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    Oh the demand... 

    Conferences Governance Leadership Performance Phd Research
    Nine business days after arriving in England for meetings and speaking engagements in several English and Swiss cities, I am once more seated at Heathrow: this time to enjoy Air Zealand's service on the long flight home—and to sleep! Reflecting on fifteen meetings, eight hotels and many conversations, the main thought to emerge from this trip is "demand". Simply, the level of interest in boards, board practice and how to get boards doing the 'right' things in order to achieve the business performance outcomes expected by shareholders has been almost overwhelming. For example:
    • Professors from two English universities and one Irish university have offered to organise masterclasses to expedite healthy debate about boards and the difference they can make.
    • Two different groups of people, both based in Zurich, including professorial staff at unisg.ch, have said they want to organise teaching and learning seminars, to raise the bar amongst banks and international businesses.
    • The team at Ethical Boardroom has invited me to provide the editorial commentary for their summer issue.
    • Several (sorry, I'm not at liberty to disclose details) have requested advice on matters relating to board structure, apprenticing, strategy and business performance.
    That so many people are actively seeking help to improve business performance through effective contributions in the boardroom has caught me on the hop. After all, the public persona presented by boards and chief executives is that they have everything under control. However, when the conversation moves beyond platitudes, its seems most are worried. I have put myself at the service of all who are interested. If you would like to know more, or to schedule some assistance, please contact me.
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    Succession planning: The MU case

    Accountability Governance Leadership
    I popped into the ICSA conference at Olympia in London for a couple of hours this week, on a very kind invitation extended by CEO Simon Osborne (thank you Simon). The programme was filled with some interesting speakers. It would have been great to attend for the full day, but a teaching commitment at University of Winchester Business School during the morning put paid to that.
    Anyway, to the conference. The two presentations following the mid-afternoon break were very interesting stories of failure. One concerned the Co-operative Bank and the other Manchester United. You don't often hear such stories at conferences, so when they are told it pays to listen, because lessons often abound. And so it was on Thursday afternoon. 
    Neil Gibb, of consulting firm SLP, talked about the appointment of David Moyes to succeed Sir Alec Ferguson. Gibb suggested that the appointment of Moyes was an abject failure. The outgoing Manager—a man not devoid of ego—anointed a successor, Moyes. Moyes was like Ferguson in many ways, except that he did not have a track record of success. Notwithstanding this, Ferguson's power (and aura?) prevailed and Moyes was appointed. Moyes coached and managed as he had done at Everton, and MU slid down the league tables. The resultant damage to the company has been conservatively estimated at £50.4m.
    What went wrong? Gibb suggested the succession process was a failure of culture, in that culture trumps most things. That those that employed Moyes did not do their homework adequately. Moyes did not have the 'swagger' that characterised over the Ferguson era. The players probably did not respect him either. With hindsight, the outcome was probably a foregone conclusion. However, something that I found more interesting was that Gibb did not mention the board. Clearly, power rested with Sir Alec Ferguson. It should have rested with the board. After all, the board 'owned' the important task of employing a new manager, or it should have. 
    The case demonstrates the hard (financial) and soft (brand and reputation) damage that can readily occur with a 'bad' appointment. While the board can take suggestions, and culture is crucial as Gibb stressed, the board should never forfeit control over succession plans and recruitment process. However, in the Manchester United case it seems to have done so. Moyes was the face of the failure. He got the blame when the board was culpable. Thanks to Neil Gibb for telling the story, and for Simon Osborne for inviting me to hear it. 
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    HSBC's big call: an external chairman

    Accountability Governance Leadership Performance
    Reports emerged today that the next chairman of troubled banker HSBC will be an outsider. If this is what "completely overhauled" means, then HSBC might have just made an inspired decision. However, it is not a slam-dunk. The decision is the first of many that will be required to get the organisation back on the rails and to re-establish much-needed credibility in the marketplace. 
    Another word of caution: an external chairman is no guarantee of success. Boards needs to be led well, and a high-performance culture and an effective strategy are also crucial elements. But to make the move away from appointing a chairman from amongst the executive team is a very big step in the right direction.
    Well done for taking an important step HSBC.
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    More on the HSBC debacle: What does "completely overhauled" actually mean?

    Accountability Leadership Performance
    The debacle that has become known as #HSBCleaks continues to simmer. Stuart Gulliver, chief executive, went public today with a full-page letter in several Sunday papers. The letter offers an apology for the debacle, and it seeks to provide some assurances to both customers and the general public. 
    Statements that the bank has "completely overhauled" and "fundamentally changed" its operation sound good, albeit historical. But what of the executives and directors who were not monitoring business operations properly? Are they still happily drawing benefits without further consequence? Does accountability stop short of the executive suite and the boardroom? That Lord Green is the only head to have rolled so far raises more questions than it answers, including what "completely overhauled" actually means.
    HSBC and the wider business community must learn from this scandal.
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    ICMLG'15: Conference wrap-up

    Conferences Governance Leadership Management Research
    The annual International Conference on Management, Leadership and Governance is over for another year. The third edition of the conference, in Auckland New Zealand, built on the earlier editions. The two keynote speakers, Phil O'Reilly and Andrea Thompson, were well received. They set the scene for each day nicely. Three strong themes emerged during the conference, as follows:
    • While business researchers are making a contribution, progress is painfully slow—akin to plodding. The gap (probably best described as a chasm) between the academic research community and the business community is far wider than it should be or needs to be. While researchers need to stand somewhat apart from praxis in order to conceptualise new understandings, they need to avoid standing so far away that their work lacks relevance. Pace and relevance appear to be crucial—if research outputs are to be appreciated by the business community.
    • The research emphasis needs to change, from standing outside the subject of interest (the board, the leader, the management situation) and counting things (typically secondary attributes based on pubic data or interview/survey responses), to getting close to the subject in action. This change demands more qualitative research, in search of deep understanding and meaning. While the theme has become increasingly apparent at conferences in the last year, several delegates voiced opinions that a tipping point might be tantalisingly close.
    • Building on this last comment, researchers need to open the black box (of the board, the management team, the organisational situation) and learn what is actually going on. However, this introduces a new challenge, of discernment. Perhaps business researchers need to take the lead shown by the medical and engineering communities (amongst others). Research-capable doctors do medical research and engineers do engineering research. Has the time come for business research to be performed by researchers with real-world business experience as opposed to researchers who have never been inside a boardroom or managed a commercial entity? Many at the conference thought so.
    Some further reflections:
    • The organiser (Academic Conferences and Publishing, based in the UK) and hosts (AUT and Massey) did a wonderful job. Thank you to Louise, Pat, Coral and James, in particular.
    • The quality of the papers presented, and the author presentations seemed to be higher than the two previous conferences. Perhaps the review process worked better, or researchers are self-selecting such that only those with meaningful research submit papers. 
    • The dinner cruise, on Auckland Harbour, was the social highlight of the conference. Delegates from the Middle East and Europe (especially) were effusive in their comments. That Auckland turned on a wonderful evening sealed the deal!
    • In future, ACP may want to consider organising a programme for partners. Around 20 percent of the delegates brought their spouses with them to New Zealand and there was nothing organised for them.
    So, there you have it. The 3rd International Conference on Management Leadership and Governance is over. I look forward to the 4th edition in twelve months' time. The venue should be announced in the next month or two.
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    ICMLG'15: Day 2 keynote

    Conferences Leadership Performance
    Well, Day 2 has started with a bang! Andrea Thompson, Managing Director of Catapult a leadership consulting practice, delivered an inspirational message about leadership; the essential place of leadership in great organisations and the hidden sources of success. Thompson suggested that organisations have a backbone comprised seven elements:
    • Vision
    • Strategy
    • Leadership philosophy
    • Purpose
    • Values
    • Brand
    • Story
    Thompson also suggested that the nature of leadership needs to change, because the world we live in is changing. Paradigms and structures that have served well in the past may not work in the future. Thompson proposed that leaders must possess a new portfolio of skills and attributes if they are to lead effectively in the future: 
    Backbones can be well-developed (and provide strength), or poorly developed. Crucially, all seven elements are well-developed in effective organisations. Effective leaders know this: they seek to achieve strength all the way up and down the organisational backbone. Purpose is intentionally positioned at the centre: this is the starting point—everything else builds on and from purpose. Effective leaders start with purpose, to discover why organisations exist (cf. what they do, which is management talk). She then worked through the other elements of the backbone and linked everything back to purpose. Her stories and examples were quite insightful.
    • Contextual awareness
    • Conceptual thinking
    • Agility
    • Collaboration
    • Diversity
    • Purpose
    • Autonomy
    • Unique beings
    • Environmental stewardship
    Thompson then moved on to discuss how leaders lead. She suggested that great leaders tell stories, their own stories. They tell life stories; they tell stories about important or significant moments; and, they tell stories about other people. And if they tell stories well, people listen and they believe. Effective leaders give hope. Thompson set a great platform for a busy day of presentations and discussions. If the discussion over coffee was any guide, she left a great impression on the audience.