Exercise 1

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The Hero

Once Upon a Time

My formative years at Marriott led me to the bare-knuckled world of advertising giant McCann Erickson. While learning the ropes of international advertising from one of my mad men bosses, I noted a sign on his desk:

I thought the sign was one of those “You don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps” novelties. But I realized quickly as I came to know Mike, and indeed McCann, that it was the summary of an organizational reality. McCann was the dominant leader in its field, a perfect reflection of a supply economy, distribution-based organization. The philosophy was best described to me by a wonderful man and mentor of mine Gene Kummel, once former head of the mighty McCann Erickson advertising network, during one of our many breakfasts at his spot at the Yale Club in New York. He spoke of the early days, in the 1950s, of McCann and its cornerstone account, Coca-Cola. “The CEO and I flew around the world. The CEO of Coke would go to the biggest family in the host country and ask if they would like to establish a Coke bottler franchise, then I went to the second-biggest family and asked them if they wanted to sponsor a McCann agency. Our empires grew together.”

These twinned giants created a vast distribution network, dots on a map doing the bidding of the headquarters. As I took my first role as an international account manager, my new boss, Mike, explained how creating global advertising for brands like Coca-Cola worked. He told me that we created the advertising centrally in New York and then exported it to one of our dots in the far-flung McCann Erickson network of nearly two hundred offices, which operated in support of Coke’s bottler network. Each office was then told that its job was to make a local version according to the exact specifications of the advertising that we sent. No deviations. In an attempt to learn how to navigate in this system, I asked Mike, “Well, what happens if one of the dots doesn’t do what we want them to do?” “Look at it this way, kid,” he said, pointing to his sign on the desk. “Think of us as the Roman Empire. If a province decides to revolt, we’ll send the legions and burn their villages down!”

Welcome to the supply economy.

Yes, Sir

The supply economy was a well-ordered world. There were a small number of products, a few large companies that distributed them, and lots of consumers. There were a few television stations and other media that broadcast advertising telling us to buy, and buy we did.

The companies were run using a time-tested leadership method borrowed from our military cousins, command-and-control hierarchy. We executives were in charge, made it clear what we wanted, and told our people through a clear, linear chain of command what was to happen. It was even codified in a 1951 book written by William Whyte called The Organization Man. Communications and directives flowed downward and the only thing the organization man said in return was, “Yes, sir.”

A Symbolic Demise

This orderly but slightly terrifying management system worked well for a very long time. It met its demise, in my view, when the mighty Coca-Cola Company decided to introduce an exciting new product.

In 1985, marketing history was made. I am certain, though, that no one expected history would turn out quite like it unfolded. Coca-Cola, it seemed, had been testing a new formula—one that in consumer taste test studies not only beat “old Coke,” but also bested archrival Pepsi by a mile. So, presto! New Coke was heralded in advertising created by McCann Erickson featuring Bill Cosby, Coke’s ubiquitous spokesperson. All anticipated that supply economy rules would apply, and they waited for New Coke to fly off the shelves.

In a mere few days, U.S. consumers were in virtual revolt. Millions of customers were up in arms, racing for the remaining old Coke available and, more importantly, expressing their extreme displeasure. People across the country, on news stations and on street corners, howled for justice. In the hallways of McCann it was rumored that a letter by an indignant consumer to Coke’s CEO opened with this:

Whether or not the letter is apocryphal, the sentiment was certainly clear. Coke represented more than a fizzy drink—it was something people believed in and felt they owned, not some far off corporation. This was a watershed moment, not only in consumer marketing but for corporations at large. We were now on notice that the people really in charge were the customers. They could no longer be told what to do, when to do it, what to accept, and what to follow. They, and only they, would decide what they wanted.

A Shot Across the Bow

The New Coke debacle is especially remarkable because it involved two of the most powerful companies of the era; Coca-Cola and its advertising partner McCann Erickson were two unrivaled giants that called the shots around the globe. The event sent shockwaves rippling through business-to-consumer industries, and all woke to the new realities. We no longer dictated like we did before. A new sheriff was in town, dictating new terms: communities of people, or brand citizens, as I call them, were now calling the shots. The people we had taken for granted and labelled “consumers” were now irrevocably in charge. It was a moment that told us supply economic structure and, by extension, the leadership practices that went with it, were changed forever.

May it rest in peace.

This event was a milestone in the steady and inexorable march toward broad-scale democratization of the consumer marketplace. Through advancements in technology, this trend is leading relentlessly toward what is now called the demand economy: an economy and society where individuals are firmly in charge.

Leadership, Demand Economy Style

If “crispness of orders” and “rigor of command chain” were the key words for leadership in the supply economy, then “empathy” is the word of the demand economy. People on your team will dedicate themselves and accomplish amazing things when they see that you believe in them with your whole heart. Your primary interest is with your people. People judge whether or not they will follow you by your genuineness and your authenticity. The days of a “ruling distance” from your people—maintaining a sort of managerial omnipotence—are dead and buried.

As a sense of ownership has been tilted on its ear, so, over time, has management practice. Contemporary and successful organizations are no longer hierarchies ordered through rigid systems of command and control. Rather, they are communities of like-minded people mobilized through shared values, culture, and a collective desire. The objective of the leader in this era is to create a movement, a following of people toward a special objective. The way to do this is not through “imposition.” It is through what I call buoyancy.

Buoyancy

Buoyancy is a phenomenon whereby, as a leader, you “float,” because the people in the community you have inspired believe that you should. They believe in you, support you, celebrate your strengths, and shore up your weaknesses, all because you understand, connect with, and ignite what lies in their hearts. Creating a following requires a fundamental understanding of your audience’s collective desire and an ability to mobilize it by capturing their imagination with a special quest—a common ambition and resulting culture that binds them as one.

Buoyancy means that everyone must be with you willingly, as a community, rowing together toward a common destination. Buoyancy is a management philosophy based on a dedication to and focus on the spiritual and functional well-being of the people who will help you grow. Buoyancy rests on the assumption that everyone is different and special. You will be supported if they know you love them and believe in them, and if they feel they are part of an inclusive culture. They will compensate for your weaknesses and shore up your strengths.

You float because they believe you should.

So, How Do You Float?

Buoyancy is a process of understanding the collective desire of your people and of connecting that desire with your ambitions, beliefs, and ability to ignite them. Each person in your organization makes a decision about whether to buoy you up after they have assessed your authenticity, empathy, and connection with their true desire. In my first book, The Hidden Agenda, I shared what I had learned over decades of pitching for my supper—that behind every decision, of any kind and about anything, lies an unspoken visceral emotional motivation. Once you uncover and connect your genuine self to it, you have the power to win anything you seek.

Leadership is not a matter of, “I tell you what to do, then, you do it.” It is a human game achieved by unearthing the deep, visceral, often unspoken desire of your people and connecting yourself to it. Leadership is the means by which you create your following and, in time, buoyancy.

People make you buoyant because you have reached them. They see you authentically and recognize that you truly understand them. With everyone’s best interests at heart, together you have struck a common course. The hidden agenda comes in three forms: wants, needs, and values.

Wants

The hidden agenda of wants is based on ambition. It reflects confidence and a view of what the future might bring.

Needs

The hidden agenda of needs is based on fear and a desire for something that is lacking. It is a feeling of longing.

Values

The hidden agenda of values is centered on a person’s deeply held beliefs. This hidden agenda will inevitably be directed by a value system the person holds close.

Your Leverageable Assets

Uncovering the hidden agenda of your people is step one. The next is connecting your leverageable assets as the means to ignite them. These assets are: your real ambition, your credo, and your core.

Real Ambition

This is the human desire to create something good where nothing before existed. It is a measure of your organization and of your worth. Real ambition is a key reason that people will follow you.

Your Credo

Your credo is your belief system. It is the values and principles that set you apart and guide what you believe and, most importantly, how you behave.

Your Core

Your core is your essence, the special abilities you possess at the center of your being. It is the special gift you have been given that separates you from others.

The Allen Key

You create the conditions for buoyancy when you connect one of your leverageable assets to the hidden agenda you have uncovered. Each of your leverageable assets is a means of unlocking one of the three elements of the hidden agenda, and the Allen Key is a tool to assist you in making these connections. Yes, I borrowed the term from my toolbox; it’s a special tool for special tasks. I’ll explain how it works, with examples from companies and individuals I have come to know and admire.

The real ambition connects to the wants, because it is a vision shared by you and your audience of what the future will become. You are joined because they see that their ambitions are possible with you.

The credo connects to values, because it is a belief system you and your audience share. You are joined because you understand them.

The core connects to the needs, because it is something special you have that solves what your audience lacks. You are joined because they see you have the solution.

Protect, Explore, and Inspire

I am one lucky fellow. A very dear friend of mine arranged an introduction to the amazing Angela Ahrendts of Burberry. I had always marveled at the way this lady—who, like me, hails from humble beginnings—rose to become one of the world’s most celebrated CEOs. She managed to transform Burberry’s venerable brand into one that is hot and contemporary yet maintains deep roots in its heritage. Snatching the company from the abyss of a serious, almost irreversible, decline, Ahrendts and her amazing team created a real ambition: to create a truly global luxury retail brand digitally focused for the twenty-first century. Her passion and audacity captured the imagination of her team and have ignited her people to dizzying heights.

What fuelled this passion was the intensive examination her team made of the essence—the core—of the Burberry brand. In looking deeply at the brand, the team uncovered the principles of the founder. Thomas Burberry was a maker of garments for adventurers who went out into the world without fear of the elements (thanks in no small measure to the technological advancement of fabrics developed by Burberry). Not just the fabric, but the spirit of the community of producers and proud wearers, captured the essence of Burberry, hence the wonderful words, inspired by their founder “protect, explore, and inspire”. This core of capability was re-imagined by Ahrendts and her team, and is central to the contemporary branding of the company.

This platform has been galvanized by the credo of an individual—Angela Ahrendts—who believed in the business not as an organization but as a community with a profound culture, a culture that values intuition over rigidity, passion over caution, and humanity over structure. Value’s she has inspired. She took my breath away our meeting, and typified the profile of a buoyant leader; thoughtful, intuitive, empathetic, and people centric but also laser-focused, decisive, and purposeful. What a treat.

The Cutlery Mystery

When confronted with any organizational challenge, whether it is problem solving at a point in time or bringing about wholesale change over the long haul, the instinct for many in charge is to dictate terms. I have to confess it often seemed easier to figure out a solution and then tell everyone what it is you want. Of course, no one is omnipotent or capable of solving all problems brilliantly. Every leader needs their people to not only help understand the problem in the first place but to participate willingly and creatively in solving it. My instinct, when I saw silverware gleaming in a trash compactor, was to immediately mete out some form of punishment. And yet, as I listened to Mr. Fuentes and the team explain, much to their embarrassment, that they could not satisfy management’s demands, my heart immediately went out to them.

Empathy is a vital first step in creating buoyancy.

It is essential that you take a moment to understand the broader context your people face and decide how you are going to set out on a journey to connect with them. I shudder when I think of how close I came to a rush to judgment, but I’m so very glad that I took my moment. Jodell, I thank you.