Everyone's an expert

Everybody is an expert on why economic recovery was seemingly slow in coming – the resolution to the war in Iraq has been imperfect, consumer confidence is flaky and the positives in economic indicators are not sufficient to outweigh the negatives and create an up beat view of the future.

But is the availability of serious general management talent also to blame? There are – of course – hundreds of outstanding general managers and many of them are deliberately low profile but a number of organisations are starting ask where to find a really great one when you need one.

General management is back in fashion as pragmatism enters not only Companies who want to restructure quickly for efficiency and effectiveness – but also in those organisations who want strong, single point leadership to prepare for the next wave of market growth.

It may be, of course, that these General Managers - many of whom are CEOs of our largest economic engines – have not disappeared at all, they may have just lost a little courage and that’s a concern. Although Senior Management confidence is not tracked or measured as routinely as that of consumers or Procurement Managers, it is growing increasingly important as these are the very people who we call on to take bold, visionary decisions and direct or sanction funding on technology, plant, machinery and facilities – and all the other areas of capital expenditure that would push start the economy. And of course, if they lack confidence they will not reverse the trend of resource reduction to cut overhead and begin hiring again – another economic propellant.

We conducted a survey of 50 CEOs to upgrade the anecdotally based feel of uncertainty in this the most important of leadership sectors. The overwhelming sense is one of disillusionment - on the rebound from the glory days of a few years ago when most CEOs could do no wrong, particularly in the eyes of the shareholders and analysts. Everyone was on a roll and everyone loves a winner.

Now it seems that the very same people from staff to stockholders are taking against their General Managers – holding them accountable for the ills and woes and fortunes of companies and individuals alike.

Regulation, legislation and even prosecution for matters ranging from fraud to death add to the pressure these General Managers feel. It comes, of course, with the territory - and the territory rewards well – even in uncertain times. But this issue is not about sympathy - its about motivation and while these Managers and CEOs are well paid for what they do, they need to be motivated too.
Motivated because they hold the keys to the return to fortune – although recent analysis claimed that only 15% of organizational effectiveness could be attributed to CEOs this clearly discounts both the trickle down effect and the collateral impact of their leadership. Looking at DELL for example, that even extends to Suppliers who take a more positive approach to the future as a direct result of the motivation provided by Michael Dell’s confident and competent visioning.

Searching

So motivation is in short supply as well as – or because of – the right type of General Manager. Where did they all go? Well, maybe like the best plumbers, they went to the City to make their fortunes. Go back 20 years and where were the most ambitious and possibly brightest stars heading out of University and Business School? Well, to the Consultants, Bankers and Investment Houses – where the rewards were higher and the commitment to execution lower.

This is a provocative thought and is, of course a sweeping generalism but it is true to say that some of the best Industrial and Commercial leaders may have spent time in consulting – like Gerstner [IBM] and Golub [American Express] – they have a significant element of practical experience in running a business.

And matrix management; what has that done to leadership and general management skills. With the best, it has possibly sharpened them – driving the effective use of influencing skills over command and control. But distributed authority can mean diluted responsibility – and that can develop weakness in taking charge.

CEOs and General Managers are not handling the pressures created by shrinking markets and stock prices and many feel wholly unloved by their Managers, employees, shareholders and suppliers – the media that built them up is against them and even fellow Directors – unnerved by the rapidly increasing liability issues – are much more likely to blow the whistle.

While other factors like markets, the economy and competition may be out of the direct control of CEOs – the skilled, experienced and motivated take these setbacks as part of the job – strong markets flatter bad managers but the current conditions really identify the Industrial giants of the future.

These are the leaders we should acknowledge and nurture and increasingly, Companies are identifying the appropriate skills – and gaps – and making the good become great through support and development programmes. And these programmes can help address some of the isolation – emotional as well as technical –that all GMs and CEOs feel – putting them more in touch with the positive aspects of the future and removing the fog of gloom that has descended.

It is not only in the bus queue that negative talk spreads gloom – at the most senior levels, executives are talking their peers into a downward spiral - and at many business schools there is a rush to push ethics to the forefront of the MBA curricula – one leading America School is quite publicly stating that it feels a measure of responsibility for creating the aggression that led to the greed that led to the Enron class of scandal.

With global capacity exceeding demand and local capacity made global more easily with the Internet and cheap fast supply chain systems there is a continuing and demotivatingly low level in sales. And with productivity and lean programmes already in place – many CEOs and GMs are finding it hard to identify the route to profit growth.

With no turnaround levers visible – our GMs and CEOs need to be more skilled and more motivated – and those aspiring leaders of Industry and Commerce that are propelled by ambition and communications skills alone – need to step aside to let the truly competent pass quickly into power.

Combine these simple tactics with relaunched media respect for the skill of these commanders of large and complex enterprise and have the advanced education system get a little more tuned to profit from enterprise and less focused on fast profit from financial engineering and we will soon see a steady flow back of the essential General Manager – more motivated to lead to prosperity.

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