(Sorry, but the answer’s at the end of the article, so please read on!).
The time for pretending is now over. We’re all affected. Times really are unprecedented, and the global economy is predicted by some to be affected for 3 years (as an optimistic prediction). Sir Richard Brandson, Chairman of the UK based Virgin Group was quoted by timesonline.co.uk as saying that [the recession] “might only last a couple of years instead of becoming a repeat of the Great Depression of the 1930s as so many economists now fear”. Oh what joy! – not quite the Q1-2 ’09 blip some thought in September.
So what do you do? What can you control? Who can you control? The answer, it seems to me, is not very much at all. As Thatcher told us all, you can’t fight the market; sticking your head in the sand won’t get you too far, and not changing also isn’t exactly the fast track to success. Really, if you think about it, the only thing that we can control is our behavior, how we think, and what we do and say.
However, before we look at behavior, let us consider, for a second, why some of the business folk out there are so worried: The science of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) talks about congruence: i.e. the link between what you say and do and who you are, what you think, and how you feel. How many business people that you’ve met in the last 24 months are congruent people? Not many I say. Many ‘business people’ are the easiest to read, you can see the motivation as obviously as the sparks from a chain saw. Greed, fear, and ego are the first things that often spring to my mind. Money, money, money – Abba had it right, it is funny, but maybe now isn’t a rich man’s world. So, my hypothesis here is that actually, only those who are in business for a greater cause than personal gain and positioning will succeed, and hence those whose frowns are Cheshire cat wide are so pained because the career long realization that they are actually in the wrong place at the wrong time doing the wrong thing rears it’s ugly head.
So, back to how we think and behave…..when we look at behavior, we need to look at what influences it, what motivates action, and interaction with others, and what (if any) is a person’s direction:
Ask yourselves the following questions about those with whom you work:
- Are they more interested in short-term or long term goals?
- Are they more interested in themselves or others?
- Who do they stand up to?
- Are they political? Do they tolerate politics?
- Do they do or just say?
- Do they actually care about their people or just say they do?
It is said that the acid test of leadership is what’s said about the leader on the ‘grapevine’ by those associated with the said individual, because most of this comment is actually the real truth.
In times of economic stress then, it would seem to me that leadership and behavior in businesses really is the one and only thing you can control. Now, if it were simply a matter of recruiting top managers with leadership traits, the whole economic/survival problem would be an easy one to solve. Unfortunately it really isn’t this easy. What matters is that everyone, in a line-management role, that you recruit, has the right ‘leadership’ qualities. Have you every spent a significant amount of time solving a problem which is caused or driven by personality, ego, or self interest of your colleagues or your people? I know I have. I also know that I don’t have time for this right now. Prudent business is about hiring the up-and-coming of your team with the right traits and behaviors.
At Antal, we focus on, and always have focused on the recruitment of ‘Rising-Star’ candidates for our clients. ‘Rising-Stars’ have the skill-set (great education, languages, rapid and proven career progression etc) but more than that they ……
- Understand that it’s the 1% that you get wrong on which you are judged
- Money and success comes to those with real quality and value in the long term with little or no effort
- It isn’t difficult to get results if your people’s value’s are aligned with your company’s
- Learning from success and from failure is the food of growth of corporate development
- Everyone from the cleaner to the CEO is a human being, and as such needs the same respect and treatment by everyone within the enterprise
- In difficult times, honesty, communication, communication and communication is the only medicine to see change through
We’ve always focused on candidates with these behavior traits. Antal’s people intuitively understand what separates great from good. We would love to hear from you if you would like help finding the very best rising-star professionals who think and act as I briefly describe. We have a 10 year on-the-ground track record in mainland China through fully operational offices in Beijing and Shanghai. We employ more than100 recruitment consultants with a highly professional education and the business and life experience to spot talent in a crowd. I can be contacted via RParkinson@antal.com.cn to discuss this or via +86 10 6410 8866.
Yours Sincerely
Robert Parkinson
Managing Director China
