Peter Holmes a Court – on Business Ethics and Leadership

Peter Holmes a Court – on Business Ethics and Leadership

Businessman Peter Holmes a Court spoke to a packed room at the Edmund Rice Centre Ethics in Business Forum in August 2008. I was privileged to attend and take some rough notes.

Holmes a Court related the woes of the world economy to an over-supply of Alpha leaders at the top of organisations. The Alpha leader is the CEO [leader] who says “I know the answer – follow me”. Such leaders have a fear of losing. A dreaded fear of ruin. It’s the fear factor that causes such CEOs to keep the market up when it needs to go down as part of a natural cycle. The result of such fear is talking up the market and gross manipulation that led to the sub-prime crisis in the USA and worldwide markets.

The Beta CEO [leader] on the other hand works on the premise that the answer lies within organisation and encompasses factors such as protection, regulation and risk, diligence, energy and regular strategy.

The Alpha leader “knows” what to do whether in parenting, community service or leading a corporation. The risk for the Alpha leader is getting it wrong. In which case the Alpha leader will find someone to “blame”, a scapegoat or other way out.

The Beta leader believes that it is very hard to beat the market. Things naturally go in cycles. By managing risk, the beta leader moves with the ebbs and flows to successfully manage the organisation. Beta parenting was also used as an example by Holmes a Court.

For me the speech provided many insights not only in leadership but in the area of group facilitation. In practice there are alpha facilitators who “control the pen” which means that all content goes through them. Alpha facilitators keep tight control of the group structure using ‘U’ shape, classroom and large table configurations. They like the focus to be on them and having complete control of the process. The risk of alpha facilitation is that people don’t tell the truth and as a result no change happens.

On the other hand, Beta facilitators makes sure that “everyone has a pen”. In beta facilitation the structure is more fluid utilizing circles and café style small groups. A Beta facilitator prepares well and manages the risk to ensure that powerful insights are possible.

http://www.erc.org.au/goodbusiness/page.php?pg=0803incoming0#1