Confronting a Crisis of Leadership

Like the good leaders we (think) we are, we’re hoping that whatever we write will be a timeless masterpiece. So I’ve always chosen to ignore passing fads and fancies, preferring to ignore, so-called news, that noisy rumble of history being made. These short (hopefully) to-the-point columns are about insights into the leader’s psyche (and those who have the burden of “serving” them), if that’s an allowable word in these days of hyper-political correctness (HPC to you).

What, I would like to think, is that many years from now you’ll pick up these columns on some leadership-linked search engine and it will still seem fresh, vital and relevant to the times in which we live. In a world where b-school professors can make a nice living writing and lecturing about the dubious leadership quirks of 12th century Mongolian warlords, stamping a date on a thought piece about the habits of 21st century CEOs might not be that bad after all.

So, after much soul searching – while sampling a glass or two of excellent Bordeaux - , I’ve decided to throw caution to the winds and mention the “T” word. To be honest, I swore I’d never do it, but just watching our leaders get it so wrong, so often and with such seemingly self-satisfied smugness, I felt I had no choice, but to take up the keyboard and get it out of my system.

In the months that have passed since Mr T (why do I still think of that big guy from the awful TV series the A-Team (*) when I write that ?), all I can say is that, ladies and gentlemen I am shocked.

I am shocked that :
- The pundits didn’t know, but now spend hours talking drivel of what went wrong
- The media didn’t know, never did, never will.
- The politicians didn’t know (but like to pretend they do). 
- The pollsters got it wrong again, and again, and again
- The big bucks-earning,heavy-hitter CEOs were as surprised as you were. Do you know ANYONE who has predicted anything correctly lately?

Ok, ok, it’s easy to mock and make fun, but this is serious guys. All my experience over many years says that the very first test of leadership is that you have a plan. And the second test is you have plan B (because every idiot knows plan A never, ever works – right?).
When plan B doesn’t work you show your true  leadership by having a plan C, at least  to the point that you exude enough confidence so people feel safer, more in control, having some direction in their lives (countless studies show what 99% of all employees want is to feel safe, and if they make money too that’s a bonus).

People didn’t vote to leave Europe; and they didn’t vote for Mr T. they voted because there is no leadership. They are rootless and rudderless.
This is the worst state of leaderless mania I have ever witnessed. There’s just no one to look up to. And, ultimately if you don’t have faith you create a vacuum in which no decisions get made. Currently our leaders have shown they never had a plan A to begin with, forgot what plan B was supposed to achieve  and their in-tray is on fire.

I’ve written extensively that people need direction and they need to believe that someone knows where the boat (be it an organisation or a nation) is going and how we are all going to get there. In 2016 we spent about $10billion on leadership training. For what ? CEOs still pull down huge millions, for leading our organisations on a rocky road to nowhere; Politicians get lauded and rewarded with honours, for making simple, stupid errors. Trouble is we have all forgotten what leadership is about.  Let me make it ever so simple. Leadership is about picking a direction, and getting a bunch of (hopefully) like-minded individuals to follow you and reap the rewards, possibly spreading a little inspirational stardust along the way. Maybe Mr T has that (or maybe we’d just better wish really, really hard that he has). 

Sorry to say folks, but leadership ain’t what it used to be and that’s the simple truth. My question to you is, are we going to do anything about it? Sadly there’s not much sign that our leaders are wonderfully equipped to put the esprit de corps back into the corpse, we’ve left lonely, lifeless and abandoned by the corporate highway as a sad legacy of our own failings. Aren’t we better than that ? Come on let’s go and seek out some inspirational leaders. I’ll be back with a route map soon. Promise.

(*) For those that need to know The A Team was a cult shoot’em up tv show  of the 1980s

This column on leadership and organizational development is written exclusively for the IEDP by Rudi Plettinx, Managing Director of Management Centre Europe, the Brussels-based development organization. Have a comment or a question? Engage directly with Rudi Plettinx here.

Leading from behind

There’s a guy I know really well. He’s hugely successful at one thing – leading from behind. Once you know him, you’ll all too quickly realise that there’s just no question that you’ll ever find his bloody and battered, all too finely tailored tweed suit, torn and stained after the battle is over and the ink jets have sputtered their last dribbles of magenta ink, he’s too smart for that. Those amongst you who like historical novels will no doubt have read about the ‘Forlorn Hope’ that misguided band of soldierly derring-doers who in less civilized times, in the vague hope of getting a quick promotion hurled themselves bodily into the gaping jaws of death (read missed budget sales targets) dying messily under a hail of bullets shrapnel and associated grapeshot in the final battle for global product domination.

Yet, stride over the ruins days later as senior corporate honchos hold lengthy meetings called post mortems and you’ll never see Jean-Claude anywhere near. No whiff of that expensive after-shave will even be able to eradicate that acrid taste of decaying market share.

For Jean-Claude has learned the secret. He’s bullet proof, he’s smart – and he ALWAYS leads from behind: you’ll never see his grass stained knees as evidence of brawling over a tense turf war.

Let me tell you -  as you are obviously a seeker of ever higher office in the corporate hierarchy of things – how it works.

First, meeting Jean-Claude for the first time, he’s everyone’s ideal recruitment poster squeezed into one bright package. Fast thinking, sociable (oh that warm smile and ‘can-do’ nod of the head!) He’s open, makes good unblinking eye contact and wins your confidence 30 seconds after you’ve met him.

Second, he is a serial volunteer. Never passes up a chance to offer to do the impossible (looking back it always is just that - IMPOSSIBLE).

Third, due to his ‘can-do’ determination, he’s usually chosen to be the team, task force or project leader. And he always pretends it’s a surprise, but he always says “yes.” The others are also happy too, they are caught up in the aura of Jean-Claude’s world – a place where good things SHOULD happen. They believe in him (because we’ve been told just how good he is), a bit like they used to believe in the Easter Bunny. Nice to look at- dangerous to live with.

I saw him just the other day, fresh from dodging his way out of the equivalent of yet another corporate car crash. Bouncing along the moving pavement at Frankfurt Airport (FACT! Eventually, everyone earning some sort of executive-level salary HAS to pass through Frankfurt Airport at least once every five years. Don’t even argue about it, it’s the third law of Executive Coincidence, (the same one that specifies that mega-rich hedge fund managers live until they are 95 and never have trouble sleeping at night).

As I passed by, there were news feeds on monitors in the Executive lounge with earnest-faced anchor-men gleefully listing the meltdown of Big Bucks Business XYZ, while Jean-Claude, oblivious to his latest self-induced disaster movie playing out in front of him, waded thigh high in his old so well polished, boots through yesterday’s doom and gloom headlines. Markets might be tumbling. Masters of the Universe may be biting their finger nails but Jean-Claude was doing just fine.

Why? Well, you see, they’d paid him off again. Jean-Claude’s ace-in-the-hole his secret talent is a work of genius. Albeit a work in constant progress. When Jean-Claude volunteers to lead the faithful to the next Holy Grail, they lap it up. Every last ambition-clouded corporate soldier will follow to the ends of the earth. Only when they get there, he’s gone. You see they never catch Jean-Claude holding the wrong end of anything, he’s too smart for that. And the levels and multi-layers of embarrassment make it easier to pay him off (a couple of millions plus in this case). It’s a small price to pay as one of his victim’s recently said, “for looking really silly.”

I can see you shaking your head. Thinking I’m making this up. I’m not. There’s a lot of money to be made for not looking stupid. It’s the corporate equivalent of pass the parcel. When the music stops, the last man holding the box is subject to a lifetime of public ridicule (still, don’t believe me try going to a soccer match and hear the comments aimed at the jowly men in blazers - they’re the ones still drinking the good Bordeaux). Jean-Claude succeeded because he led from behind, letting all the other eager beavers out front get mown down by opposition machine gunners. And it was so embarrassing. We started the war and we had to pay a high price to cover our retreat and save our reputation – again!

He’s on the loose again now. Confounding all those sensible chaps tasked with corporate oversight. He’s leading a charge from behind backed by the finest PR machinery yet devised. There should be a UN resolution to ban corporate stupidity. Sadly, leading from BEHIND is perfectly legal, but boy isn’t it embarrassing? They used to say money talks. The fact is it keeps quiet, very quiet, which is why it will keep on happening and Jean-Claude will keep right on smiling as he leads from behind!


This column on leadership and organizational development is written exclusively for the IEDP by Rudi Plettinx, Managing Director of Management Centre Europe, the Brussels-based development organization. Have a comment or a question? Engage directly with Rudi Plettinx here.

Running Scared Is No Way to Lead

Facing the fear of uncertainty that forces wrong decisions and creates low productivity and underperformance. 

Those of you who read these columns will know by now that I’m a pretty inveterate world traveller. Give me a comfortable seat, preferably in business class (‘cos I’ve got the air miles to do it) my trusty tablet, a cold drink and a half decent meal and I can put up with hours and hours in the sky, no problem. And often to while away the passing miles I get to meet the most interesting people. But lately, I’ve found in my travelling companions a new, disturbing phenomenon that doesn’t seem to have been there before – they’re scared. Not of flying, or of whacko terrorists, just plain old-fashioned scaredy-ness. There’s something deeply disturbing about this that has me wondering if we as business leaders are really doing all we should to take some of the angst out off the work equation.

In the past months I’ve been in Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East and Northern Europe.  On every flight, I’ve got into conversation over the plastic pap they serve you that usually begins like this.

We exchange a “hello,” swap names, explain what we do, who we work for and then one of us always asks THE question, “So, how’s business in the XYZ industry?” Depending how confident we feel (or how many aperos we may have had) we tend to bend the truth a little (bullshitting it’s called), usually giving the impression that all is right with the world and our business is floating along smoothly at 35,0000 feet like those clouds outside the window of seat 3A.

Normally, these chats with total strangers are a pleasant diversion (sometimes you even learn a thing or two from the experiences of some ageing corporate soldier like myself). Then the wheels hit the tarmac and you go on your merry way to the next client meeting and the same soulless hotel room (whoever writes about hotels as a “lifestyle experience” should be locked up in one of their own rooms for a millennium).

But recently these candid, virtually anonymous exchanges, have taken on a new, ever so slightly, sinister feel. Sure, people still tell you how good their business is, but behind the false bravado there’s a real, tangible frisson of fear. It’s not about under performance either. It’s about doubts. How long they’ve got until the dice rolls the wrong way just too many times? In simple terms these big deal, business-class travellers are scared that there is just too much uncertainty in the world. And it seems no matter how they try to plan for it, how many contingencies they’ve got up their sleeve, something big and bad is going to happen. And there isn’t a darn thing they can do about it.

Take Carlos, met him on a flight to Dubai last week. He’s got the jitters like a professional golfer with the yips that’s ruined his putting stroke. And he can’t say why.  Or Andrea, a hard-boiled vice president, who frets if she’ll be in a job by year end. And Frank who’s so worried that he’s has a tremble in his voice as he nervously describes his concerns about what happens tomorrow.

Seems to me they are all dealing with the one thing that all their training, experience and get-up-and-go can’t give them – UNCERTAINTY. It’s like a disease. It weakens you. Forces you into wrong decisions and creates low productivity and underperformance big time.

What to do? Well, we as leaders have to step up and just get good at fighting the big, bad, bogeymen that are pervading our workspace and workplace. We need to take the time to reassure our people and our top teams (tuck them up with a warm drink and a teddy bear and make sure they get a dreamless sleep, with no nasty corporate nightmares).

Of course, there’s plenty of people who will say we shouldn’t bother, we reward our people to be tough, resilient - they should just get on with it; but is that right? If we can try just that little bit harder to reassure our people that all will be well; if we can coddle them just a bit more, surely it will pay off in better performance and probably less anti-anxiety pill-popping, an epidemic that is now an established, de facto part of today’s corporate culture.

Leaders aren’t just supposed to know stuff. They are there to reassure the troops, be able to think the unthinkable and make their top performers feel better about the uncertainty in a world we have inherited.

Maybe a leader needs to face that uncertainty, admit it to themselves, then go and help the rest who are struggling. From my experiences, and the frightened confessions I’m hearing in seat 3A, I can vouch for that.

This column on leadership and organizational development is written exclusively for the IEDP by Rudi Plettinx, Managing Director of Management Centre Europe, the Brussels-based development organization. Have a comment or a question? Engage direct with Rudi Plettinx here.

Leading in a Disruptive World

The tragic trail of events, that seem to permeate our day-to-day lives, has become a sad, yet all too real, defining trend to the start of this new millennium – an age that promised so much. Looking back through the blurred and bloodied lens of recent history, it doesn’t seem that we have very much to hang our hopes, dreams and aspirations on. In fact, for many of us the opposite is true, fear becomes replaced by defiance, rhetoric is reduced to often hollow phrases as we find it hard – perhaps impossible – to comprehend what’s going on (or going wrong) with our world.

It is then that we need our leaders more than ever: individuals who have the innate ability to make us feel better about ourselves and safer in our skins. Despite the terrible events of recent history, we must not forget that we live in what has been termed a VUCA world.

A world that is by turns Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous.

It is a most unforgiving place, where seemingly anything and everything can happen and really does. It is a world where disruption is the order of the day.

It is Volatile: Because at any moment the box of tricks called ‘life’ can explode in your face. Just when you thought you had all the loose cannons tied down on the deck, a storm appears out of nowhere.
It is Uncertain: Whatever you think will happen won’t – and just when you least expect it.

It is Complex: There’s no doubt that a techno-driven web of super-complexity and connectivity drives our world and we cannot get away from it – not even for a nano-second.

It is Ambiguous: The rules we grew up with just don’t apply anymore. It is almost as though doing the opposite from what logic tells you is the right response.

There’s a lot of utter rubbish talked and written about leadership, that’s what keeps the consulting industry gainfully employed. But what seems most clear to me is that every CEO or so-called world leader has one thing they need to do and take responsibility and accountability for recognize that the world is, as I’ve just emphasised, unbelievably complex and no single person, no matter how much a genius they may be, can run it effectively. 

Therefore, as we wade ever deeper into the mire and slime of our self-inflicted VUCA world, the ability for our leaders to build effective teams of people around them are going to be what defines our organizations (and governments) of tomorrow. Equally, the ability of these leaders to inspire their teams to go the extra mile to try and navigate the storms of tomorrow is going to be paramount.

If we are to succeed and prosper in a world defined by ongoing disruption, where our world can be instantly turned topsy-turvy by a single, terrible act, then we must be able to feel that those who run our organizations have access to the best advice and counsel they can get. 

This is no great time to be a CEO; a toxic climate marked by markets in turmoil, geopolitical tremors and zealous stakeholders finding new agendas to prosecute. All this takes the attention away from providing fulfilling work experiences, not to mention the small matter of turning a profit. Little wonder then that many of the best and brightest prefer to take a back seat rather than face the cut and thrust of daily life in the spotlight.

My message to leaders is, take it on the chin. Surround yourself with the best and brightest you can get (a few battle-hardened old war horses aren’t a bad idea either). Then when all hell breaks loose (and all the signs indicate it will do just that sooner or later) be as ready and able as you can. There’s not much more we can expect, but being ready to act is giving yourself an even chance, which is not a bad outcome when the odds are stacked against you.


We didn’t deal the cards, but we can dictate how we play them. Real leaders know, intuitively, what’s in their hand all the time. Think about it for a moment. A suit of cards is not unlike a team of people; all have their uses. You just hope you don’t get dealt too many Jokers.

This column on leadership and organizational development is written exclusively for the IEDP by Rudi Plettinx, Managing Director of Management Centre Europe, the Brussels-based development organization. Have a comment or a question? Engage direct with Rudi Plettinx here.

Think Digital Learning

Ben Emmens

Ben Emmens is a teacher and consultant, specializing in third-world and developing world issues by trying to inject leadership and management skills to create stable, strong institutions.  A former senior staffer at People in Aid, he brings a broad brush of on-the-ground experience to his work with national government international corporations and aid agencies worldwide. Here, he perfects on the uphill struggle to improve management teaching across the developing world.

MCE: We know the world’s a bit of a mess... any thoughts on education as an opportunity to bring more of the world together for a common purpose?

Ben Emmens (BE): ‘Always be learning’ is my motto, and learning has never been more accessible (think digital learning) or more engaging (gamification, the arts, technology) or more affordable (for those who have an internet connection).

When people come together they learn, but it requires first class facilitation and brokering skills, and, in the case of face-to face-learning, it requires access. And most of the fragile or war-torn countries I’m working in to try and broker learning and collaboration have all too real access and connectivity issues. Combine that with an uneven distribution of power (extreme inequality) and fear of change / contentment with how things are, then educators have their work cut out. So a new breed of educators are required with a very diverse skill set.   

MCE:  And at the same time we’re getting buried in a digital overload of mega proportions. What’s your view, Can we learn to switch off and chill out, or has it gone too far for that?

BE: I think platforms such as Slack are innovating with their do not disturb or postpone notification functions but ultimately it requires immense courage on the part of each individual (to switch off) plus the (earned or offered) trust of their manager and directors. This takes us into the realm of organisational culture which as we know is a very difficult thing to change. So  I think that for as long as we have colleagues and managers working across time zones, sending messages at all hours, and expecting instant responses, then all individuals will struggle to switch off.

MCE: There’s another trend – the caring corporation, operating with mindfulness for their employees. Is that a workable, doable model, or does economics get in the way, when the going gets tough?

BE: I think many organisations are realising they need to retain their best people, and that talent shortages are a very real issue. So I am encouraged by the fact that many organisations are taking tangible steps towards flexible working, and towards improving staff care and wellbeing. Some organisations have been able to demonstrate a business case for being more socially and/or environmentally caring and that helps too! Ultimately, treating staff unfairly, or with contempt, and that includes in the supply chain too, is not sustainable in human or financial terms, and we have seen the market ‘punish’ corporations that have supply chain labour issues or that have failed to pay a minimum wage or offer basic benefits.

MCE: Finally, what’s the other work trend you can see emerging? 

BE: It’s getting harder and harder to be geographically mobile as countries tighten immigration laws and entry requirements so whether we like it or not we are having to localise, engage with mono-cultural teams and strengthen local capacity… We’re also having to do much more work remotely / at a distance. 
Add to that the slow automation of more and more lower level jobs and we are likely to see a continued ‘hollowing out’ of the workforce and that will require a different kind of leadership, arguably with more than one specialism and towards that of a more expert generalist...