmed by such a person is ideally positioned to derive commitment from its employees, confidence from its customers, and success from its environment. From the perspective of personal development, the need for the warrior ethos is even more dire: in this workplace culture, where old-style loyalty to the company has given way to mobility and free enterprise of a more mercenary nature, it is imperative for leaders to cultivate personal attitudes and behaviors that enable them to maintain integrity, honesty, and adaptability through the most difficult of challenges. Winning Warriors To close, I present some examples of companies that have superbly applied warrior ethics to their talent acquisition and/or talent development activities. Some of them have read the same books and been led by the same military principles that drove me to write this article. Others have come by these values and ethics via different paths, but are no less exemplars of the Warrior Ethos for not using them by name. There are certainly more than just these few, but these companies are top representatives of their respective industries and have been open and honest regarding their internal policies and ethics. All of these companies have finely-crafted programs for maximizing the potential of their current leadership as well as creating full pipelines of up-and-coming high-talent individuals. Their talent planning includes training and guidance regimens for individuals (constant review and coaching, multi-disciplinary learning, mission-driven objectives and ideals, systematized career advancement, and best-practice exchange forums) as well as warrior principles for the companies themselves (e.g., effective identification and retention of high-potential individuals, strong understanding of customer/market needs, and reductions in force or sales of business units when necessary). In addition, these companies are also distinguished by less-common actions or philosophies that further increase their effectiveness as business warriors.
Avon, in its 2006 restructuring, challenged employees at all levels to refocus on the company as a global organization, emphasizing new corporate ideals of fact-based decision-making, defined hierarchies, and structured, transparent performance management. The move away from traditional comfort zones into this new adventure had to be driven at the highest levels, since the culture being changed sourced largely from management. This difficult, innovative, and delicate path has kept Avon relevant and lively despite looming economic worldwide economic turmoil.
In this
still-young new century, Cisco has acquired some 23 companies, launched high
speed internet access, and grown the company's market capitalization over $100
billion. And yet, in a careful balance of courage with discipline and mission
focus, CEO John Chambers cut his salary to $1 in 2001 in order to save jobs.
Corning is prepared for
economic stress and future flexibility with a strategy incorporating financial
strength (assuring that the company always has more cash than debt),
diversification (even into unfamiliar territory such as telecoms and consumer
electronics), and a devotion to R&D innovation (investing at least ten
percent of annual revenue into fundamental research and development). For
Corning, wealth creation for the company requires a long-term view and
investments in projects that may take decades to yield meaningful returns. For
example, the companyÕs refusal to divest itself of its display technology
development projects seemed unwise during the telecommunications market
meltdown, but the decision bore fruit five years later, when the division
became CorningÕs new growth engine.
Ecolab is a global leader in
cleaning, sanitizing, food safety, and infection control products and services,
serving customers in more than 160 countries. Ecolab developed a long-term
mission to more than double in size over the course of six years, and
immediately implemented programs to ensure the readiness of superb business
leaders at the end of the six-year plan (as opposed to promoting based on
traditional impetuses of seniority, opportunity, or need). Key to this effort
was an HR philosophy that treated talent development as promote-from-within,
whole-company effort, not a resource to be externalized or exclusive to any one
division or function, laying the groundwork for significant organizational
change. The strategy proved successful; not only did Ecolab increased sales
238% over the six-year period, it also created a new culture of long-term
talent planning and development that ensures the availability of ideally
trained and motivated individuals many years in the future. áÊÊÊÊÊ Kaiser
Permanente (Colorado Region) Kaiser PermanenteÕs Colorado Region is a not-for-profit health plan driven by a social mission to provide affordable, high-quality health care services to its members. Kaiser PermanenteÕs Colorado Region uses a Leadership Succession Management strategy that stays true to a plan and mission first developed in 2005. Their leadership framework is notable for its emphasis on four major areas of focus, roughly corresponding to the four warrior ethics. In addition, a Diversity Leadership Program emphasizes flexibility, broadening the candidateÕs knowledge base and prioritizing the need for leaders to have in-depth understanding in a variety of disciplines.
MicrosoftÕs High Potential
Development program seeks to identify budding leaders and allow those
candidates to experience increasing levels of challenge (with coaching and peer
review) from a diverse array of viewpoints. Rather than use training ÒexpertsÓ
and predetermined problem-solution couplets, the HiPo program encourages
self-driven study of actions and results, encouraging flexibility in the a way
that acknowledges the impossibility of standardizing human behavior: letting
everybody learn from their own unique reactions. The result goes beyond
traditional leadership development into a brave realm of leadership acceleration. Ê
Murray & Roberts is South AfricaÕs leading engineering, contracting and construction services company, providing services throughout Southern Africa for 106 years. Recognizing weaknesses in its talent development programs, Murray & Roberts first implemented efforts to change a preexisting culture to one that improved coaching and dialogue skills, focused on mission objectives, and measured total performance, not just the bottom line. In addition, however, the company also optimized its long-term leadership pipeline to not only provide needed training to leadership candidates, but to also maximize resources by delivering that training in a Òjust-in-timeÓ fashion.
One of the largest electric utilities in the nation, Southern implemented a comprehensive program to identify and develop future leaders, not in response to immediate need, but far in advance. Recognizing an oncoming problem with an aging leadership corps created by stable growth and low turnover, Southern tackled the issue with comprehensive new programs aimed at increasing awareness of talent across the organization and focused on developing new high-performers by standardizing expectations and imposing new discipline on executive selection processes.
Established in 1862, the IRS
operates in a fast paced, highly regulated environment as it collects the
nationÕs revenue.Ê Leadership
development, which was once largely managed by the regional offices, was one of
several significant business processes affected by Modernization in the late
90s and early 21st century. The IRSÕ leadership competency model includes
emphasis on equal employment opportunity and satisfaction across superiors,
employees, and customers (which include all the taxpayers in the United
Stated), in addition to more traditional leadership and business results
measures. Thus, IRS managers must deliver both in terms of ÒwhatÓ (i.e., business objectives) and ÒhowÓ (i.e., satisfaction of all parties engaged in business
processes). The IRS was the first federal agency to directly link leadership
competencies to a managerÕs core responsibilities in this fashion.
Kristen Weirick, Director of Talent Acquisition at Whirlpool, describes the companyÕs Òculture of integrityÓ, a notable long-standing commitment to not only perform the companyÕs business mission, but to do so with unflagging character and values. WhirlpoolÕs leadership competency models emphasize warrior ethics, defining leaders not just by their actions, but how and why those actions are performed; this prompts managers and executives to carefully balance multiple objectives with the means by which those goals may be accomplished. Ê |