Alternatively, the heading could be:
Managers Who Were Given Notice – Are They Really That Bad?
Apparently, some managers are really a success in an enterprise. As soon as they work for another company, however, their downfall begins. Or else they are cut off in one company – only to get recruited by another one with advance laurels and a very high salary.
Take for instance the one who used to be the prophet at Bertelsmann – and then experienced his own Waterloo at Arcandor. Another stood for Heidelberg, before his downfall at the National Railways. And how about one who had to leave an electrical conglomerate but was enthusiastically welcomed by an aluminium producer. There are many more examples.
Well, in our great conglomerates, the managing directors come and go at a speed that comes closer and closer to that of the coaches of the soccer teams in our major league. This is strange: In his book Jim Collins showed that there is a correlation between extreme entrepreneurial success and long continuity in the top positions.
For instance, there is the unimposing business manager who has been made CEO just because there seemed to be nobody around who was even remotely willing to do the job and then this enterprise develops into one that is extremely successful on a world-wide scale for two decades and more. All he himself has to say about it is that he is a little on the eccentric side.
On the whole, the book by Jim Collins shows that a successful CEO’s personality is totally different from what you would have expected. Also, they usually grew up in the enterprise where they had served loyally for long years.
A friend of mine from the “good old times” was quite a success for many years serving in and many years at the top of an enterprise. I could also name several people from the history of business of whom the same is reported.
What is my conclusion from this phenomenon? Among other things, I conclude that no manager can really make a huge impact on an enterprise in a very short time. Enterprises are like tanker ships. It takes a lot of time for them to react to the rudder’s movement. Except that tanker ships have one rudder that has a direct impact on the oar. However, it is not as easy with an enterprise as with a ship. An enterprise has neither rudder nor oars.
Maybe that is a pity. Because it is a very human desire to wish for a superman or supergirl to come and bring salvation quickly, remedying all that had gone wrong in one single night. However, these supermen and supergirls exist neither in business nor in politics.
“Good” top managers can become galleon figures of an enterprise and be the positive embodiment of values and the prevailing culture in “their” enterprise. That is quite something. But they, too, are not the supermen and great wizards and helmsmen we often see in them. How can you expect one person to have an influence on a gigantic socio-economical system such as an enterprise with many years of history, complicated market involvement, grown culture and 100,000 people?
I also have my doubts about the statement that a good manager can manage any enterprise, regardless of the industrial sector. There is a huge difference between a company that produces something and a company that offers services. Not to mention that different industrial sectors have totally different patterns.
Personally, I cannot understand at all how the top positions in an enterprise can be rotated so fast. Not long ago, we discussed in a workshop how long it takes to really understand all the many facettes and spheres of a complex enterprise such as Siemens and IBM! We all agreed that it takes years.
In some instances, I get the impression that top managers who have been called to the position from outside only start understanding the enterprise they have been responsible for when their term of office is almost at its end. And some never get to that stage. To this day, they still wonder what went wrong.
Top managers are probably no more intelligent or better than the managers on other levels or in small enterprises. There is a sort of caste system. You are either born into it or slide into it by virtue of a special school education or rare chance. Otherwise, you can never become managing director of a world conglomerate.
So where does that system differ from how you became an earl or a king in a monarchy?
RMD
(Translated by EG)
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