Book Review

Stakeholder March2006 37

My English teacher used to say thatpoetry is condensed thought. Accordingto the blurb on the back of the book thisis “concentrated leadership juice” which,whilst a slightly disturbing phrase, is prettyaccurate. The authors have crammed animmense number of valuable ideas (andreal-world experiences) into a veryreadable format - I managed it in a returntrain journey to London. Admittedly I live inYorkshire, not Essex, but that’s still prettyimpressive. Does that mean it’s short onsubstance? Absolutely not. It’s certainlyshort on waffle, but each chapter isdripping with good ideas, quotes andstories. If you’re anything like me you’llfind your copy will end up doubling in sizefrom all the ad hoc bookmarks you shovein.

The big problem addressed by this bookis that most “leaders” are anything butinspired, and miles away from inspiring. Astudy commissioned by the authors foundthat the most desired quality in a leaderwas “inspiration”, but only 10% felt thatthey had experienced this at work.Business leaders are still seen as “theboss”. Which figures come to mind as

business leaders? Mr Burns and DavidBrent are two archetypes that shouldn’tbe accurate, but too often still are. Sowhat do leaders need to do differently,and what would their businesses looklike?

The secrets in summary

Secret 1 -

Leadership is viral: pass it on

Leadership is not management. Thisdoesn’t mean that management is badand leadership is good, but you can’t leadby managing. Good leaders give othersthe resources, inspiration and support tobecome leaders in their own right.

Secret 2 -

You’re not fooling anyone

Truth is the only option you have(resonance with BJ Cunningham’s take onbranding here). Ever greater informationtransparency means that you can’t hopeto maintain a sham any more. Set yourvision, market it, live it internally and thatwill flow through to what customersexperience. Corporate Social

Responsibility is not something you cantack on to the outside, it has to beingrained in your business. The agendanow is Corporate Social Opportunity -Innocent Drinks is a great example of abrand that is built on an ethical basis.

Secret 3 -

They have to want to follow you

Work-life balance misses point - itshouldn’t be about balancing a necessaryevil against “life”, work should be part ofyour life! If it’s not fun then you need toreinvent your workplace. It’s no longerenough to manage your human“resources” as if they were consumablesor raw materials - you need to engagetheir energy in your business.

Secret 4 -

Make a difference

Commoditisation and conformity are thebane of most markets. Differentiation isthe only way to beat the competition. Butinnovation often isn’t all that innovative -most “new” ideas are merely borrowedfrom other sectors or other contexts. Butideas are cheap (and easy). The hard partis coming up with a reliable innovationprocess which controls risk whilst allowinggood ideas room to grow before they areevaluated to death. The job of the leaderis to “be like Madonna”. No, you can putdown the pointy bra - constant reinventionis the key.

Secret 5 -

Lead from the edge

All the important action takes place on the

Phil Dourado & Dr Phil Blackburn, Seven Secrets of Inspired Leaders Capstone

The wicked leader is he whothe people despise.The good leader is he who thepeople revere.The great leader is he of whomthe people say.“We did it ourselves”Lao Tsu, Tao te Ching

DIFFERENT IS HARDER TOBEAT THAN BETTER

Stakeholder March200638

BOOK EVIEWContinued: Phil Dourado & Dr Phil Blackburn, Seven Secrets of Inspired Leaders

Book Review

front line, interacting with customers, notin the ivory towers of senior management.In the pull economy you need to be at theedge to understand how the customerexperience looks and feels from theoutside.

Secret 6 -

There’s nothing out there

Global business is coming, ready or not.But that doesn’t mean homogeneity, itmeans glocal or even multi-local (HSBC’scurrent approach). If you think about thestatistics there is no doubt that jobs arebound to move overseas - with cheapgraduates and postgraduates availableincreasingly the R&D as well asmanufacturing jobs will move to India andother new economies. Export jobs orimport people is the question inaddressing Europe’s aging population.

Secret 7 -

The impossible isn’t

Do the impossible is where innovation

(and differentiation) comes from. Fire(creativity)and ice (caution) need to bebalanced. Innovation comes from tryingthings, and being prepared to fail. But thatdoesn’t mean you have to gamble thefarm - practising smart risk allows you tobe innovative, and prepared to fail, infirewalled key areas.

Plus the bonus secret - Get an NBA,

not an MBA

A New Business Architecture - everythingfrom IT systems to hierarchies may bedifferent in an organisation with inspiredleadership. IT systems need to befocused on external customer control -leadership from the edge again.

The upside-down organisation is still auseful model - leadership is seen assupport for the front line. Measurement ofsoft as well as hard metrics is key.

Our review

Taking each secret on its own, there’s nota huge amount that’ll be new here if youkeep up to date with your reading. Whatthis book does that is unique is to distil ahuge number of ideas into a very smallspace and couple that with lots of insightfrom the people who have been there anddone it.

This book is an engaging call-to-arms forwould-be leaders who want to reinventthemselves and their organisations.Without question you’ll leave the bookwith a host of ideas that you’re itching toput into practice in your own organisation.Best of all, as I write this it’s half price onamazon.co.uk, so you definitely oweyourself a copy!

Web links:

www.phildourado.comwww.inspiredleaders.com(seems to be awaiting new content at themoment)www.ecsw.com

WE’VE PUT THE RIFLE IN THEHANDS OF THE DEERFRED NEWELL

‘THE IMPOSSIBLE’ IS JUSTSOMETHING THAT HASN’TBEEN DONE IN YOURSECTOR YET

HIERARCHY IS ANORGANIZATION WITH ITS FACETO THE BOSS AND ITS ASS TOTHE CUSTOMERJACK WELCH