In my previous blog Are 'political leaders' an oxymoron?! I asked if we get the politicians, and governments, that frankly we deserve!
With just 3 days to go to the 2015 UK General Election I offer here a voting strategy, without stating which party you should vote for if you're in the UK. Anyone wanting that advice can message me privately!! ;-)
This strategy is credible because it builds on the well-researched, proven principles of Top 1% leadership and organisational behavour.
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One of my early blogs last August, Human weakness – a competitive advantage? highlighted key lessons from the powerful, instructive book ‘The Blunders of Our Governments’ by political
science Professors Ivor Crewe and Tony King, which chronicles in shocking
detail the catastrophic errors made by both Labour and Conservative UK
governments over the last 35 years.
Their major failings arose from the following common, oft-repeated weaknesses:
- 'Cultural disconnect’ - the inability of otherwise intelligent people, often in small cliques, to understand or anticipate the attitudes and behaviours of people with differing cultural norms, frequently leading to dire consequences
- ‘Group-think’ – the frightening, sheep-like tendency to suppress internal disagreement that sometimes grips groups of people, even though such debate would highlight potentially serious risks and produce better solutions
- ‘Intellectual prejudice’ - the dangerous habit of using mental models and preconceptions to (over-)simplify complex and uncertain situations, usually for knee-jerk, emotional reasons
- ‘Operational disconnect’ – the ‘ivory tower’ creation of policies or strategies by a remote elite, without seeking any guidance from those who will have to implement them!
- ‘Symbolism and spin’ - the obsession with presentation over substance.
By contrast, decades of widespread research across all walks
of life, allied with the lessons of thousands of years of human history, demonstrate
unequivocally that Top 1% leaders and organisations:
- Are truly meritocratic, largely free of vested interests, and impervious to factional lobbying
- Largely avoid making promises they may be unable to fulfil (if they do, they learn fast and never do it again!!)
- Face up to harsh realities, and tell the truth about them without distorting, or putting a positive gloss on, them
- Use radically counter-cultural logic. They know the purpose of leadership is not to impose top down theoretical dogma and solutions, which may be born of sincere passion but nevertheless are all-too-often ill-conceived and/or misguided. Instead Top 1% leadership is encouraging and enabling – it creates the conditions in which great solutions can be developed empirically to difficult, complex, messy real life problems, instead of providing pre-determined, pre-packaged and/or rigid approaches
- Promote vigorous, respectful and constructive debate between people who disagree, but are nevertheless humble, and who want to see an overall advancement of other people’s interests at least as much as their own (i.e. enlightened self-interest). These people are ‘smart givers’, not ‘matchers’ or ‘takers’ (see ‘Give and Take’, Adam Grant, 2013) - their approach can be remarkably disarming!
- Are driven by die-in-a-ditch values and a palpable desire to make a positive difference, even though this will not be recognised or believed by their opponents and other cynics. In business I call it a ‘purpose beyond profit’; in politics I might term it a ‘demonstrable, selfless, independently evidenced desire to improve the lives and interests of others ahead of their own, or their faction’s, interests’. Having met MPs from all three mainstream UK parties (Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat) I am less cynical and disillusioned about them as a category of society than many folk are. Many of them have excellent intentions and truly serve the public. Some of them I would term misguided, but above all it is the political system that is broken. The best politicians are forced to operate with at least one, sometimes two, hands tied behind their backs!
- Understand that life is full of awkward and inconvenient paradoxes. In other words they accept that multiple pairs of apparent contradictions can and do hold true simultaneously! The brutal reality is that it’s both this AND that. To acknowledge this is not weakness or indecision – it’s wisdom, as Top 1% research clearly demonstrates
- Are regularly underrated or misunderstood, do not lie, and are not economical with the truth, though they will constantly be suspected or accused of it by cynics
- Tend to keep a relatively low profile and focus on working behind the scenes to apply their principles and get the best results they can in the long-term
- Have an unusual ability to listen and learn, and accept that they don’t have all the answers, or indeed many of them at all. When asked about strategy, they regularly say, and are comfortable saying, “I don’t know, but we’ll work it out together”
- Focus on gathering together talented performers, people better than themselves, and enabling them to succeed
- Stick to what they are outstandingly good at, and steer their organisations to do the same
- Strive at all times to do the right thing, irrespective of the personal cost and brickbats they suffer; honestly admit their mistakes and learn from them (unlike the vast majority of us, who repeat them endlessly). Like the rest of us, they are human!!
OK, if this is the blueprint we cannot point to any political
party as being clearly Top 1%. But I do
not accept the counsel of despair that all politicians and political parties
are evil and selfish. It simply isn’t true!
The UK political system is crying out for reform. It does not represent the views and concerns of
large swathes of the population, who consequently feel disenfranchised. Their disillusionment is understandable. People’s legitimate concerns, about
immigration for example, have been swept under the carpet and submerged in
politically correct, liberal (small ‘l’, irrespective of political leaning)
fog. People of all political persuasions
are afraid to confront brutal realities – most of them are deeply conservative
(small ‘c’, irrespective of political leaning).
The level of debate in UK politics is invariably puerile –
playground stuff, not mature adult discussion.
Vested interests prefer the current two party, first-past-the-post election
system and these turkeys aren’t going to vote for Christmas.
Under these conditions it is inevitable that single issue
parties and others catering to voter disillusionment have sprung up, and we
should welcome this, since it forces the sort of debate that should have been
taking place anyway. The mainstream political
parties have only themselves to blame because they have buried their heads in the
sand for far too long.
For many years I have largely avoided politics. However, my emerging knowledge of
Top 1% leadership and organisational principles has crystallised my own
political beliefs. What I have learnt offers a compelling logic. I have already cast my (postal) vote, and I did so on the basis of principle, die-in-a-ditch values, and hard-headed pragmatism.
My ultimate preference would be to see a restructuring of
British politics in which bitter, Punch and Judy, factionalism is eventually superseded by a more effective consensus (albeit
informed by vigorous debate) of the diverse majority who broadly occupy the middle
ground. The artificial polarisation
which the current system engenders is neither effective, nor efficient –
Parliament, and the electorate, waste the vast amount of their time fiddling
while Rome burns.
I’ve written elsewhere about the Stockdale Paradox, for me
perhaps the greatest single defining characteristic of Top 1% leaders and
organisations:
“You must maintain an unwavering faith that you can, and you will, succeed in the end, no matter what it takes, whilst confronting the most brutal realities of your current situation, whatever they are, and however unpleasant they are.”
In politics, as in life, we must not let the perfect be the
enemy of the good, whilst always aiming for excellence. The good exists in British politics, and in
some areas it’s very good indeed. So if
you are able to suspend your tribal prejudices and insecurities (and the habits
of a lifetime) I pose the following questions:
- Where in current UK politics will you find people exhibiting traits least like those described in ‘The Blunders of Our Governments’ and most like the Top 1% characteristics I’ve defined in this blog? Remember, no-one is perfect, or even close to it, and you won’t find people you agree with 100%. So don't use hypocritical tribalism (intellectual prejudice) or unattainable measures of voter satisfaction. Think calmly, don’t knee-jerk!!
- Can you embrace the Stockdale Paradox, accept that your particular faction is not going to achieve ‘world domination’ in this or any other foreseeable election, and apply a broader set of principles about what is best in this messy, imperfect environment for the country as a whole?
See through the fog, and don't let yourself be fooled because you don't want to go to the effort of thinking, or get into the deeply uncomfortable territory of changing your mind. Let go of any unfounded old 'certainties'. Confront reality. Remember, changing your mind for solid reasons is a good thing - it means you're listening!
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I’m grateful you’ve taken the time to read this post. If you find it helpful please share it. And make a difference - be a smart giver and do something positive for others this week. Pay it forward.
Recent blogs you may find helpful include:
If this blog is particularly relevant to you, your organisation, or to someone else you know, I may be able to help or advise. I strive to be a smart giver – Adam Grant’s excellent book “Give and Take” (2013) explains why smart givers are the highest 25% of achievers in all walks of life. They go out of their way to help others, intelligently, without allowing themselves to be widely exploited. In this way they inspire higher performance and create sustained new value through collaborative exchange.
The business I lead, Resolve Gets Results (RGR), provides hands-on leadership, management, problem solving, customer/market development, sales and fundraising capabilities to companies with long-term growth potential. I'm also actively involved in Linked2Success (L2S), a business which helps clients to use social media intelligently to build professional relationships and grow. RGR and L2S work together as a single team to leverage the benefits of our respective skill sets, giving tremendous business value to far-sighted clients..
I work with a superb small team of Board-level professionals, each a leader in their field with over 30 years’ business experience. We are based in the UK but have international business backgrounds, in my case including 5 years in the United States, where I ran a high growth machinery sales and service business.
You can find my contact details under the ‘Contact info’ tab near the top of my LinkedIn profile.
Mark Ashton
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