Business and finance
“My little birds are everywhere” – Lord Varys
15 April 2015 by Catherine Holdsworth in Business and finance, Game of Thrones on Business
In our ever more connected world it can be hard to know what is private and what isn’t. Recently many people have discovered to their horror that what they thought were private messages or photographs have been hacked and shown to the whole world. Perhaps it’s time to take some lessons in circumspection from Game of Thrones.
Sony Pictures learnt the lesson the hard way a few months ago when its IT system was hacked and private emails published online. Many stars that you thought were loved the world over were picked apart and scrutinised by Sony executive Amy Pascal and producer Scott Rudin. Never mind the trouble with the film The Interview, even Angelina Jolie, the highest-paid actress in Hollywood, was not immune from being a victim, having been the subject of a derisive email by Rudin. With all the bankable power that Jolie has, not to mention the influence (she is part of the ultimate power couple, has inspired many women to get their breasts checked and includes international politicians among her close friends) surely it is better to keep her on side? But clearly Pascal and Rudin, perhaps naively, assumed that their emails were private, otherwise there’s no way they’d have made low jibes about President Obama, joking about ‘black’ films he might enjoy. It has been revealed that Amy Pascal has quit her job after the fall out. Clearly her granny never told her that if she couldn’t say anything nice it was better not to say anything at all.
There are no emails in Game of Thrones, but that doesn’t mean there’s any such thing as a truly private conversation. As Petyr Baelish points out to Ned soon after his arrival in King’s Landing there are three major networks of spies operating (and who knows how many minor ones). Varys, Cersei and Baelish himself all run sophisticated spying operations and nobody, however innocent they may appear, is above suspicion – he points out that a small boy, a gardener and even a Septa (a holy women) are all listening on somebody’s behalf. But it’s hard to hatch plots if you can’t talk to anybody for fear of being overheard and just as Scott Rudin clearly had to get his frustrations with Jolie off his chest somehow, Ned has to share his qualms about the legitimacy of Joffrey’s inheritance of the throne with somebody. Unfortunately Ned did pick just about the worst co-conspirator he could. Naively believing that he can trust Baelish he shares his thoughts with him – this is despite initially thinking him untrustworthy and being told by Baelish himself not to trust him. Unless you’ve been asleep for the last four years you’ll know the truly devastating consequences of Ned’s unwisely shared secrets. While the Sony execs have kept their heads we’re guessing that Scott Rudin will be avoiding any parties attended by Ms Jolie for some time to come.
A final side note here is that if you know that you’re being spied upon you can control the game yourself by sending out a little misinformation. Tyrion demonstrates this by placing a different rumour with each of several people he suspects of working against him. By finding out if the rumours travel and where they end up he is able to work out who the spy is (it’s that snivelling old weasel Grand Maester Pycelle). So if Rudin wants to get back in Ms Jolie’s good books perhaps he could find some way to ‘accidentally’ let it be known how much he admires Angelina for her charity work – unguarded Tweet (oops did I really say that?) or careless conversation in Chateau Marmont perhaps …?
Game of Thrones on Business by Tim Phillips and Rebecca Clare
13 April 2015 by Catherine Holdsworth in Business and finance, Game of Thrones on Business
Yesterday the fifth season of the HBO series Game of Thrones was released to an adoring global audience. If you’re not a fan yet perhaps you should be if only for the sake of your business. While watching it is incredibly entertaining, it could also revolutionize your business and leadership skills, a new book shows.
To coincide with the new season launch independent publisher Infinite Ideas releases Game of Thrones on Business today. Authors Tim Phillips and Rebecca Clare argue that the fantasy series can provide answers to real-world dilemmas, suggesting that as a leader you should encourage those water cooler conversations and office gossip if it’s about last night’s episode. Your team could be discussing
- What Tywin Lannister has in common with Steve Jobs (neither favours the mothering style of leadership);
- Why Ned Stark should have had a scenario-planning meeting (just saying that ‘Winter is coming’ without doing anything about it is career shortening);
- What Daenerys Targaryen can teach us about servant leadership (she frees her slave–employees, and they adore her);
- How to network like Littlefinger (or even BNI’s Ivan Misner);
- Why behaving like Jon Snow will just antagonise your boss (being a clever little twat isn’t always endearing).
From the intern’s desk to the boardroom, every organisation has its own challenges and battles. Game of Thrones on Business draws parallels between the successful TV show and today’s frenetic business world. Each chapter offers a great opportunity to improve leadership skills and business strategy without the need for swords or dragons. Taking examples straight from the TV show to breathe life into management theory, Game of Thrones on Business demonstrates that the best leadership lessons can be learnt even while relaxing at home.
Should BP have sent a raven?
10 April 2015 by Catherine Holdsworth in Business and finance, Game of Thrones on Business
It’s common knowledge now that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 was the biggest known oil disaster in the petroleum industry, the clean up of which was handled very badly by BP. Might the damage-control have gone better if CEO Tony Hayward had been able to swot up on Game of Thrones before entering the fray?
Initially not comprehending the gravity of the disaster, Hayward was sent to deal with the press. Very quickly BP was branded an enemy of the environment and held up as a company built on greed and profits, out for its own gain with little respect for its customers, and entirely lacking any concern for the world around it. Hayward was sent to handle the growing threat to coastlines and wildlife, but his unsympathetic reaction and reluctance to admit that BP was at fault quickly put the company in danger of losing shareholders and, perhaps more importantly, credibility. Producing a product which has damaging effects on the environment is tough enough, with activists always on your case, but a fundamental lack of understanding of the effect that your company has on its surroundings can be devastating. We continue to need oil, which fuels our capitalist economies; BP supplies a product that all of us rely on, whether directly or indirectly so the company certainly could have come out of the situation a lot better than it did. So what went wrong? Perhaps a few lessons on delivering messages from the hit HBO series might have helped.
Messages are frequently sent in Game of Thrones. We’re not talking about the sort sent by raven so much as the demonstrations of strength. So in this category would come pouring molten gold over the head of an entitled and ambitious irritant to demonstrate why you’re not to be messed with, crucifying slave masters to show what happens to the unjust when they cross you, or cutting off the hand of the best swordsman in the land to prove that the Lannisters aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. None of these is really good PR in the sense of making the message sender look like a good person, but they do all demonstrate the value of public relations, of controlling the message so that the recipient perceives you in the way you want to be perceived.
Although sending a message works well, sometimes nothing beats delivering the message yourself – provided you are sufficiently clued up to handle the situation. In the first series of Game of Thrones, Ned Stark goes down to King’s Landing to help the king, Robert Baratheon. Knowing how treacherous the Lannisters can be, his wife begs him to send a deputy, but for Stark it is imperative that he go himself, for only then can he truly represent the views of his kingdom. Perhaps this is what BP was hoping to achieve by sending its CEO to help smooth over relations, but like Ned, Hayward didn’t really understand the world he was entering. While Ned failed because his idealism clashed with the corruption at court, BP’s massive gaffe could perhaps have been avoided with a little media training.
Sending the CEO could have been great PR – if you send your top guy to a disaster rather than a representative it shows that you understand the situation is serious. It also demonstrates a will to be honest and avoid the accusations that could come from hiding behind a slick (no pun intended) PR operation. Unfortunately in a company this huge the CEO rarely knows as much as the folks on the ground and is not necessarily adept at handling the world outside his corporate ivory tower. It was abundantly clear that Hayward had not been properly prepared for dealing with the media. Perhaps sending a public relations advisor to brief him and field questions for him might have enabled the CEO to show he was actively concerned and doing his best to ensure that the issue was resolved as quickly and efficiently as possible instead – dare we say it – of putting in a performance that made the company look corrupt and shambolic.
Seven lessons of leadership we learnt from The Office
8 April 2015 by Catherine Holdsworth in Authentic leadership, Business and finance, Entertainment
Of course, Michael Scott was not the only boss that the Scranton office of Dunder Mifflin had over the years. Sadly, he left at the end of series seven and his successors had leadership styles that were entirely their own. Given that there were lots of successors, we can gather that they weren’t exactly incredibly successful. However, we can learn from each character something valuable about leadership.
- Robert California. This was the sex-crazed boss who took over after it turned out that Will Ferrell was only contracted for a few episodes. As Robert California stared down the camera at the audience, we knew that we were in for a unique style of leadership. Eventually it all got too much for him and he left Dunder Mifflin never to be seen again. However, though his character was scary and intimidating in the beginning, we began to think him not as mad as he initially seemed.
- Andy Bernard. Whether you believe David Wallace really should have chosen Andy to replace Robert California as manager of the Scranton branch, Andy certainly had camaraderie with his employees. It can be hard to lead when you are promoted ahead of your peers and gaining their trust when you once bantered with them at the water cooler can be difficult. However, Andy’s biggest faux pas as boss was not to undermine his former colleagues, but to disappear entirely for three months on a sailing trip with no prior warning. During his absence, the company was incredibly profitable which only served to demonstrate how superfluous Andy was both as an employee, and as regional manager.
- Nellie Bertram. If you see a job that you want, simply give yourself that role. Catherine Tate’s character effortlessly assumed the role as manager of the company when Andy went off on his sailing trip. Though never formally employed, she managed to manipulate her way into the company in the final seasons. Initially abrasive and rude, Nellie softened up and revealed her more vulnerable side. As a manager, she wasn’t much cop but given that she actually turned up for work everyday, she did much better than Andy!
- Jo Bennet. Played by the fantastic Kathy Bates, Bennet is a character who takes no nonsense from anyone. Once she’s bought Dunder Mifflin, she makes sure that productivity in each branch is high. This Southern woman is not to be messed with, putting Michael right in his place after he attempts to woo her and bring out her softer side.
- Jan Levinson. Frequently the butt of sexist jokes and banter in the office and the warehouse, Jan was able to rise above and succeed in a ‘man’s job’. Her relationship with Michael Scott could be seen as a faux pas as he was a liability when it came to liaising with corporate. However, after a successful boob job and leaving Michael, she became the leader of her own company and the epitome of the successful self-made woman and single mother.
- David Wallace. He is a complicated character but we can establish that he really is just trying to do what’s best for the business. It can’t be easy having to manage people like Michael Scott without firing them at the first opportunity. However, Wallace’s plan to usurp Jan with a new employee was not handled well in season three, it’s always good to give someone the ‘heads up’ before you interview for their replacement in front of them. Wallace also made a bad business decision by hiring Ryan, previously an intern at Scranton who had not made a single sale. The power eventually got to Ryan’s head and he had to be let go. However, Wallace gained back his credibility after being laid off by buying back Dunder Mifflin from Robert California and reinstating himself as CFO. His character arc truly went full circle and he was probably one of the sanest people on the show.
- Dwight K. Schrute. Dwight is the perfect example of earning your leadership role. His first chance as boss is cut dramatically short after he fires a gun in the office. However, by the end of the show we are really rooting for him to become regional manager of Dunder Mifflin. After years of painful pranks from Jim, giving himself the ‘assistant to the regional manager’ title and his lifelong dedication to his job (Dwight wanted to die at his desk, then quits his job after going over Michael’s authority to Corporate) he finally becomes the character that could. He is the success story of Scranton.
Whether you think any of these characters actually deserved to be regional manager is up to you. They certainly all had a unique style of leadership. Perhaps if they’d all read Bas Blekkingh’s Authentic leadership, they would have all been a little bit better at their jobs.
7 reasons why Michael Scott is NOT the ‘World’s Best Boss’
1 April 2015 by Catherine Holdsworth in Authentic leadership, Business and finance, Entertainment
Last week we wrote about how much we admired Michael Scott for the leadership lessons that he could teach us. However, we’re sure you’re all thinking that there were more than a few occasions when Michael’s managerial qualities were somewhat lacking. So, in the interest of fairness, we have balanced out last week’s list with seven reasons why Michael Scott could have perhaps done with reading Bas Blekkingh’s Authentic leadership and getting a few tips on how to improve his skills.
- Lack of productivity. Michael Scott is a procrastinator, if there was an award for this he would most certainly win it. Remember the episode where he had to sign three different things before the end of the day and nobody left before seven because it was too much work? Or how about when Jan asked Pam to write down everything Michael did one day (spoiler: he waited in line for a pretzel). Michael’s inability to knuckle-down almost lost him his job when two companies were forced to merge.
- Mixing business and romance. From the very first episode, Jan Levinson was a part of the Dunder Mifflin company and the victim of Michael’s ‘that’s what she said’ jokes. However, somehow, something like love managed to blossom between the two of them, but not without serious consequences for their jobs and the company. When Michael demands a raise, Toby points out that this may be the first time ever a male subordinate has withheld sex from a female superior until he gets offered more money. Thankfully, Jan and Michael parted ways after a relationship that was tumultuous at best. We can all learn from this that sleeping with your boss is never a good idea and that mixing business and pleasure can often end in tears (take heed, Jon Snow and Ygritte!)
- Lack of discretion. It is well known that Michael Scott cannot keep secrets but sometimes this can be incredibly damaging. When he found out that Oscar was gay, he inadvertently ‘outed’ him to the whole office. This was a dangerous move and Dunder Mifflin suffered because of this: Oscar got months of paid leave as well as compensation. Michael’s lack of subtlety, however, goes much deeper, as he said to Oscar, ‘your gayness does not define you, your Mexicanness defines you’. In the episode, ‘The Convict’, Michael also tells the office which of the employees has a criminal record and that person then quits. Good leaders instil confidence in their employees and make them feel they can share problems in confidence.
- Selfish desires. Michael’s desperation to be the centre of attention or the joke-teller often means that he puts his own needs before those of his employees and the work of the office. Frequently targets are missed because Michael has decided to distract the office with his own personal problems. Take the episode ‘The Injury,’ for example, where Michael demands the office rally around him because he burnt his foot on his George Foreman grill.
- Undisguised hatred of Toby Flenderson. Remember that episode where Michael took the office to the beach in an attempt to see who would make a good replacement? Well Toby doesn’t. He had to stay in the office and man the phones while the others had a fun day out. That’s because Michael develops an intense and irrational hatred of the human resources guy. You can’t be expected to get on with everyone in your office, especially if it’s a big corporation with lots of departments. However, Michael’s dislike of Toby progresses throughout the series in an extreme manner; Michael does not hide his feelings from his employees, or indeed Toby himself, ‘If I had a gun with two bullets, and if I was in a room with Hitler, Bin Laden & Toby, I would shoot Toby twice’. Harsh words from a mostly harmless man – authenticity needn’t mean brutal honesty.
- General idiocy. Michael, though kind and mostly harmless, has no common sense, which often means that he is the butt of his employees’ jokes and can seem to have little control over his office. A good manager should know what’s going on in their office at all times and not let their employees take too many liberties. Work can be fun, yes, but it should also achieve something. Michael famously declares, ‘I love inside jokes. Love to be a part of one someday’, which shows just how little idea he has about what his employees say about him when he is not around; they are not laughing with him, but rather at him.
- Favouritism. Michael makes no secret of the fact that Ryan and Jim are his favourites in the office. Meredith and Toby, on the other hand, are frequently on the receiving end of Michael’s scathing remarks. Dwight constantly strives to be loved but never gets to be seen as ‘cool’ in Michael’s eyes, instead becoming his fall-guy and wasting career-building time on Michael’s hare-brained schemes. Roping in Dwight on ridiculous plans means that less work is done in the office (see point 1). Remember when Michael refused to pay for the pizza that he ordered because they wouldn’t accept a discount coupon? He locked the delivery boy in the conference room while asking for a ransom from the pizza company. He also asked Dwight to go with him to look at a house he was interested in buying, taking advantage of working hours to run personal errands.
Love him or hate him, Michael was definitely unique in his approach to leadership. Clearly he was a good salesman once upon a time, which is why he was promoted to a more senior role, but one that he was not very well suited to. Bas Blekkingh’s book, Authentic leadership, is based on a seven-layer model that leaders can work through to make them the most productive that they can be.
What can Tesco learn from Daenerys Targaryen?
27 March 2015 by Catherine Holdsworth in Business and finance, Entertainment, Game of Thrones on Business
It was announced at the end of last year that Tesco would be closing several stores to make up for the deficit of billions of pounds lost in 2014. Whether this is a strategic retreat or an unplanned but necessary downsizing is yet to be seen. But perhaps we can hold off panic buying their ‘Finest’ range just yet, especially if the company is willing to take a few lessons from an unexpected source.
With the rise in the UK of the ‘Big Four’ supermarkets, we seem to be getting ever closer to a bust after the great supermarket boom. Competition is healthy, but how many supermarkets do we really need? There’s only so much room in our cupboards for baked beans and marmite so is there really any need for a Sainsbury’s next to a Tesco Express just down the road from Morrisons? Do the supermarkets know something that we don’t? Is the zombie apocalypse approaching quicker than expected and is their sole purpose to provide enough supplies for us to ride it out?
So perhaps this strategy of retreat from Tesco is a wise business move. They are currently bleeding money by the billions and need to reassess their place in the market. Rather than building another superstore in the middle of nowhere, perhaps the sensible business move under new boss Dave Lewis really is to take a step back and assess the best place to take the company from here. The loss of revenue has shown that all these superstores are not essential to the modern day consumer.
The link might not be immediately apparent but strategic downsizers might learn a thing or two by watching Game of Thrones. Once, the Targaryens ruled the seven kingdoms; for 300 years they were the most powerful family. When the show begins, Daenerys and her brother Viserys are in exile, across the NarrowSea, in Essos. An unplanned and unwanted retreat has turned into a game played at a tactical distance. The last Targaryen (under 100), Daenerys, is not out of the game, merely taking time to reinforce her strengths and address her weaknesses, planning her next move carefully and assessing what she wants. To do this is not a sign of retreat or weakness, or an indication that she’s out of the game. Daenarys’ marriage to Khal Drogo was a strategic alliance to increase strength and numbers before the advance.
Of course, not everything goes to plan. Trial and error in business is sometimes necessary to success. One cannot build an empire without failure and learning from mistakes. By the end of season one, Daenerys’ husband has died, the Dothraki have deserted her and she is in danger of losing everything; that is, until her dragons hatch. She is the Mother of Dragons, and having found strength from an unexpected source she now has an advantage over all her opponents.
Recently, Tesco has been accused of practising low trading standards when it comes to its suppliers, withholding payments, and breaching suppliers’ trust in an effort to win the ‘supermarket war’ with its competitors. Much like King Joffrey, who thinks nothing of torturing a subordinate, Tesco is beginning to reap what it sowed. The backlash from Ned Stark’s beheading at the end of season one immediately set up Joffrey as the ultimate villain and began the War of the Five Kings. What can Tesco, the non-beheading supermarket, learn from this? Perhaps the moral is to not believe too strongly in your own invincibility – in business as in war nobody is invulnerable (just ask Gregor Clegane after his almost-defeat by Oberyn Martell). Tesco is unlikely to step as close to the brink as Ser Gregor but wobbles like this make consumers more aware of the politics behind their store cupboard essentials.