Whatever you do, don't be your own worst enemy!

Like millions of other English people who love the sport of rugby union I'm hurting this morning - badly!

Last night the English rugby team blew it against their mortal enemy and closest neighbour, Wales. They blew it in front of 90,000 spectators and millions on TV in a World Cup match, billed as the biggest game between these two ferocious rivals for years. They blew it on home territory, against a team who have suffered an appalling level of misfortune over the last few weeks with injuries to supposedly critical players.

This week, in the build-up to the game, England head coach Stuart Lancaster had been heavily criticised for his team selection.  However, his selections proved correct, and for the bulk of the game they entirely nullified the Welsh threat.  It was only when he substituted his two controversial picks, Sam Burgess and Owen Farrell, late in the game that things apparently went 'badly wrong'.  George Ford, the No 10 whom pundits said Lancaster should not have dropped in favour of Farrell, came on and idiotically insisted on kicking the ball straight back to Wales every time he got it instead of running with the ball and drawing in Welsh defenders.  He showed no vision whatsoever and kept handing the initiative back to the opposition, who by this stage had their tails up and were giving it all they'd got - they felt they had nothing to lose after an appalling sequence of injuries 3/4 of the way through the game.

Then came a decision that will haunt England for years.  With less than 10 minutes to go they were awarded a difficult penalty, but instead of kicking at goal to level the scores (by this stage Wales had unbelievably managed to take the lead for the first time since the first few minutes of the game) they kicked into touch down by the Welsh line in the hope of forcing a 5 or 7 point score instead of 3 points.  It was greedy and it was naive.  Wales won the subsequent lineout and cleared their lines of danger.

However, the main reason England lost the game was woeful indiscipline, and this is the critical lesson for us all.  Since Stuart Lancaster became head coach in 2011 he has done many good things. He has infused England, traditionally seen as a boring, technical team, with pride and passion.  He has filled the players, many of them very young, with confidence.  He has created intense competition for places in the team, and his coaching team have improved the fitness and technique of the players immeasurably.

There is one area, however, in which Lancaster has failed dismally, and that is the self-discipline which players exhibit on the field.  It is truly appalling.  I remember match after match after match over the last 4 years where they have given away stupid penalties with unnecessary infringements. You could say that they have sought to 'cheat', to break the laws of the game, without being noticed. Amazingly, inspite of all the points it has cost them over the years, they keep on doing it!!!!

Last night was the most brutal self-defeat of all, probably the worst I've witnessed in over 40 years of watching sport.  England handed the game to Wales on a plate.  England dominated the first two thirds of the game.  They were technically superior in every department.  For long periods they had a comfortable 10 point cushion - Wales needed to score twice to overhaul it.  Every time it happened however England sacrificed the two score lead by conceding a stupid and unnecessary penalty, and every time they did so Wales' star kicker, Dan Biggar, punished them by slotting it over.

It seems to me there are two crucial, universal lessons to take away from this game that apply to all of us if we are committed to excellence in whatever we do:

1. Self-discipline is the bedrock on which creativity and excellence must be founded.  Sadly, talent and technical proficiency are not always rewarded.  However mistakes are invariably punished sooner or later, so cut out the unnecessary ones.  Life is hard enough as it is!

2. Wales were utterly inspired in adversity.  They played with enormous heart, as they invariably do. They refused to give up, they were opportunistic, and they delivered what amounted to a smash and grab raid.  England got complacent.  At one point early in the second half, before disaster struck, England 2003 World Cup winning head coach Sir Clive Woodward told TV viewers of his concern that England appeared to be 'cruising' and that it was very dangerous.  His observation proved painfully prescient.

England can still qualify for the Quarter Finals of the Rugby World Cup, but they've given themselves a huge mountain to climb.  Four years of diligent preparation risk being thrown away through mindless stupidity.

Take heed, wise up, and don't take unnecessary risks!  What can you do to avoid spoiling your own chances of success?  It's certainly got me thinking!

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Thanks for reading this.  If you liked it please click on Like and share it.  Constructive comments are welcome, and if you have questions on the subject matter you can connect with me on LinkedIn and send me a message, or else you’ll find my contact details on my LinkedIn profile uk.linkedin.com/in/markashtonresolve.

If you need help growing your business, solving tough business problems, or finding and developing the true leaders throughout your business, take a look at www.resolvegetsresults.com and contact us for an informal, no-obligation conversation.  We give hands-on leadership, management, non-executive, coaching, advisory, and fundraising support to different types of business – small or large, start-up, turnaround or mature. We’re passionate about playing a vital role in building enduring great businesses, by applying the tried and tested, swim-against-the-tide principles of the Top 1% most profitable companies. When appropriate we share risk and reward with clients, so we're fully committed to their success.

You’ll find more blogs on leadership and management topics on my LinkedIn profile.

Will your moral compass lead you over a cliff?

Neuroscience teaches us we are animals, hard-wired over 65 million years to look after No 1 and our own herd, capable of any form of negative, often disastrous behaviour.  It should come as no surprise.  

Wisdom teaches us that we have advanced as a species by collaboration, courage, generosity and selflessness.

Yet we constantly bury our heads in the sand and pretend otherwise.

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It's been an interesting week.

Human stupidity knows no bounds.

One of the world's premier car companies is caught red handed, and confesses to fitting software to its diesel engined cars to cheat on greenhouse gas emission tests.  I find it inconceivable that other car manufacturers have not done the same thing - time will tell.

The company in question, VW Group, faces costs of many billions, the trashing of a proud reputation, the collapse of trust, years of uncertainty, and, more to the point, thousands of employees and their families will pay the greatest price.

The CEO has walked the plank.  He may not, as he claims, have known that his company practised systematic and cynical deception, but no matter - he is equally culpable.  He failed to instil a culture intolerant of such unthinkable behaviour.  At best there was a conspiracy of ignorance and convenient silence.

Let's call a spade a spade - this is theft.  It's time senior executives and others in business responsible for what, in truth, is criminal behaviour faced lengthy prison sentences, and not in cushy, white collar open prisons, when found guilty of abusing their office, or even presiding unwittingly over such abuse.  It would soon stop.

The threat of losing their jobs is woefully inadequate - the huge financial upsides they can achieve through misbehaviour mean that the risk/reward equation is currently rigged all one way in the eyes of the potentially unscrupulous.  All of us are prey to temptation, whether large or small - we should not be surprised at anything that happens if the rewards are great enough and the sanctions not real or punitive.

Meantime, more positively, a UK political party supposedly reeling after a catastrophic election wipeout in May when it was reduced from a high of 56 MPs in 2010 and a share in government to just 8 MPs and a berth in the political wilderness, holds its annual conference in Bournemouth and appears bizarrely upbeat and cheerful, according to political commentators. What's going on?

Firstly, they've seen dramatic percentage growth in membership since the election defeat.  The absolute numbers are relatively small; the trend is not.  Secondly, the space they naturally occupy on the radical, yet moderate centre left of British politics is apparently being vacated by the traditional juggernaut party of the Left, whose populist new leader wants to drag them much further left on the crest of the angry, anti-austerity tsunami currently engulfing the British and European electorates.

Their natural supporters, or people across the political spectrum who sympathise with them, have often kept their heads well below the parapet in that infuriating, introverted English manner.  It's not cool to support a 'no hope' political party, even if talks common sense and you agree with it.  Much better to run with the big dogs - don't want to risk standing out, even if you might stand out with a large silent majority.  Good job the little boy didn't think that like the rest of the crowd when he saw the emperor had no clothes on!

On Wednesday, their newly-elected leader, an outspoken firebrand with what one BBC commentator describes as a very particular brand of gritty Northern charm (he is no suave, well-groomed old Etonian or Fettesian member of the cravenly Murdoch-appeasing 'ruling classes'!), stakes a passionate claim for the middle ground of British politics.  He argues, (he is delusional, most would say), for the pursuit of power once more to change people's lives for good.  From humble origins himself, he makes a compelling case for a 'strange' paradox - the championing of the poor and vulnerable in society, and the championing of ordinary, struggling businesspeople, whom he says are essential to create the wealth the country needs to provide effective public services.  He argues for decency, community spirit and pragmatism - it is refreshing and uplifting.  He identifies squarely with the outsider versus the elite.

His plea that Britain should play its part in the European quota system to meet the current refugee crisis rather than opting out and sitting on the sidelines gets a spontaneous, cheering, standing ovation.  He presents a clear, inspiring and mature vision for a far better Britain, a country that cares, yet takes responsibility, a country with grown-up, selfless politicians and leaders in all walks of life, including business.

Yesterday I had another uplifting experience.  For the first time in many years I had an extended conversation by phone with a former colleague and friend, now working in Switzerland to develop and gain regulatory approval for modified reduced tobacco products (MRTPs) for one of the world's largest tobacco manufacturers.  He told me he had been headhunted a few years ago and had agonised over whether to take the job, since he had always vowed never to work in the cigarette industry.  In the end he took it in the end for these reasons:

• One third of the world's population (a figure that stunned me), disproportionately the poorer members of society, are smokers
• MRTPs bring specific health benefits for existing smokers - the research evidence suggests smoking MRTPs will have the same health effects for a smoker as giving up smoking altogether
• MRTPs will not be targeted at non-smokers as a way to get them into smoking - regulatory approvals will be tight and specific about that 
• His father died from lung cancer caused by lifelong smoking, and my friend believes his quality and quantity of life would have been significantly extended if he had smoked MRTPs.

Recently my friend's new boss asked him hypothetically if he would be willing to transfer to the conventional cigarette manufacturing division of the company, where his skills would be valuable. Without hesitation my friend told him that were he to be requested to do that then his written resignation letter would be on his boss's desk within 5 minutes. His boss, a company lifer since university, was stunned.  His tribal loyalty to the company, which fosters a cult-like culture, rendered him incapable of seeing the wood for the trees.  Golden, lobotomising handcuffs.

Courage is a rare commodity in all walks of life, sadly - people go with the flow.  "Don't draw attention to yourself" is the lemmings' charter!

In 'Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies' (1994) Jim Collins and Jerry I Porras studied iconic companies named repeatedly by US CEOs as the ones they most admired.  They discovered that enduringly great companies all have a compelling purpose beyond profit:

• Dave Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard (HP) was derided and mocked by other company leaders for many years because he spoke often at conferences of his personal conviction that the true purpose of any business was not to make money, but to make a meaningful contribution to society.  He became a billionaire, but he never changed his values or his behaviours.
• George W Merck, President of pharmaceuticals giant Merck and son of the founder, famously said: "We try never to forget that medicine is for the people.  It is not for the profits.  The profits follow, and if we have remembered that, they have never failed to appear.  The better we have remembered it, the larger they have been". 

My passion is applying actionable insights from neuroscience and the wisdom of the Top 1%, most sustainably profitable companies, to create great organisations infused with great behaviours. 

Neuroscience teaches us that we are animals, hard-wired over 65 million years to look after ourselves and our own herd, and capable of any form of negative behaviour.  It should be no surprise.

Wisdom teaches us that we have advanced as a species by collaboration, courage, generosity and selflessness.

I know which route I prefer and trust.  It's well worth the struggle.

____________________________________________

Thanks for reading this.  If you liked it please click on Like and share it.  Constructive comments are welcome, and if you have questions on the subject matter you can connect with me on LinkedIn and send me a message, or else you’ll find my contact details on my LinkedIn profile uk.linkedin.com/in/markashtonresolve.

If you need help growing your business, solving tough business problems, or finding and developing the true leaders throughout your business, take a look at www.resolvegetsresults.com and contact us for an informal, no-obligation conversation.  We give hands-on leadership, management, non-executive, coaching, advisory, and fundraising support to different types of business – small or large, start-up, turnaround or mature. We’re passionate about playing a vital role in building enduring great businesses, by applying the tried and tested, swim-against-the-tide principles of the Top 1% most profitable companies. When appropriate we share risk and reward with clients, so we're fully committed to their success.

You’ll find more blogs on leadership and management topics on my LinkedIn profile.