Leadership, and Mike Brearley
N Nagaraj
On the evening of December 18, 1997, former England Test player and captain, Mike Brearley, inaugurated a series of talks organised by the ITC called the Winning Edge Series. ITC is planning to arrange more personalities who have demonstrated outstanding leadership capabilities for this series of talks. In this context, Mike Brearley's credentials are impeccable: Appointed captain of the English team in May 1971, Brearley captained England in 31 tests of which England won 17 and lost just four. He retired from the England team in 1981 and went on to become a psychotherapist. In 1996 and 1997, he consulted with organisations such as the England Cricket Board, the BBC, McKinsey's, Coopers and Lybrand, and KPMG. He has written four books and one of them is ``The Art of Captaincy''.
What was very obvious from the talk was that leading a cricket team was very much like leading a business team (or, you could put it the other way around: Probably this is why ex-captains also make shrewd businessmen). What does one need to be a captain (read leader)? The first essential is the ability to actually play the game; and the second is the knowledge of techniques. This can be easily illustrated with an example: The captain either needs to be a good batsman or a good bowler; and, if he is a batsman, he should know enough about bowling, even if *he* can't bowl. But just these wouldn't be enough. There is one more thing that a good captain should possess: A passion for tactics. Translate this into business and what do you get? The leader has to be an expert in something, say marketing; and has enough cross-functional knowledge (if not skills) -- a marketing man who can understand the impact of his strategies on the finances of the company.
Brearley also makes a case for flattening organisation structures with lesser hierarchical levels. The higher the level, the less face-to-face interactions; it takes more time to take decisions; and, the opportunity cost of taking decisions becomes high when the decision is passed on to higher levels of the organisation. Most team games, including cricket, are played with a team of about eight to fifteen people. This team is a naturally sized team and could be equated to a primitive hunting band in terms of not only the size but also the diversity of players/members and the intimate knowledge they have of each other. Experience has shown that eight to fifteen people is also the size of a typical team in organisations today. With cross-functional teams taking centre-stage, what is true for teams in games also hold good for teams in business. Brearley cautions: if a team is working well, its unneccessary to disturb it. Brearley points out more parallels with cross-functional teams: there is a need for a wide range of skills -- batting, bowling, fielding; there is a great range of playing conditions -- seaming wickets, flat wickets, spinning wickets; and this demands great variety from players -- play certain shots in certain conditions and desist in other conditions. The range of playing conditions could be compared to the range of situations a business team is put in by the environment. Other comparisons are obvious.
One more important facet in teams is the need to apply and react to psychological pressure to and from opponents. Brearley declares that the central feature of a leader is to bring out the best in every individual in the team. In the same breath, he admits that ``It is a great deal easier said than done. It is not a science. There are no recipes.'' So, what does one do? Seek and value other members' opinion. ``They are the best source of what turns them on and turns them off. When a leader really listens, people think its worth their while and think.'' In business too, the role of respect, is very important if the leader wants to channel individual expertise effectively.
Brearley also advises captains to facilitate a culture of creative risk and where ``individual differences and eccentricities are admitted and enjoyed.'' He also adds later: ``Tolerance of other people's views would lead to a productive and creative set-up.'' Leaders should also be anti-authoritarian and democratic in their dealings. However, he says that justice ``is not treating everybody the same. Different people require different treatments.'' He also declares:``A leader should genuinely be able to tolerate criticism. Consultations should be genuine. Otherwise, members turn compliant, sycophantic and slightly resentful.'' Men are social beings and enjoy working together. Consequently, an inspired team bonds together and plays above potential. This is important because, as Brearley says, ``We all know more than we think we know.'' He also says that ``We often inhibit our potential by trying too hard'', and exhorts captains to relax and also help team members relax.
He asks captains to delegate and trust other people for which it is important for him to know what the others can do. He cautions captains against ``busying with the details'' as this would allow members to be passive and unwilling to initiate things. ``Even the stars need encouragement and reassurance.'' He cites Geoff Boycott as an example: Although a great player (and one of the best in his time), Boycott needed constant reassurance and hand-holding from his peers. ``Leaders should set an example with their attitudes'', says Brearley, and adds that leaders should be non-manipulative and ``do his own thing his own way.'' That is not to say that a leader should not learn from others but apply their learning in their own style. For instance, he says that Illingworth and the Chappell brothers are his most admired captains but they were all different in their approaches. On the one hand, a leader has to be democratic and on the other, in certain situations, he will also have to give orders and make difficult decisions and be able to say ``Do what I say; We will discuss this later.'' What this means is that he will have to prepare himself for being unpopular from time to time.
Obstructive, destructive and casual behaviour spread like corruption and Brearley says the leader must be prepared to say ``things people didn't want to hear.'' This is because ``People tend to see themselves as rather better than other people see them.'' Brearley also cautions against a culture of heroism, which, at most times, as we see and know, seem to be foolhardy. For instance, A foolhardy effort by a batsman is heroic only when he can pull it off. Brearley cites the example of Napoleon's Russian campaign. Napoleon was known to be extremely indifferent to his people, but through sheer charisma, people would obey him. In contrast, the Russian general against him was known to love his people, and refused to take losses and would mourn for his dead. When the two were standing across a river between Poland and Russia, A french cavalry offiver lead an assault over the frozen river. However the ice gave away and Napoleon suffered a significant loss. The Russians, though, went ahead and successfully thwarted the campaign.
Mike Brearley ended his talk saying ``Leadership is not art. It is more than a skill. It cannot be learned and it is not a mere intellectual acquisition.'' He also pointed out the paradoxes involved in leadership: passion vs detachment; vision vs common sense; democratic vs authoritarian; loving vs tough; straightforward vs crafty; generous vs greedy; and many more. he ended his talk with an Italian proverb: ``If a fish is bad, look at its head.''