The Illusion of Invincibility. Paul Williams
businesses, non-profit organizations, clubs, departments, teams, and every single one of us, as we work out what we want to achieve in our lives. Regular reflection on the question “Where are we actually going?” generally leads to greater success and satisfaction, provided that the vision properly embodies the concept of a motivating and meaningful way forward described in this chapter. Let’s find out.
| Your Vision Test | |
| 1.Now is a good moment for a (new) vision. (Unfavorable times are, for example, during a serious crisis or a start-up period.) |  |
| 2.The vision can be captured in one sentence. It does not need any further explanation and is crystal clear to everyone inside and outside the business. |  |
| 3.The vision is distinct and unique; it could not be applicable to any other organization. | |
| 4.The vision is emotionally compelling. It goes beyond purely economic targets or milestones. | |
| 5.The vision fully reflects the culture and values of the organization. | |
| 6.The vision unleashes the desired behavioral responses. | |
| 7.The vision is relevant and meaningful for everyone. | |
| 8.The vision answers the question: Why does the world need this business/organization? | |
| 9.The vision reinforces a positive image of the organization (external perception). | |
| 10.The vision is both ambitious and credible (a realistic long-term objective). | |
Inca Insights
•Set yourself big targets.
•Appeal to the hearts and minds of everyone in your organization.
•Keep a close and constant eye on whether your vision is still taking you where you really want to go, and nowhere else.
“You can’t train someone to be smart. That’s something they just have to bring with them!”
—Dr. Timm Volmer, CEO Smartstep Consulting
2 Talent before Seniority (or the Creeping Danger of Mediocrity?)
The success of a business depends on the skills of its people. So, be honest: How many of your team colleagues would you re-employ? How many of them are just “OK” and how many do you put up with because you think you have no choice? After all, an incompetent employee can harm their employer and a dishonest one can ruin them. Considering the risk, it is remarkable how carefree some businesses are when hiring new people. The Incas would probably have been astonished by these questions. Their elite leaders were subjected to rigorous training in special schools called Yachaywasi and Machu Picchu is believed to have housed one of these “Inca Business Schools,” where sons of both the Inca nobility and tribal chiefs from the conquered territories were educated. Seventeenth-century chroniclers describe the curriculum in detail: history, religion, and poetry, as well as arithmetic, bookkeeping, statistics, statecraft, law, medical procedures, and of course warcraft, weaponry, and hand-to-hand combat. All in all, it was a course of study reminiscent of a cross between modern military academies and elite universities. In addition, the curriculum included topics such as discipline, self-control, and pain endurance. The training ended with a month-long test under the supervision of the ruling Inca and, if you passed, you were eligible for jobs in administration and in the military.
The sons of the Inca princes, too, had to excel in the elite school and earn their place in the Inca nobility, just like the potential successor to the throne, who had to pass some particularly strict tests. “On the basis of these merits, he earned…the right to govern, and this was much more important than the fact that he just happened to be his father’s first-born,” writes Garcilaso de la Vega in 1609. Yes, the new ruler was selected from among the Inca’s sons, but this was often a wide circle of candidates, and by law, succession was determined by who was the most able for the position. Furthermore, in determining his succession, the Inca was assisted by a council made up of twenty relatives, all of which sounds well thought through. Automatic succession and poorly prepared personnel decisions are rarely blessed with good fortune, and a decision to rely on your “second choice” frequently comes back to haunt you. But don’t we still fall into these traps far too often?
Once again, the Incas are capable of really shaking us out of the conviction that ours is the most advanced era, and sometimes the twenty-first century is astonishingly archaic. Laws of inheritance under which a farm automatically passes to the eldest son still hold sway in parts of Europe. Siblings, especially daughters, are “subsidiary heirs,” which is a polite way of saying they have no rights of inheritance. It is much the same in many family-run businesses. A poll conducted by the I.F.M., the Research Institute for Family-Owned Businesses, in Bonn, Germany, revealed that more than two-thirds of the owners of medium-sized businesses with over 250 employees would like management succession to stay in the family. Above all, sons are preferred (57.6 percent), little different from centuries ago, and there is no mention here of tough selection procedures or demanding probationary periods in which the candidates have to prove themselves worthy of the position. In this respect, the Incas were astonishingly farsighted.
What Happens When the Prince Automatically Becomes King?
Otto von Bismarck once mockingly observed, “The first generation creates the wealth, the second manages it, the third studies art history, and the fourth generation squanders it all.” Even if one of Germany’s most famous political leaders and Reichskanzler was talking about the economy of the nineteenth century, it is undeniable: even today, countless owner-managed businesses find it difficult to arrange for a qualified successor. Indeed, it has been shown that almost three-quarters of all such companies—which, after all, play a major role in Europe, with up to 70 percent of GDP in some countries—have “absolutely no” or “currently no” succession planning in place. Clearly, they live in a world with no traffic accidents, illnesses, or other similar strokes of fate. The illusion of invincibility is powerful, even among otherwise considered and prudent business people.
While a high value is placed on innovation in technology, software, and marketing, when it comes to another key success factor—leadership—hope is often the guiding principle. Just like hundreds of years ago, mothers and fathers want to believe that their legacy is in the safe hands of their sons and daughters. From a human point of view, that is understandable, however risky it may be from a business perspective. Rarely are the potential consequences of such an approach so openly exposed as in the following example.
“The Best Man Needs Help”
Such was the headline the German newspaper taz placed above the picture of Konstantin Neven DuMont in October 2010. He was the heir to the fourth-largest newspaper publisher in Germany and, at the time, a board member at the media group M. DuMont Schauberg.
The business had been under family control since the beginning of the nineteenth century and, as far as the current patriarch Alfred Neven DuMont was concerned, that was the way it was going to stay, so he brought his son Konstantin Neven DuMont into his circle of top managers. Insiders at the firm were somewhat skeptical about the abilities of his successor, but the new arrival was nevertheless happy to give the