Business Skills
Paul Kearney’s experiences of commanding in combat has given him a unique perspective on how businesses might adapt to and even flourish in a hostile environment.
Business and the armed Forces
orders to a company of young commandos and you crouch on a ridgeline watching your plan unfold as your troops infiltrate towards their pre assault positions. You are tensed for the rifle crack that will tell you that one of the men that you have grown to respect during long periods of shared hardship has lost their life due to your error.
A It might seem insane in the cool, grey
drizzle of the British summer but at that time, in the searing heat of Helmand Provence, every aspect of my existence was screaming at me to follow them down and join the battle.
It is two years since I left the military and although I am now lucky to work for a highly dynamic company (Inspired Thinking Group), my impression of the commercial sector is that too many managers fail to define and deliver their ‘intent’ whilst others succumb to temptation and charge down the hill getting deliberately and inextricably lost in the tactical weeds.
In both the military and the commercial sectors perceived stability, or peacetime, leads to a bureaucratic management culture that simply attempts to manage out every possible risk. The events of 9/11 triggered a maelstrom of events that would drive a fundamental cultural change within the military. The Credit Crunch of 2007 has triggered a similar seismic shift within the commercial sector.
In both cases,
big and bureaucratic has proven to be too slow and unwieldy, leaving many previously impervious organisations vulnerable to a new breed of more aggressive, agile and dynamic competitors.
In these circumstances the focus has to fall on the leaders to instill pro-activity and, most importantly, an attitude that is risk embracing. This is essential when the safe option leads to a slow inevitable death. In volatile conditions those in a position of leadership, whether in business or in the military, have to think
s every good manager knows, leadership is a lonely place. You deliver a set of combat
on their feet and respond to unpredictable circumstances. I passionately believe that simple Darwinian principles apply and the leader’s role is to nurture the constant evolution of successful organisations to meet the challenges and opportunities that arise in a constantly changing world. Stagnation leads to extinction.
This adaptability requires a unique mindset, in which resolve, focus and innovation exist in equal measures. The experience of combat mentally prepares you for this necessity. In a warzone the armed forces follow a model that is alert and decentralised, both at the unit level and at the level of the individual soldier. I first saw and propagated this model in Afghanistan. I then recognised it again when I joined ITG.
Success in any high pressure organisation is about culture as well as skills. If you find the right type of people and put them into a particular environment, they will act and react in a sensible manner. The ability to think on your feet is vital in the dynamic world of business. It doesn’t necessarily matter what skills you have, or what planning you have done from day one, the world will naturally evolve away from that. As with the armed forces, it is more important you have people with the right attitude, working within a culture that is both decentralised and embracive. Attitude of mind is far more important than skillset. The biggest single benefit business can learn from the armed forces is the structure that is mission orientated first, everything else second. You have to adapt to complete the mission at hand.
The necessity to make quick, reactive decisions is one that I see reflected in today’s economic climate. This was something that more traditional businesses like Woolworths and Clinton Cards didn’t understand. These companies failed in the current environment because they had a very fixed idea on how to do things.
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