Lessons from Leaders of Organisations.
How about an apology? I am sorry... Easy isn't it?
I am feeling pretty angry. I have watched the performance of a couple of leaders of major organisations over the past few weeks. Specifically, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin (Optus) and Hamish Mc Lennan (Rugby Australia). After overwhelming pressure, they have both resigned - and not before time. It fascinates me that individuals can be appointed to head up large organisations these days without what seems to me fundamental leadership skills.
I have been disappointed in their performance as communicators which I believe is a pivotal requirement to lead and to bring people along with you, especially when there is trouble in the house. As I was driving to work at about 8.15 am on the 8th of November, I heard about the Optus outage on the radio. They had known about the problem from about 4.00 am and I would imagine that they were well aware of the impact that this would have on individuals, businesses, and the community. Kelly Bayer Rosmarin was missing in action and was not heard from until after 10.00am. When she did front the media, there was no apology or admission that this event was difficult for their customers and to bring them some reassurance that they were working on fixing it. As well established in the Senate Estimates hearing last Friday, she did not demonstrate any empathy for the customers of Optus, so important to the Organisation. This was not the first time, with a similar performance after the hacking of mass data last year. It seemed to the external observer that she did not care about anything except covering her “a@#e” and protecting her massive salary.
For regular readers, you will be familiar with my interest in rugby union. I have closely followed the chaos that has emanated from the poor performance of the Wallabies in the Rugby World Cup and was actually in France watching it all play out both figuratively and literally. So, once the debacle of Eddie Jones was settled with his resignation, I watched gobsmacked at the performance of the Chairman who has taken the lead of the conversation, over the past few weeks. Hamish McLennan’s performance has smacked of a lack of accountability. He has widely demonstrated behaviours in the press including:
Rationalisation: Defence of the “captain’s pick” decision to appoint Eddie Jones.
Denial and Defensiveness: The result would have been the same regardless.
Blame: This was one of the worst as there is finger-pointing everywhere including past players and past coaches, or structures.
Lots of PR spin about how well he has performed in organising new broadcast deals etc.
I actually wonder whether what I have witnessed is an example of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
The Dunning-Kruger effect occurs when a person’s lack of knowledge and skills in a certain area causes them to overestimate their own competence. By contrast, this effect also causes those who excel in a given area to think the task is simple for everyone and underestimate their relative abilities as well.
Until the 6th November 2023, there was no apology to the fans and to date there has been no personal acknowledgement that some of the responsibility for the events that have ensued is due to his leadership style. This has worsened with his resignation when he has gone into full battle mode. Everyone else’s fault or even more worryingly, beware what might happen without me there.
Both of these Leaders are overlooking the most important people for their organisations to exist, primarily their customers/fans and also their employees who have taken the flack.
I do not think that it really matters about the size of the company you are leading, it is always important to have a base set of values to ground you and to ensure that you are honest and work in the best interests of your customers and employees which means communicating well.
We, as leaders of our businesses will benefit from learning that a timely and well-meant apology and empathy for the impacts that actions and decisions that we or our employees make that have an adverse impact on others is our responsibility.
Had Kelly Bayer Rosmarin and Hamish McLennan taken this simple step, I wonder if they might still be in their positions.
“Leaders who cultivate the courage to take an honest look at themselves find
that taking accountability can have a far greater impact
on their business than any strategy, initiative or
marketing campaign.” (The mindful leader: Michael Bunting)
Phil Waugh is Rugby’s CEO. Hamish was Chairman