Hire-Archy. The runway for a losing leader

I love Virat the batsman. He is aggressive and constantly in action, a trait I admire in leaders. However, as RCB fans, many of us are wondering if the runway given to him is too long and is creating a losing team. After seven years and less than 50 per cent winning ratio, may be a club captaincy is not for Virat.

In the corporate world, this long rope can only be compared to Jeff Bezos. Remember Amazon took 15 years and 58 quarters to make profits after it got listed in May 1997. In Amazon’s favour, it should be said that Jeff Bezos was himself the founder. Furthermore, its phenomenal growth in revenues and market share gave confidence to its investors. In RCB’s case, there is no such track record for anybody to feel things are improving. How long the runway should be for a loss leader is a question for owners to ponder over.

The track record

It’s no secret that employees queue up to work with charismatic leaders. Star leaders are those who have the swag of personality, articulate communication skills and can influence colleagues. But it’s also true that team members, beyond a point, do not want to work for leaders, companies or units that are struggling to perform.

Recently, one of my ex-colleagues called up to say he wants to move out. A proposed internal movement to a team that had been under-performing made him feel undervalued.

Besides, employees who work in struggling business units tend to lose critical benefits like bonuses and other rewards.

In some cases, the payoff is great if the business unit eventually does well. But the fear of failure and losing financial incentives still freaks out the followers.

Confidence & Leadership

As team members are afraid of being part of a losing team you need leaders who can bring confidence into the team. It’s definitely a factor when we hire for senior leadership roles. When Blackberry was in dire straits post the wave of iPhone and Samsung, it chose John Chen who had successfully turned around Sybase.

Chen has not only revived Blackberry but he will also now lead the company till 2023.

He lived up to his turnaround reputation and is now getting a longer rope to grow further.

Playing vs leading

It’s well-established that excellent performers, when elevated, are not always able to carry that performance as leaders. Great sales leaders may continue to win more customers but fail to inspire their team as CXOs. Finance leaders bring in their ‘A’ game as CEOs in tightening controls but lack the growth mindset consumer-facing organisations may need.

Isn’t it similar to Kohli who has been the highest run-getter for RCB for years now but has not been able to match his other India team mates when it comes to notching successes at the IPL? Leading by example in the work of the world is about how you are able to bring the best from others. It all starts with if you are able to recruit people who complement your blind spots, and enabling them. I wonder if we misunderstand “leading by example” as being at the forefront of the action.

If we aren’t facilitators of our team’s performance, the organisation’s long-term success can never be institutionalised.

Macho leaders

Leaders who are always in the thick of action or who come with a strong track record can numb their team members with their sheer personality. Overawed by their boss, the team members may not even take the small steps required to perform. They may think that only big, brave or audacious moves are required to match or impress their boss. In many cases, one cannot ignore the skill gaps between the boss and the team members. A constant expectation of big bang performances could limit the team members’ confidence and eventually scare or fail them. They say a leader is as good as his/her team. But in the case of leaders with larger-than-life personalities, it could be the other way round for the team members.

The dilemma

There is no denying that we want to work with leaders who are coming off a successful patch. We expect leaders to give us a long rope when we don’t perform. However, we want our leaders to be at the top of their game all the time. Our own definition of inspiration changes when we have leaders who are not leading us to success.

I have witnessed colleagues who struggled to perform in my leadership going on to inspire others when they had a different leader. It was painful to internalise that it must have been the leadership that made them successful than any other contextual excuse I was looking for myself.

Back to cricket, this IPL has thrown an interesting equation for the Indian cricket team selected for the ICC World Cup. Their captain is someone whose team has repeatedly lost to them during the IPL. I don’t know how it feels when your leader is a loser.

When I look at the Indian cricket team for the World Cup I am reminded of the famous quote “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link”.

Kamal Karanth is co founder Xpheno, a specialist staffing firm

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