January, 2006, Volume
10, Number 4
CONTENTS
The Davos View: Economic Leadership and Decision Making
The Corporate Staff Ride: A Military Training Tool Comes to the
Boardroom
Learning Program: Leadership and Management in Southeast Asia
The Inner Game of Leadership: Peak Performance for Business Leaders
The Davos View:
Economic Leadership and Decision Making
By Michael Useem
Akin to Linux and Wikipedia, the World Economic
Forum is an open-source movement, a self-directed, idea-producing
community with free product. Instead of computer code or encyclopedic
content, however, the forum creates Davos View – a collective diagnosis
of the challenges facing business and political leaders around the
world, and prescriptions for addressing them. And rather than uniting
designers and definers via the web to generate the product, the forum
gathers executives and politicians in the remote mountain village of
Davos, Switzerland to produce it.
Davos View is updated every January by nearly the
3,000 business, political, and media leaders who gather for the
collective exercise. Guiding the dialogue is forum chairman Klaus
Schwab, the Swiss national who established the event more than three
decades ago.
The January 2006 conversation pointed toward great
optimism for growth in China and India. China’s vice premier Zeng
Peiyan anticipated that his economy would double within a decade, and
India’s finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram expected to see eight
percent annual growth in his GDP. One speaker even described the
simultaneous rise of India and China and their integration into a global
economy as one of the most momentous developments since the
Renaissance.
Other participants voiced confidence that still
other countries would surge ahead as well. Germany’s new chancellor,
Angela Merkel, hoped that her nation could become Europe’s most
innovative and fastest growing economy, and that the resulting expansion
in jobs should help stimulate employment across the entire continent.
“People will look back” she suggested, and “say that these were the
years of Europe.”
Many forum participants expressed less sanguine
views of American prospects. In the past, U.S. innovation and growth
had been the envy of Davos. This year, at the end of a brain-storming
session on the “critical challenges” for the coming year, one
participant summarized his group’s view of the forum’s pulse: Chinese,
Indians, and Brazilians are wildly optimistic, and Europeans are at
least moderately confident, he reported, but Americans by contrast
“can’t sleep at night.” He urged his colleagues at the forum to give
their American neighbors a supportive hug.
Former U.S. treasury secretary Lawrence Summers
suggested, however, that a cautionary attitude was still in order. Both
hope and fear pervade every economy, he advised, and at the moment he
was seeing too much hope and too little fear. He also warned that one
consequence of global integration was local disintegration, as seen in
the rising unemployment among U.S. auto workers and the rising incidence
of failed states. Mukesh Ambani, chief executive of one of India’s
largest companies, Reliance Industries, also warned that newly opening
market economies like his own are proving robust at creating wealth but
less effective in distributing it.
Regardless of national setting and despite global
integration, growth will only be achieved, said many in Davos, if
elected and appointed officials exercised effective national
leadership. Chancellor Merkel’s description of her own agenda for
Germany captured the essence of what many concurred would be necessary.
“The people have lost their trust in politicians to shape
globalization,” she said, and “as the biggest economy in Europe we must
take up our responsibilities” not only to take part in the globalization
but also to re-stimulate domestic production for it. Her policy
ingredients were several: Germany would have to liberalize and open its
economy more, and it would have to streamline government authority,
granting greater latitude to market innovators and less to state
regulators. But in granting greater decision-making discretion to the
private sector, she cautioned, business will be expected to exercise it
responsibly. What was essential, she concluded, was building a national
culture of “responsible freedom.”
With the vision clear, Merkel said that her
strategy would include more research investment and less state
bureaucracy. “We have to reshape the federal structure to expedite
decision making,” she explained. With a growth vision and a strategy
for achieving it well in mind, the chancellor also reported that she is
committed to bringing both to life: “We have to prove that we can
implement,” she concluded, and her own leadership would be critical for
it. “All in all, we face great challenges, we’re in a world of great
transformation,” and “I’m accustomed to being at the forefront of [such]
movements” for change.
Being at the forefront of responsible decision
making, however, can sometimes require great fortitude. “The basic
ingredient of a leader,” observed Pakistan president Perez Musharraf, is
that he or she “should never panic…whatever the problem, whatever the
circumstances.” U.K. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw suggested the same
when asked what one piece of advice he would have for those in the
international community like himself who are focused on the wrenching
problems of Iraq: “We should not freak out!”
That required, said Pakistan’s Musharraf, a clear
understanding of the situation, a clear strategy for addressing it, and
a strong team for executing in it. Drawing upon on his own experience
at the country’s helm since 1999, Musharraf said that reaching informed
and timely decisions had proven vital. One must hear opposing views and
engage people in the deliberations, but then, he said, you “must never
suffer from paralysis” and you “must decide.” Moreover, in reaching a
decision, rarely are all the data available to be sure of its outcome.
“Decisions are two-thirds facts and figures,” he warned, and “one-third
a leap in the dark where you don’t have all the facts.” If you increase
the one-third, you’re too “impulsive,” but if you increase the
two-thirds, you’re “not a leader.”
The Indian chief minister for the national capital
territory Delhi, Sheila Dikshit, offered much the same advice as she
sought to provide better roads, housing, and services to a burgeoning
population around the capital. She said that she is working to expedite
decisions in her various agencies on the premise that fast-track
decision-making is essential for modernizing and expanding an
infrastructure required for servicing not only the sharp indigenous
growth of the capital but also the rapidly rising international traffic
through it.
The 2006 Davos View, distilled from hundreds of
presentations and conversations in the free-flowing, idea-generating
community of the annual meeting, offered great optimism on the economic
surges of China and India but also one tempered by the realism that
comes from the recollection of Japan’s troubles in the 1990s, Asia’s
currency crisis in 1997, and the Internet’s collapse more recently. The
meeting’s emergent view also pointed to the importance of private and
public leadership for fostering the best and averting the worst. Among
the leadership capacities now deemed essential is an ability to remain
calm under fire and to take disciplined decisions well before they can
be fully informed.
The phrase “Davos Man and Woman” has been used in
the past to capture the demography and culture of those attending the
annual talk-fest: They “have little need for national loyalty,”
offered academic Samuel Huntington in 2005, since they see “national
boundaries as obstacles that thankfully are vanishing.” Despite the
seemingly inexorable march of globalization, the 2006 Davos View still
points to the enormous responsibility of both national and corporate
leaders to make the world not only more prosperous but also more
equitable through their judicious and timely decisions at the top.
Note: Michael Useem attended the World
Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos on January 25-29, 2006, and he
can be reached at
useem@wharton.upenn.edu. The World
Economic Forum's website can be found at
http://www.weforum.org.
By
Steven L. Ossad
Walk along the beaches of Normandy or gaze out over
Gettysburg’s open fields, and you cannot help but imagine the chilling
historic events that once unfolded there.
Battlefields are compelling, evocative places. For
decades U.S. Army instructors have used that real-life appeal to train
future leaders, drawing on analytical techniques to pick apart the
historic successes and tragic failures of past leaders.
Known in military parlance as “battlefield staff
rides,” such on-site re-examinations of battles have now been adapted
for corporate use, in which combat becomes a metaphor for the challenges
of the business world.
From Prussia to Pennsylvania
The concept of staff rides was first developed by
Count Helmuth von Moltke, the 19th century Prussian general and military
theorist who once wrote that “No battle plan survives contact with the
enemy.” The Count believed that only the opening stages of a campaign
could be effectively planned: all other decisions happened according to
the needs of the moment. Von Moltke, together with a hand-picked group
of young staff officers, would visit sites where he felt conflict was
likely to happen with future European enemies. He and his students
could thus envision the exigencies of the battle on what military
historian William Roberston calls the “three dimension chess board of
terrain.”
The idea of visiting historical battlefields,
rather than future ones, was primarily an American innovation, one made
possible by the federal preservation of Civil War battlefields and the
publication of official records related to the war. The first staff
ride in the United States took place in 1906, when Major Eben Swift took
twelve young officers from what is now the Army’s Command and General
Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on a two-week trip retracing
Sherman’s 1864 Atlanta campaign.
Although staff rides fell out of practice in the
mid-twentieth century, they were revived in the late 1960s at the Staff
College and the Army War College, in Carlisle, Penn. Advances in
military history meant these new staff rides were more sophisticated and
rigorous than the bare-bones rides of yesteryear. Today staff rides are
an integral aspect of leadership education in the army and other
branches of military service.
Elements of the Staff Ride
A battlefield staff ride is more than just a tour
of a historical battleground. Modern instructors use a three-phase
model that allows participants to engage in a critical analysis of
events.
In the first phase, students make a preliminary
study of the battle, relying on primary and secondary sources, as well
as lectures.
Next the group makes an extensive field visit –
usually one full day – to the key sites, or “stands,” on the
battlefield.
Finally, students engage in an “after action”
integration phase, where case studies are used to focus the group’s
observations and help students derive leadership lessons.
The success of the staff rides relies heavily on
the knowledge, skill, and personality of the instructor to bring the
past alive in a relevant, dramatic way. When carried out effectively,
the staff ride is a practical and versatile tool for professional
leadership training.
Finding corporate lessons in military history
The staff ride is no longer for military personnel
alone. Over the past decade, the Wharton School and a number of other
universities and commercial organizations have adapted the practice for
executive management and leadership development training. Aimed
primarily at business students and other professionals, the corporate
staff ride draws on the popularity of experiential learning while
exploiting the intensity of combat to dramatize decision-making under
the most extreme circumstances.
Neither specialized knowledge nor an interest in
military history is required. Rather, participants learn what is
necessary to understand the historical context, much as an MBA student
gains a basic familiarity with an industry described in a case study.
Small group size – usually 15 to 20 individuals – allows for intensive
personal interactions and focused discussions. The Army’s Training and
Doctrine Command has identified 115 domestic sites, spanning our country
and history, suitable for staging a corporate staff ride, while Europe
offers an equal number of possible sites.
The Antietam Corporate Staff Ride
Imagine that you are a Civil War-era Division or
Corps commander. You are responsible for 5,000 soldiers, 200 vehicles –
in the form of four-mule wagons – and 50,000 pounds of daily supplies.
Now add the intense pressures of combat. This job description is not
chosen arbitrarily. Many of today’s senior executives may discover an
instinctive kinship with Civil War generals, who held tremendous
operational, human resources and asset management responsibilities, all
while engaging with the enemy (or, in the case of the corporate leader,
the “competition.”)
Applied Battlefield Concepts, LLC,
a New York-based company that provides
executive
leadership development services to corporations world-wide, has
developed a corporate staff ride for the Civil War’s Battle of Antietam,
designed specifically for senior management.
Known as the “bloodiest
day” in American history, the battle, which pitted the Confederate Army
of Northern Virginia under General Lee against the Union’s General
McClellan, was a rich interplay of strategic, diplomatic,
political, economic, military and personality factors. Leadership case
studies, held at various “stands” on the field, are calculated to
address the organizational, communications, and logistics issues
critical to a CEO and his or her senior staff.
Such corporate staff rides can be adapted to focus
on particular issues facing an enterprise: for example, a rapid turnover
in staff, irregular departmental communications, lack of competitive
intelligence, or an onerous regulatory environment.
Studying the life and death decisions of military
leaders on the very ground where the consequences of those decisions
played out is a powerful experience. When it comes to executive
training, corporate staff rides offer an unforgettable set of lessons.
Note: After more than 20 years as a Wall
Street technology analyst, Steve Ossad is now a military historian and
leadership consultant, specializing in corporate staff rides. He serves
as Senior Managing Director of Applied Battlefield Concepts, LLC.
Co-author of Major General Maurice Rose: World War II’s Greatest
Forgotten Commander (2003), his articles have appeared in Army
Magazine, Military History, World War II and
Military Heritage magazines. He can be reached through
http://www.stevenlossad.com.
Learning Program:
Leadership and Management in Southeast Asia
A three-week Senior Executive Program is offered
from August 12 to September 2, 2006, by the Sasin Graduate Institute of
Business Administration of Thailand's Chulalongkorn University in
collaboration with the Wharton School and Kellogg School. The program
is intended for senior managers moving into cross-functional or general
management responsibilities with strong potential for top leadership.
The program is offered in English at a resort hotel
southwest of Bangkok, and it draws participants from the Asian region,
including Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand,
Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Wharton and Kellogg
faculty provide instruction in economics, finance, leadership,
marketing, organizational behavior, information technology, and
strategic management.
Note: For information on
the Senior Executive Program, contact Sasin's Manager of Executive
Education, Patcharaphorn Phantarathorn at
patcharaphorn.phantarathorn@sasin.edu, or see the program website
with online registration
here.
The Inner Game of Leadership:
Peak Performance for Business Leaders
By
Louis S. Csoka
Some say the first challenge of leadership is to
know whom you lead. I say the first challenge of leadership is to know
who you are.
When freshmen, or “plebes,” enter the U.S. Military
Academy at West Point, they encounter a high stress environment. The
aim is not simply to harass or haze them. Rather, the challenging
environment pushes the aspiring officers to discover who they are. The
U.S. Army teaches that you cannot successfully lead others until you
have learned to lead yourself. The inner game of leadership means
exercising inner control over what you think, say and do, and when
achieved, reaching peak leadership performance is more likely.
Elite athletes who compete against one another are
often not all that different in physical abilities. Yet some
consistently dominate others, and the difference can frequently be
traced to their exceptional mental preparedness. Peak performance for
athletes depends on having control over one’s emotional and
physiological states, and much the same is true for business leaders.
They face relentless pressure to out-perform their competitors even as
technologies and rules of competition are changing, and mental
discipline can often spell the difference.
Business leaders tend to adapt and adjust to these
demanding conditions as best they can, but they can also usefully
prepare for them. A systematic approach to training in peak performance
skills has been developed for athletes and military professionals and,
more recently, business leaders. First created at West Point by the
author and now developed for business leaders, the program includes
intensive training in goal setting, positive thinking, stress
management, attention control, and visualization and imagery:
Setting the Target – Eyes On the Prize:
The Cheshire cat in Wonderland said to Alice “if you don’t know where
you’re going, any path will do,” and Oliver Wendell Holmes once
remarked, “The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we are,
but in what direction we are moving.” A journey starts with explicitly
appreciating where you want to end up. Embracing and living your
mission provide the essential foundation for persevering when challenges
and roadblocks get in the way.
Positive Thinking – We Become What We Think
About Most: People carry around images of themselves of who
they are and how they perform. These pictures incorporate both our
successes and failures and our interpretation of what caused them.
Sometimes the memories of failures can overwhelm the images of
successes, and it is essential to foster a positive mind set to build
confidence in one’s own ability to set and reach leadership goals.
Stress Management – Thriving Under Pressure:
Most people can perform reasonably well when all is going well,
but some do far less well when conditions become less favorable.
Personal stress on some results in diminished performance and even
weakened health. Elite athletes and military professionals have shown
that the ability to handle themselves in a highly stressful situation
depends upon systematic training in stress management before entering
the situation.
Attention Control – Concentration Amidst
Distractions: Thomas Davenport and John Beck have noted in
The Attention Economy that “the new scarcest resource isn’t ideas
or talent, but attention itself.” While attention demands have
escalated in recent years, the way that we tend to respond has changed
little. We still learn primarily through trial-and-error experience,
but explicit training methods from sports psychology and other areas can
be combined to train attention control by emphasizing the methods of
attention rather than the targets of attention.
Visualization and Imagery – What You See Is What
You Get: A key device for achieving a goal is to image it
achieved. By visualizing the end state, one develops greater energy,
concentration, and confidence for reaching the end state, and this
capacity too can be developed through systematic training.
To achieve maximum
effectiveness and lasting impact, the approach must be integrated,
measurable and personalized. Integrated: The five skills are
taught separately yet exercised together. Measurable: Trainers
use feedback technologies to measure individual progress.
Personalized: The program is customized around the client’s goals
and strengths.
Note: Retired Army Colonel Louis Csoka
served for 21 years on the West Point faculty in the Department of
Behavioral Sciences and Leadership. He is president and founder of APEX
Performance (www.apexperform.com),
a Charlotte, N.C.,-based company providing performance enhancing
training for executives, athletes and military personnel. Csoka can be
reached at
lcsoka@apexperform.com.
Copyright 1996-2005, Wharton Center for
Leadership and Change Management
University
of Pennsylvania.
