This brief note discusses the importance for a business leader to achieve a state of “Inertia” for the organization she represents. The note borrows examples from the lives of some historical figures to make the case that if a leader or manager is at ease with herself and her surroundings, she can accomplish great successes for her business. First, I describe what I mean by Achieving Inertia, then this note reflects on some of the characteristics of Nelson Mandela, Ronald Reagan and the HP duo of Dave Packard & Bill Hewlett before concluding with an analysis of what connects these remarkable leaders of the twentieth century with effective modern day business management.
When I say inertia I mean achieving a state of being when a company is in equilibrium with its surroundings and gliding almost friction-free towards its goals. The manager in such a state would have a definite vision in mind of where the company is heading towards and she would have communicated this to the subordinates clearly. Personally, she would be at ease with the work and the strategy that she has employed. She would be secure within and satisfied with the work and act as a facilitator for the team which would play the role of actually motioning the company towards the desired goal. This all seems very bright and rosy but anyone who has worked in a business setting would acknowledge the conflicts that arise and how easy it is for the team to get derailed. That is where the leader steps in and ensures the focus of the team is on the goal and to guide it on the right path if the team falls astray. In order to achieve this state of equilibrium, the leader has to exhibit certain qualities. These are to firstly understand herself and identify a role that makes her comfortable with the surrounding. Secondly, she must understand the individuals who make-up her team and ensure that they are at their most productive. And lastly, she needs to realize a sense of responsibility towards all the stakeholders.
It is imperative for a business manager to undergo an inner analysis of her needs and desires before forming any strategy for her team. This is crucial because in order to achieve professional success, she would need to define it what professional success is for her and set a benchmark for her career. In his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela (1995) goes at length at describing why he chose the difficult life of a freedom fighter over one of a regular ‘colored’ South African during the apartheid. Even though Mandela was not a business manager, his rationale for making the choices that he made is, in my opinion, helpful in making all sorts of decisions. Mandela explains in his autobiography that the struggle began from being annoyed that he did not have personal freedom. He wanted to live a life where he would not be personally discriminated against, a life where he could get an opportunity to succeed. But then he realized that it was not only Mandela’s lack of freedom but absence of it in his people’s lives as well that bothered him. He could not enjoy life as long as his fellow colored South Africans were oppressed and therefore, the focus of his life became working towards achieving freedom for his people. And this caused him to change his life drastically. He lost his home and sacrificed time spent with immediate family owing to his participation in the African National Congress. Later on in his career, his objective got refined into working for the freedom of all humanity – both the oppressed and the oppressor (p. 624).
Just as it was important for Mandela to understand what he really needed to do to be satisfied in life, it is imperative for every business manager to identify what sort of a professional career would enable her to enjoy life in general. If you are not satisfied out of working hours, then more often than not that would impact productivity during office hours. Furthermore, when we select our careers, we should try to get an idea of whether that particular line of business fits-in well with our values and principles or not. If the line of work is in harmony with our core beliefs, we would feel a sense of fulfillment and the professional life would seem whole. Mandela’s example also teaches us that the target is not rigid and undergoes consistent refinement. His hunger for freedom broadened from a personal desire into a universal agenda. The first important step towards achieving corporate inertia should be a manager’s inward assessment of whether she feels secure about her role in the organization and whether the focus of business resonates with her values. We cannot deliver at our best if we do not enjoy what we do.
“It was said of Reagan that he never had to take the pulse of the country; he was the pulse” (Gergen, 2000, p. 200).
Once the manager is satisfied with her role in the organization, then the next step should be to ensure that the people working with her are also secure professionally and that they believe in her ability to lead them. David Gergen’s (2000) Eyewitness to Power provides a very insightful analysis into the management style of four US presidents but it is his analysis of Ronald Reagan which is of relevance here. Gergen explains that Reagan developed an emotional connection with his audience because he could understand how they felt about various issues. He achieved this by enabling himself to read people and by creating a feeling of empathy towards them. This enabled him to inspire trust of other people (p. 199 – 200). Gergen further explains how some presidents do not appeal as leaders because they keep a perpetual focus on themselves. Reagan’s style was unique because he was excellent at maintaining focus away from himself and towards others (p. 228). Reagan enabled people to think themselves worthy of great accomplishments by identifying “ordinary Americans” from amongst the people and showering praise on them (p. 229).
These abilities are essential in a leader if she wants her team to achieve inertia. Managers need to put themselves in other’s shoes and establish an emotional connection with the entire workforce. The role of a modern day manager should be to serve as a facilitator to the organization, making sure that every employee has the opportunity to work towards achieving the company’s goals. If there is a disconnect between the leader and the followers, then the company would not be able to function at its most efficient level. The manager’s role is to provide the best environment for each single employee to reach his or her potential and this would result in the organization’s potential becoming higher than the sum of individuals’. The manager must strive to understand the employees and their needs and show this appreciation to them. This would prevent them from second-guessing her intentions and vision. If she maintains a Reagan-like emphasis on focusing on others, then this would surely be possible. Such a company would automatically attract the best talent in the market, further increasing its overall performance.
“It is not the man who has little, but he who desires more, that is poor.” – Seneca (Tribes & Nations)
A crucial stage in a company’s life is the point when it has just started doing well and beginning to earn a healthy return. That is where the mangers need to decide how to efficiently allocate surplus capital. What we have seen so often is that greed takes control and the short-term focused leaders try to individualize these profits. This creates a divide between the ranks of the company and breaks up the momentum. Clever managers see beyond that.
Michael Malone describes an incident in Bill & Dave (2008) when Dave Packard, one of the co-founders of HP, attended a meeting of corporate leaders in 1948. During that meeting, one of the topics that the business leaders of the time discussed was of corporate responsibility. Packard, who at that time was not as experienced as some of the other leaders, was amazed by the thinking of the mangers who considered profit as the sole motive of the corporation. When Packard openly disagreed with the rest and shared HP’s viewpoint of a company bearing responsibility to its employees, customers and vendors as well as the owners, he was laughed at. Malone goes on to note that almost a decade later, most of the companies present in that meeting had adopted HP’s style (p. 117-118).
As early as the 1940s, HP was pioneering in personnel management by offering health insurance and pension plans for its employees (p. 101). Another inspiring incident is when HP needed its first line-of-credit. It was the owner of a small Palo Alto National bank that agreed to give HP the $500 loan at that nascent stage. HP never forgot this kindness and continued to do business with Palo Alto until the time it got too big for the small bank. Even then, it shifted business to an associate bank of Palo Alto (p. 85).
This gives a measure of how one of the greatest companies of the last century did business. It was the sense of responsibility that Dave Packard and Bill Hewlett felt towards each other and the stakeholders that enabled the company to survive a demanding industry where failure of continuous innovation could bring about a quick end. If a manager acknowledges this responsibility then it would automatically eradicate the natural conflicts that arise between a corporation and its stakeholders. If a manager maintains good relations with a company’s suppliers and helps them out in troubled time then the suppliers would more often than not reciprocate because a healthy relationship is mutually beneficial. If a company adopts environment friendly and employee friendly policies, then the goodwill generated would surely add value to the company over the long-term. This harmonious state of existence with the all parties involved goes a long way in ensuring the ability of a company to make generate lucrative returns over an extended timeframe.
Above, I have discussed the concept of achieving inertia and how it would benefit a company to be in such a state. Some characteristics and steps to reaching this state are also described from a corporate leader’s perspective. The manager firstly needs to understand herself and feel secure about her role in the organization. Secondly she needs to understand her employees’ needs and earn their trust. These would enable the manager to provide a vision and for the employees to set a direction and choose a path towards achieving the goals. Once the company is on the right track, the manager needs to acknowledge the roles of various stakeholders involved with the company and always have an eye on their interests. These three aspects would go a long way in enabling the company to achieve a state of equilibrium with the external and internal forces at play. These are surely not exhaustive but just some features that modern day managers should internalize in their leadership. I believe peaceful co-existence of all parties in the present business world is possible. We just need to learn a little humility.
Bibliography
Gergen, David. Eyewitness to Power : The Essence of Leadership: Nixon to Clinton. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000.
Malone, Michael S. Bill and Dave : How Hewlett and Packard Built the World's Greatest Company. New York: Plume, 2008.
Mandela, Nelson. Long Walk to Freedom : The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela. New York: Back Bay, 1995.
Murray, Grant, and Mignonne Murray, comps. "Empowering Quotes." Tribes & Nations - A Global Store Empowering Lives. Tribes & Nations. 12 Dec. 2008
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