Rolls and Royce

Successful creative businesses need a combination of creativity and business strategy - what I call 'T-Shirts' and 'Suits'.

Sometimes, one individual has both of these elements in good measure, but more often than not, the harmony of creativity and business is formed by two people, or a larger team.

Frederick Henry Royce met Charles Stewart Rolls in Manchester in 1904. Royce was the engineer and Rolls the businessman, and their partnership formed the world-famous company Rolls-Royce.

Jennifer Harris, writing in Management Today, points out that different skills can combine in a complementary way but different attitudes cannot. I agree.

There must be a shared vision for the enterprise, even if the partners involved are very different characters with different skills. So the shared vision is in many ways the starting point. If people are working hard together but with different goals in mind, conflict - or at least stalemate - is likely to occur.

Matters of risk, growth, financial reward and lifestyle are all issues about which partners might have different views. If these are not in harmony, each person may have a valid, but different, business strategy in mind as their road map to different destinations.

Success means different things to different people, so simply agreeing together that you want the business to be 'successful' is not clear enough. Working towards different definitions of success will inevitably bring problems. That definition of success needs to be clearly defined and agreed.

"Start with the end in mind", says Steven R Covey in his bestselling book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

Having that clear vision of the future, and then starting with that end in mind, is exactly what successful creative entrepreneurs do.

Leading Creative People

"We say it's like herding cats!" was a comment about leading and managing creative people when I was a guest speaker at the Munich meeting of MAGNET - the Marketing and Advertising Global Network.

My presentation to the owners of advertising agencies from around the world was on the subject of Leadership. One aspect they were particularly interested in was how to lead 'creative' staff.

My own view is that creativity is not the monopoly of the 'artist' or the people who describe themselves as 'creatives'. Creativity is in us all and in all departments of an enterprise. I use the T-Shirts and Suits metaphor to emphasise that creative businesses must bring together both creativity and business acumen, wherever it comes from, to create successful organisations. Nevertheless, many agencies find themselves employing people who are categorised as 'creatives'. These people pride themselves on their creativity but sometimes also on their disdain for 'business' matters. The big question was: How can we effectively lead these 'creative' types?

Amongst several other things in my presentation (Six Leadership Styles, Level 5 Leadership, etc), I mentioned an article in the Harvard Business Review on 'Leading Clever People' (details below). The researchers make several interesting points about leading creative people (and other clever people including scientists and academics). Before my own presentation I was musing on the conclusions of the article and the analogy of 'herding cats'. I couldn't help thinking of some similarities between the article's conclusions about leading creatives and managing a pet cat.

1. 'Creatives' do not want to be led. Neither do cats. Try putting a lead on a cat.
2. 'Creatives' like to do their own thing. So do cats. Some companies allow their employees to use 20% of their time to pursue personal projects. I call this the '80% loyalty' philosophy. Some cat owners accept that their cats sometimes disappear for days to do their own thing. They probably have another human who also feeds them.
3. 'Creatives' have a low boredom threshold. Cats soon get bored with you.
4. 'Creatives' expect instant access. Even if they want you to keep away from them most of the time, when they want you, they expect to get to see you. Similarly with cats. You can't find them but they can always find you when they want you.
5. 'Creatives' won't thank you and will be unwilling to recognise your leadership. Cats might get friendly  when they want something, but after they get fed they just walk away.
6. Even though they don't acknowledge it, 'creatives' need you and the organisation as much as you need them. Despite cats' aloofness, like 'creatives' they do depend on the shelter and food you provide.

I won't try to push the comparisons further but it does seem that there are some amusing similarities!
Let me know what you think - I'd like to hear your views.

The HBR article is 'Leading Clever People' by Rob Goffee from London Business School and Gareth Jones from INSEAD, who have studied leadership for 20 years. Their article was published in March 2007 and is available online from Harvard Business Review.

Six Leadership Styles

According to Daniel Goleman, there are six leadership styles which are associated with the various elements of emotional intelligence in different combinations.

The art of leadership is to master all of the styles and use each style appropriately as the circumstances demand, just as a multilingual person would speak in the language appropriate to the country or audience.

Goleman's six styles are as follows - and I have added my own name to describe each style in vivid terms:

The Coercive Style of Leadership: 'The Dictator'
This is the dominant 'macho' leadership style. It is appropriate in emergencies and severe situations, but otherwise will tend to disempower and disillusion subordinates.

The Authoritative Style of Leadership: 'The Visionary'
This style focuses on the goal or vision of the future and inspires others to follow. This is appropriate when a new direction is required or a clarification of the goals to be achieved.

The Affiliative Style of Leadership: 'The People Person'
Here there is a focus on people, teambuilding, bonding and forging alliances. This style is useful in creating teams or for healing dysfunctional relationships.

The Democratic Style of Leadership: 'The Listener'
This is a useful style to adopt when attempting to involve a wide range of people in decision making or building a consensus.

The Pacesetting Style of Leadership: 'The Superman/Superwoman'
Using this style, the leader sets an example by working to extremely high standards of performance. This is useful to raise the stakes when a competent and motivated team is working well.

The Coaching Style of Leadership: 'The Nurturer'
This style focuses on helping to improve people's strengths, and is especially useful in building skills to develop managers and future leaders.

Most people will tend towards one particular style as their 'natural' or 'default' style, but be comfortable and competent in two or three different roles. The complete leader, however, will be 'fluent in all languages', a master of all six, using them skillfully as appropriate, being one minute a 'dictator' and later a 'listener' as events require.

All of these styles are useful at different times, but used at the wrong time they can be disastrous, for example, too much listening when immediate action is required, or only providing a vision when a team needs building or rebuilding.

Four of the styles will consistently improve the 'climate' of an organisation, (ie people's commitment, confidence, creativity and clarity of purpose), whereas two are potentially damaging to this climate and must therefore be used sparingly. The two potentially negative styles are the Coercive (Dictator) and Pacesetting (Superman/woman) styles.

Research has shown that it is the Authoritative [Visionary] Style of leadership which has the greatest consistently positive effect on the 'climate' of an organisation.

"The best leaders don't know just one style of leadership - they are skilled at several, and have the flexibility to switch between styles as the circumstances dictate." - Daniel Goleman.

'Level 5' Leadership

The best leaders are not always 'charismatic'.

"Level 5 leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company. It's not that Level 5 leaders have no ego or self-interest. Indeed, they are incredibly ambitious - but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves."
- Jim Collins. Good to Great. 2001.


Jim Collins researched leadership styles in companies that had performed the best over the long term and found a special kind of leader - a leader that usually nobody had heard of. That is to say, these companies were not led by people who were 'well known' for their leadership, well publicised, and fitting the stereotype of the 'strong visionary leader'. Instead they were hardworking, modest team-workers who didn't conform to the classic leader image.

According to Jim Collins, a Level 5 Leader "builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will." Every one of the corporations that Collins identified as transforming itself from 'good' to 'great' had level 5 leaders in the critical transition phase. None of the comparison companies did. Furthermore, the colourful, dominant, celebrity leaders, are effective in the short term but do not achieve 'good to great' status for their companies, according to his research.

He describes Level 5 leaders as being timid and ferocious, shy and fearless and modest, with a fierce, unwavering commitment to high standards. Characteristics common to Level 5 leaders include: humility, will, ferocious resolve, and the tendency to give credit to others while assigning blame to themselves.


Andrea: Unhappy the land that has no heroes.
Galileo: No, unhappy the land that needs heroes.
- Bertolt Brecht. The Life of Galileo.

'Lateral-Thinking' Leadership

The most effective leaders learn from other industries and sectors.

"Most [executives] think they are in touch with the outside world if they play golf with the vice-president of another company in the same industry."
- Professor Peter Drucker. Management Guru.
(Financial Times. London. 16 November 2004.)

Research commissioned by the UK Government's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and undertaken in 2004 by the Chartered Management Institute found that the most effective business leaders have several characteristics, including 'Lateral Thinking'.

Inspired leaders are 'lateral thinkers' who are "particularly adept at drawing on experiences outside their own sectors". They take a much broader view than less effective leaders, looking at things laterally - and they encourage their teams to do the same.

I believe that creative enterprises can learn a lot from businesses and organisations in other sectors - and vice versa.

Inspirational Leadership

"Leadership is not magnetic personality - that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not 'making friends and influencing people' - that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person's vision to high sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations."
- Peter F. Drucker

In a 2004 study, commissioned by the UK Government's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), more than 1,500 managers were asked what they would most like to see in their leaders. The most common answer, given by over half of respondents, was 'Inspiration'.

However only 11% of people said that their leaders actually were 'inspiring'.


According to the DTI, inspiring leaders have the following characteristics:

Strong Strategic Focus. They keep the business focused on its strategic objectives, without distraction. (See 'Saying No').

Lateral Thinking. Inspired leaders have a broad view and draw on experiences and ideas from outside their own industry or sector.
(See Lateral Thinking Leadership.)

Vision and Communication. Not only are they clear about where the business is going, they are also able to communicate this vision clearly to others, often in simple graphic terms, avoiding jargon.

Principled. They have a strong set of values which encompass respect for others, honesty and openness, and are strongly committed to the business. They are often quiet and 'under-stated' rather than colourful and 'charismatic'. (See 'Level 5 Leadership').

Reflective. They are capable of being reflective and humble about themselves. They realise how much they don't yet know and have a strong appetite for continuous learning.

Risk taking. They are able to take risks - calculated risks - to achieve goals.

Accessible. They tend to have an 'open door' policy, not hidden away from staff. They will be found talking - and listening - to staff 'on the shop-floor'.

Value attitude. They value knowledge, skills and experience in others, but foremost they value attitude when evaluating staff and their contribution to the business.

In reality, according to the study, 60% of respondents said that their Chief Executive was 'out of touch with how staff feel'. Only 40% talked regularly to ordinary employees and only 19% had an 'open door' policy.



References
Inspired Leadership: An insight into people who inspire exceptional performance. Chartered Management Institute UK.
Inspirational Leadership. Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

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*Please contact me with your comments and let me know about your experiences and stories about leadership, particularly in creative enterprises.