Lessons in Leadership – Flash, Bang, Wallop goes Kodak

Steve Jobs by Walter Issacson

 

What is good leadership?

 

Based on more than forty interviews with the late Steve Jobs, conducted over two years, as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors and colleagues, this book chronicles the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and a ferocious drive revolutionised six industries: personal computers; animated movies; music; phones; tablet computing and digital publishing.

At a time when societies around the world are trying to build digital-age economies, Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness and applied imagination. He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology, so he built a company where heaps of imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering.

He could drive those people around him to fury and despair, but his personality and products were interrelated, just as Apple’s hardware and software tended to be. As a leader he was charismatic and energetic, pushing people beyond the limits of what they believed they could accomplish and producing remarkable work as a result.

To save you hours reading the book – all 630 pages – here is a fantastic video outlining the full story and giving you useful ‘golden nuggets’ to help you improve your entrepreneurial leadership skills.

 

 The Steve Jobs Story Video – click to watch via Readitforme

 

If you like this post, subscribe here or leave a comment below. Or you may want your own personal copy of the book for the full low-down.  Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography

Leadership vs Management – Analysis

The Role Of Management Through The Century

The traditional role of a manager is primarily to ‘control’ their subordinates.  The success of a managed project depends upon several factors listed below:

• Motivation of staff
• Resources (financial and non-financial) allocated to the task
• Expertise and competence of the staff
• Productivity and efficiency
• Soundness of project plan
• Uncontrollable external factors

Highlighted in bold are those factors that most managers are charged with control over. Often budgeting and strategic planning for an operation is completed at a higher level of management, and thus isn’t always a controllable factor.

In the Fordism era, managers were charged with maximising efficiency of the large staff numbers in manufacturing plants, and the Ford management style was created. Under this theory, staff were given a minimum number of separate tasks and were shown precisely how to do each job so they became an expert in a tiny area. This encouraged operational efficiency, and was used alongside financial incentives to motivate employees to work.

As times have changed, Fordism now appears out-dated. Management experts in the modern day recommend soft (difficult-to-measure) goals alongside the obvious desire to maximise profits. Such ‘soft’ goals could include the following:

• High employee retention rates
• Increased employee participation
• Fundraising for charities
• Reducing the environmental impact of business activities
• Focusing on training top quality individuals

Such goals cannot be achieved with the same old fashioned management styles that dominated factories in the 1920′s, and hence several new theories have been put forward that now better reflect the way society expects managers to behave.

The Role Of Leadership Through The Century

While the role of managers has undoubtedly been made far more complex throughout the last century, the role of the business leader has stayed remarkably similar. This is in part due to the fact that while businesses have been intensely competing for low-level staff as unemployment has hit all-time lows during the 1900′s, demand for top level jobs has remained unsurprisingly solid. This has meant that while businesses have had to adapt and offer a more attractive work environment for new employees, the treatment of business leaders and senior management has hardly changed at all. Boardrooms have always been tense places.

The role of a leader is to create the top level organisational strategies and coordinate senior management in their efforts to implement the companies long term plan. As a figurehead, leaders also are required to liaise with the press and employees alike – promoting their company to both their customers and workers.

Leadership Vs Management

The leadership management comparison can be split into several areas of difference.

1. Leadership Style

Leaders use a transformational or democratic leadership style. This involves inspiring and empowering collegues, whereas managers tend to lean towards an autocratic managing style which allows them to retain most of the authority and decision making power in a business unit. In short, a leader allows people to make effective decisions, and managers attempt to make them.

2. Time focus

While it can be observed that especially among Fortune 500 companies, a CEO has a shorter expected lifespan than general manager at company, leaders still embrace a more long term time horizon. In comparison, managers are given tight targets to meet each quarter which causes them to live in a short term perspective. This can be detrimental to organisational goals but is deemed to carry more benefits than drawbacks in the current economic climate.

3. Nature of relationship with colleagues

It is said that managers have subordinates, while leaders have followers. What this displays is that people who obey managers act like unwilling tools at their disposal, whereas followers of leaders are willing and intrinsically motivated.

4. Risk Adversity

Leaders; especially entrepreneurial leaders, enjoy risk. Risk brings rewards if approached in a successful way. However for a manager, the upsides of accepting risk are minimal. A flat salary or limited bonus package ensures that managers will be more worried about losing their job or respect, than they would appreciate the limited benefits of succeeding. A manager certainly wishes for a more comfortable job than an true leader.

You might want to take a look at this fantastic power-point presentation by Linked2Leadership highlighting many examples of the differences between leadership and management. Click here.

If you LIKE this article comment below or click here to join our community for free.

How Should Leaders Respond to Litigation?

The occurrence of an accident in the work place is something that can send managers into a panic. 50 years ago, the concern would have been solely for the health and well-being of the employee. Whilst it would be wrong to infer that managers of today are cold or disconnected – I’m sure they would all agree that they would also feel concern for the impact on the finances of the company – through litigation.

For better or for worse, the rise of valid claim for personal injury in the UK is slowly changing the attitudes of leaders. Previously, health and safety was a term only used in very dangerous work places such as mines, oil rigs, fishing ships, logging yards and nuclear plants. Now, even the tamest of suburban office spaces will have a comprehensive ‘HSE’ plan implemented by a responsible individual.

Some may scoff at such procedure, but I actually see it as laudable activity. Nobody can argue that having first aid kits and trained personnel on site is going to have a negative effect on employee health, so I view it as a step in the right direction.

Many do not share my view, and see the regulations as ‘red tape’. Indeed, the regulations force many businesses, small or large, to incur training and wage costs that they otherwise wouldn’t have. There is however an interesting point to be made; that the more a company spends on H&S, the less they will expect to spend on litigation claims brought by employees. Law firm Moore Blatch predicts that workplace injuries will rise due to the Health & Safety executive announcing they will be reducing the number of inspections to employers.

I guess it will always be difficult to draw the line between lives saved, and costs saved.

Leaders have had little choice but adopt the regulations imposed by legislation, so the end product doesn’t necessarily reflect the enthusiasm of the tone at the top. Never the less, it is easy to spot when management are fully behind the HSE initiative.

As a manager or leader, or simply as an employee, leave a comment below to tell us whether you support Health & Safety initiatives being implemented in your workplace. If you’re from outside the UK, why don’t you share the current situation on HSE in your country and whether you approve of it.

 

 

Leadership Traits

Leadership traits are the characteristics that leaders possess that enable them to lead effectively. I’m going to run down 20 of the traits I believe are most important, it’ll be interesting to see how many you feel you already have, and which ones you’re still working on. Leave a comment below to let me know.

The Top Leadership Traits

20. Patience – A good leader needs to show their employees that they’re willing to give them as much time as necessary to see them perform. A manager who roughly attaches arbitary deadlines onto tasks and aggressively chases employees up will only antognise and stress their workforce. Good leadership management is about waiting as well as acting.

19. Continuous Development – Smart people have always sought out useful leadership books and learning material that will help them along the path to happiness and leadership. Most these days tend to be rather disappointing, but one brilliant idea that has recently captured my attention is The Ultimate Leadership Guide which contains all the core teachings of 30 top leadership books,  which is simply an essential ‘crash course’ in the principles you need to know to further your career and even find happiness in other areas of your life!

18. Graft – A brilliant leadership trait is the trait of grafting. There’s a simple rule that most good leaders follow – always do the nastiest job yourself. While being able to delegate dire tasks to others is one of the perks of management, t is important that employees never actually question your dedication to work hard. By simply doing the famously nasty job yourself each year, your staff will never have a doubt over whether it’s fair you have the ability to delegate menial work.

17. Fairness/Equity - Fairness is one of the key criteria by which employees measure their superiors.Quite simply, if you don’t behave in an equitable manner at all times, you will lead no more than a rabble of reluctant workers, and will never gain their respect. Fairness is one of Herzberg’s ‘hygeine’ factors from his popular leadership theory. This means that if you are fair, employees will not be inherently motivated, but merely content. If however you act unfairly and break the rules, employees will be demotivated. Very little upside if you possess this trait but large potential negative effects on motivation if you lack it. Its a tough world, but the message is clear.

16. Modesty - An important note to remember is that in every team you lead, some will be envious of your job or position. These people are also often the most active, amibitious and productive members of the group, so it’s extremely important that you keep them onside. By being modest and humble, you minimise the potential for jealousy within the team, and inspire warmth and affection instead.

15. Appreciates Quality - Simple put, a good leader recognises that quality is the most important gauge of the work done. Always. A culture that cares little for quality will demotivate employees and reduce job satisfaction. Staff must be able to feel good about their work and their skills.

14. Sense of Humour - A practical reality for most leaders is that you’ll spend an awful lot of time in meetings or speaking in public. A good sense of humour helps to put across the message you want to convey more effectively and help smooth over awkward or tense moments in board meetings etc.

13. Wide Outlook – A good leadership trait is to be able to take a step back and take a look at the big picture. This is really one the main purpose of a leader, but so many managers instead choose to get bogged down in small decisions that should really be taken care of by someone else. While everyone is cleaning the deck and preparing the sails, somebody has to be looking where the ship is going.

12. Adaptability and Flexibility - A clear fact in life is that many things you enjoy will change, and many things you despise will quickly improve. As a leader, you must be able to cope with negative change, and also be able to quickly grab opportunities as soon as they appear. Less hesitation, and more asking the question “Ok, so how can I make the best of this situation”.

11. Human Understanding – A leader that can understand their employees and really be able to emphasis with the workforce or team as a whole will ultimately be a far more effective leader. Only by being able to put yourself in the shoes of your employees will you be able to make decisions that will enthuse and motivate your staff.

10. Clarity - Job roles and positions within companies can sometimes be at best – a complete mess. Business leadership is about separately and clearly identifying those roles and responsibilities and ensure that everyone knows what they’re supposed to be doing.

9. Charisma – The skill of oratory has been perfectly demonstrated recently by Barrack Obama’s surge in popularity en route to the white house, and his continued popularity now that he has gained office. The ability to speak confidently and with meaning is a rare one, and carries much merit for those few who posess it. Increased influence and persuasion is just one of the positive benefits of being a leader with charisma.

8. Ability to Delegate – As I mentioned earlier, delegation is one of the perks of being promoted to a leadership position. Why is it then that so many leaders fail to delegate enough? Why do they continue to ‘meddle’ in small, trivial matters, and refuse to give subordinates the real responsibility and confidence to be able to make their own decisions? The answer is because it’s alot harder than you’d think to be able to properly delegate control to someone else. Especially the control over a job you’ve been doing yourself for many years. By undermining your subordinate’s ability to make decisions independently, you’re being a poor leader. That’s why the ability to delegate is one of my top 20 traits.

7. Calmness – Calmness is a leadership trait that again we could do with learning from President Obama. One of the most common pieces of praise I hear from President Obama is how he has stayed so calm under pressure. With the recession, middle east conflict and recent fiascos such as Swine Flu, Piracy and torture memos – it has sincerely impressed many that this man has been able to keep his composure and present a solid front. Any leader that can achieve this will instantly earn respect.

6. Ability to Listen – The fantastic leaders thorough history were also good listeners. Drawing upon the expertise and ideas of all those around you will improve your decision making. It follows that leaders who listen well simply make better decisions.

5. Confidence – Confidence flows through a team just like cheerfulness or a hardworking attitude. If the leader shows hesistation, self-doubt, or a lack of amibition, it will infect the rest of the team. Enthusiastically following an unconfident will really test employees attitude, and this is something you don’t want to be doing. You want to make it as easy as possible for people to enthusiastically follow your lead.

4. Consistency – This is a similar point to fairness. If you fail to be consistent with your attitude, decisions or behaviour, you will be causing unrest in your team.

3. Approachability & Friendliness – While many managers dream of being a superior and ‘feared’ leader, the most effective type of leader is an approachable one. A leader who an any employee can feel like they could have a conversation with will be able to hear about what the quiet dissenters have to say, or what the ‘real’ results of their latest intiative was.

2. Passion and Motivation – It goes without saying that a leadership trait that will be admired is your passion for what you do. Whatever your role, people will respect the fact that you take pride in your work, you enjoy it, and that you will therefore try your hardest to succeed.Passion and motivation will always trump formal leadership training or leadership coaching.

1. Trustworthiness -Ethics and trust has to come right at the top of the most important leadership traits for one simple reason. Nobody will obey, follow, or be inspired by someone they distrust. A good reputation, likeability and respect will be absolutely impossible if you’re labelled as a liar. Regardless of their own mal-practises, people will never be able to associate with an untrustworthy character.

Take Control of your Business today: Save Energy and Money

The following is a guest post kindly provided by Katy Robinson.

Managers and business proprietors take note: energy bills are set to increase every quarter for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, there is no escaping the rising cost of energy. Even if suppliers are forced to lower tariffs, wholesale energy prices will continue to rise amid economic uncertainty, global unrest and rapidly depleting fossil fuel reserves. It is worth utilising the services of specialists such as uSwitchforbusiness to find the cheapest tariffs, but even these are becoming unaffordable. In order to save money on energy bills, companies must implement change at every level.

The importance of reducing energy usage should be understood by all managers and business owners, many of whom would not have been interested in such matters until recently. Such is the cost of energy at the moment that firms have no choice but to treat energy conservation and efficiency as matters of great priority.

The two main areas in which the average business uses energy are heating and lighting. While both are obviously integral to the everyday running of operations, both tend to be over-used by firms. In order to reduce spending on business energy, it is vitally important that managers and business owners tackle the problem of space heating and lighting.

Fortunately, simple changes can dramatically reduce the amount of energy that is wasted on heating. The most basic improvement of all also happens to be the least costly. In fact, it costs nothing. Turning down the thermostat by just one degree, barely enough to cause even the most sensitive of staff to notice the change, can save up to 8 per cent on energy bills. If an office is particularly warm, even greater savings can be made by turning down the thermostat another degree or two.

Controlling the temperature of an office is made easier by ensuring that the building is adequately insulated. Cavity walls, lofts and ceilings should be fitted with thick insulation, while windows should be double or triple glazed to further reduce heat loss. As less heat is able to escape the building, commensurately less energy is required to maintain a comfortable temperature.

Managers and business owners might also wish to replace old, energy inefficient boilers with the latest condensing models, a number of which generate electricity from waste energy. Upgrading the boiler can reduce energy bills by around 15 per cent on average, depending on the age, make and model of the old boiler and various other factors.

In terms of lighting, it is also possible to introduce significant change on a budget. Replacing old bulbs with LED, induction or T5 fluorescent lighting can greatly improve energy efficiency. The best results can be observed by installing motion sensors to control the lights, ensuring that only those rooms or work spaces actually in use are illuminated.

Show Leadership in Business

Whether you use leadership to help you in your day to day life or in your business, there are many different types of leadership and they can help you in different scenarios.

Today I thought I’d focus on how leadership can help you if you’re a small business owner.

Always know the competition

If you own a small business in a competitive market, then you should always know what your competition is up to. If you know what your competition is up to then you can plan and act accordingly.

For example, if you find out that your competition has just launched a special offer on their products, you can react and launch a special offer of your own.

Lead by being social

Social has become a massive part of what every business does and social has opened doors to a massive opportunity for businesses to engage with their customers, in a way that wasn’t previously possible.

When you speak to your customers via any social media platforms, you should always try to engage in conversation with them. If you simply just pitch products they’ll treat it more like spam, even if you are trying to help.

You can also follow the competition via the social networks so see how they are engaging, more and more businesses are starting to do this so make sure you take advantage.

One important thing to remember about using social networks is that the majority are completely free to use, so instead of paying for ads you could try to make better use of your money by investing some time in social.

Lead with your finances

Running a small business can be extremely difficult and your finances should always be second nature to you, but for some people that’s not always the case.

People get confused when they look at accounts and detailed spreadsheets but unless you can afford an accountant then you’ll have to educate yourself.

Overspending on products or not paying a supplier because of logistical error can seriously harm business relationships that can be vitally important to businesses survival.

If you do struggle with working out or understanding financial aspects of your business, you should ask someone you know with experience, and you shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help. Leaders know when to lead but they also know when to take a backwards step in order to improve.

Lead by example

If you have a small business you should always lead as you want your employees to follow.  If you set a good example to follow it will instil confidence in your employees and they will be happy to follow you.

On the other hand if you set a bad example for your employees and they don’t agree with what you do, it can cause some serious problems. As a result, your employees may become despondent and as we all know, unmotivated employees don’t work as hard as they would if they were happy.

This article was written by Andreas Nicolaides from moneysupermarket.com.

Leading Change in Difficult times: time to think afresh?

The events in world markets over July and August have dashed hopes for many in the world of business for a quick end to these recessionary times. Companies in every sector, public, private, big and small are having to rethink costs and efficiencies.

The big danger is a return to the slash and burn tactics characteristic of earlier recessions. Indeed if one were to believe the pronouncements of many public sector institutions post the comprehensive spending review, the approach is becoming increasingly commonplace.

However well intentioned, this arbitrary technique will no doubt achieve its intended cost savings but almost inevitably will be accompanied by long term disruption and an attendant damage to morale and motivation. Not the ideal recipe for recovery.

Is there an alternative to this painful process? Sadly no-one can say for sure as it really depends on the degree of difficulty and the timeframe/urgency facing the organisation. However that should not excuse management from at least looking at other options.

At Leyland Trucks in the late eighties/early nineties it was evident that years of traditional slash and burn had left their mark on the company. A new transformational leadership route was pioneered and termed Team Enterprise. Today this would be regarded as a fusion of best practice employee engagement alongside increasingly sophisticated continuous improvement approaches.

Despite its evident simplicity, the technique served Leyland well, reversing the travails of almost two decades. With little in the way of investment, over £10m a year was shaved off operating costs within eighteen months alongside step changes in productivity, efficiency and quality in all aspects of business performance. Within three years it attained best in Europe status.. Reassuringly the company has continued to practice the technique to world class performance levels, as its recent claim (August 2011) to be only the third UK company to win the prestigious Shingo bronze medal demonstrates.

The transferability of the technique has been repeatedly proven over the years with scores of organisations as diverse as education (European EFQM winner Runshaw College), health (award winning Blackpool Victoria Hospital) and the bakery industry (retail brand giants Warburton’s).

Part of the approach has been given a welcome fillip with the publication in 2009 of the Macleod report on employee engagement. Here the authors David Macleod and Nicky Clarke dismissed concerns that this was some Human Resources driven flavour of the month and instead revealed it to be a genuinely potent tool in the fight to achieve competitiveness. Since then David and Nicky have worked tirelessly to get UK Limited to adopt the practice, endorsed by Prime Minister Cameron no less.

One of its big problems is that everybody thinks they know instinctively what employee engagement is all about. For most it is all about motherhood and apple pie, something nice and fluffy which lies on the periphery of managerial duties. Even a cursory examination of the companies named above would reveal this to be grossly inaccurate. In reality, many of those in charge of companies believe they know all about engaging employees but very few actually get it. Sadly if often takes a Eureka moment of almost Damascene proportions before the penny drops.

The secret to effective employee engagement seems to be the capability in implementing a step change in the perceived management paradigm. Note the emphasis on perception; it is not enough to change. The workforce has to see it, and believe it.

At Leyland a comprehensive transformational leadership programme was put in place to ensure that the shift in management behaviour was real and comprehensive. This meant working simultaneously on all levels of management with the executive team visibly leading the charge. The elements of that change look relatively straightforward:

-a complete review of all vehicles of communication to ensure the management message was delivered in a form which best suited the targeted audience. This included content, delivery and upward flow.

-the use of simple subordinate appraisal techniques to allow managers at all levels to self-develop

-coaching and mentoring where appropriate

-extensive use of simple recognition systems

The emphasis from day one was on simplicity and transparency. This was vital. Finding the key to motivating and engaging employees on a grand scale is not easy and over complicating the machinery can easily obscure the underlying objectives.

But simple doesn’t mean easy. The greatest challenge was for those in positions of authority to realise and acknowledge their weaknesses and to admit that, in all probability, they themselves had contributed to the chronic dysfunctionality which surrounded them.

And therein lies the great weakness of employee engagement. It has to start and continue from the top. Many at Board level find this too uncomfortable or indigestible. According the process is delegated to perhaps HR or the Quality department where it will eventually and invariably fail.

For those who go down this path and accept responsibility and accountability, the rewards can be enormous, even transformational. Concerns about continuous improvement can also be set aside. There is no need for great sophistication initially. Simply prioritise basic Kaizen tools, particularly those suitable for simple analysis such as process mapping, Pareto, Fishbone diagrams and so on. The Crosby or Six Sigma techniques can follow on down stream at a much later date if so desired. The key initially is to get a significant proportion of the workforce working in small, time based and facilitated focus groups.

The other great fallacy about this approach to improving performance is that it is best done in kinder times, not the turmoil that we are currently facing. In fact the reverse is true. Employees, like managers, read the papers. They know what is going on. It is far better to involve them in the above manner in responding to external challenges than to simply launch painful management initiatives without any real sense of ownership. The Burning Bridge can often be your best asset.

For those who doubt the power of team enterprise, or employee engagement as it is more commonly described nowadays, I recommend reading the Macleod report. There is another way for you and somewhere in those pages lies a solution.

Professor John J Oliver OBE, an Ambassador for the Chartered Management Institute.

When Corruption is King

Over the last 12 months FIFA, football’s governing body, has come under intense scrutiny following allegations of corruption against some of it’s highest profile members, including the president and the leaders of two of it’s confederations.

The three names that cropped up time and again during this period were those of Sepp Blatter, the FIFA president, Jack Warner, Blatter’s former vice president at FIFA and Mohammed bin Hamman, the former president of the Asian Football Conferderation.

Earlier this year, both Warner and bin Hamman were suspended from their positions at FIFA whilst an investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption were carried out by FIFA’s ethics committee.

The investigations into Warner’s conduct were eventually dropped after he agreed to resign from his post and he was effectively absolved of any wrong-doing as the ethics committee concluded that: “As a consequence of Mr Warner’s self-determined resignation, all ethics committee procedures against him have been closed and the presumption of innocence is maintained.”

Mohammed bin Hamman, on the other hand, was not given the chance to resign with his reputation intact and he was subsequently banned for life from all football activities after the ethics committee found that his actions violated FIFA rules.

However, Sepp Blatter felt no recriminations as the allegations that he knew of culture of bribery within his organisation but failed to do anything about it were never investigated due to a lack of supporting evidence.

Furthermore, Mohammed bin Hamman’s withdrawal from the presidential race and the resignation of Jack Warner meant that Blatter ran unopposed for a fourth term as FIFA president.

This left a sour taste in the mouths of many in the football world, most notably the English FA who felt that their bid had been unfairly dismissed on Blatter’s behest due to the fact that the BBC aired a programme on the alleged corruption within FIFA just days before the final votes were cast.

This, coupled with the fact that Qatar, a country with no current footballing infrastructure but with money to burn (literally, as it is oil rich), led to many questioning FIFA’s World Cup bidding and voting process, which, in turn led to the investigations into the allegations of corruption.

The following weeks and months saw countless allegations and counter allegations being made by, to and about all of protagonists involved in this unsavoury episode as each of them tried to dig their way out of the mess or at least limit the amount of mud that would stick.

The eventual outcome shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone as the accepted wisdom was Blatter had worked himself into a position whereby he had become something of an untouchable at FIFA, much in the same way his predecessor Joao Havelange had.

However, what did come as a surprise (well it came as a surprise to me anyway!) was the level of shock at the fact that there appeared to be a culture of corruption in football’s corridors of power.

Allegations of corruption within governing bodies and large organisations are nothing new and generally get unearthed through investigative journalism, the testimony of whistleblowers, good old fashioned conspiracy theories or a combination of the three. This is certainly the case with FIFA where the allegations of corruption go back at least as far as 1974 when the Brazilian Joao Havelange took over from England’s Stanley Rous as head of football’s governing body.

In his excellent book How They Stole the Game David Yallop reveals how a culture of corruption was incumbent in FIFA long before Sepp Blatter took office as it reveals how Joao Havelange siphoned off funds from the Federation of Brazilian Sport (CBD), as well as from one of his own companies, to pay FIFA delegates for votes that would assure him the position of FIFA president.

Yallop claims that Havelange used this money for first class travel, lodgings and hospitality for himself and the delegates that had promised to vote for him and that during the 16 years that he controlled the CBD at least $6.6 million went unaccounted for.

This led to an enquiry being conducted by the Brazilian government but, rather than expose the corruption that was rife, the authorities opted to bail out the CBD, partly to save face and partly to avoid further questions being asked of Havelange’s political connections.

And it appears that where Havelange led FIFA delegates would follow, with the 1982 World Cup in Spain highlighting the extent of the greed. During that tournament ‘The bill for bringing the FIFA officials to Spain for World Cup 82 was over $3 million – more than it cost to transport and accommodate the twenty four teams’ (p.153 – How They Stole the Game).

It appears that this culture of corruption has carried over into the current regime as Yallop claims that in order to win the FIFA presidency in 1998 people acting on behalf of Sepp Blatter greased the palms of around 20 delegates, mainly from African Nations, to the tune $50,000 a man.

History was then seen to repeat itself as, just as Havelange had done 24 years earlier during his presidential campaign, Blatter was awarded the presidency. And this was in spite of the fact that UEFA’s Lennart Johansson was the clear frontrunner for the position having spent four years canvassing for votes as opposed to the four months that Blatter had been in the running for the presidency!

It is alleged that the ‘buying’ of the Asian and African votes were enough to swing the vote in Blatter’s favour although the man himself has done enough to distance himself from the allegations and he continues to vehemently deny any knowledge of such activities.

However, both the Asian and African confederations are reaping the benefits of Blatter’s presidency with the African Nations’ Cup being held every two years, despite the standard for such tournaments being every four years and the inconvenience it causes to European clubs who employ a large number of African players.

In addition, as mentioned earlier, Qatar were awarded the 2022 World Cup in spite of the fact that they currently have no infrastructure in place for the sport and it would be wholly impractical, if not dangerous, to play such a tournament in the searing desert heat.

Blatter’s argument that he wants to send the World Cup to ‘new territories’ does not even stand up to scrutiny in this instance as Australia were one of the countries that were also in the running for the 2022 World Cup.  Like Qatar, Australia is also a ‘new territory’ but it is one that is much better suited to hosting such a competition having hosted arguably the best Olympics of modern times (Sydney 2000) as well as having fledgling national league and a national side that has qualified for the last two World Cup tournaments.

You can draw your own conclusions from the above but what appears to be clear is that once a culture of corruption becomes entrenched, it is something that is passed on from one leader to the next.

The world is blinded when corruption is king.

 

Article written by Les Roberts, freelance journalist and writer for moneysupermarket.com

‘Junior’ Steps Towards Gender Pay Equality

New figures released today by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) show that female executives are earning as much as their male counterparts for the first time since its records began, albeit only at junior executive level. Earning an average salary of £21,969, female junior executives in the UK are currently being paid marginally more (£602) than male executives at the same level, whose average salary is £21,367.

The rest of the report however makes for rather standard reading, with figures showing that the pay gap at senior levels has actually widened since the last study. I think these findings demonstrate two forces in the current recruitment market. Firstly, that graduation recruitment is being carried out in a very structured fashion with equal opportunity being at the heart of the process for the large recruiters. Refreshingly, we can see that this emphasis is having the desired effect. This has lead to the admirable equality at what they call the ‘junior executive’ level, which I interpret to be graduate positions.

Yet alas, we find again that there are deeply rooted issues present in senior recruitment that simply can’t be changed with ‘good policy’. Lets remind ourselves that the natural tendency for women to have children in their 20s and 30s will always ensure that the average career progression of women will be less than that of men. This is an acceptable fact of life. However given that this study compares the pay of men and women in similar positions, we are not observing this particular issue at all. What therefore remains is a sharp reflection reminding us of the glass ceiling between the intake of companies and their ultimate management team.

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