Management lessons from Euro 2004 - Part 3
Greece - Spain 1 : 1
The Greece did it again, upsetting another champion, this time Spain. Well, I wrote already that it is a fresh and disruptive force that always can uproot incumbents - but that often, an incumbent is also able to battle back. So, may be Greece was like the many dot.coms in the late 1990s in the US, of which was said that they would change how markets operate and than, destroy those entrenched. Well, many died - some are still there, like Amazon.com. So, do I compare Greece with Amazon? No, not really, but the point I want to make is that they have a strong leadership in Otto Rehagel, also called King Otto. Way back, in the German Bundesliga, he made Werder Bremen to become great. Before him, the team was battled with fears and frequently threatened to be relegated to second league. He changed to Greece, after Bayern Munich, and still, Bremen is a strong team, were just made champion. Rehagel is thus a Level 5 leader, in the terminology of Jim Collins (From Good to Great), someone, who leaves behind a high performing team, that still succeeds after the CEO left. And Rehagel transformed Greece - it might be a matter of time until they get beaten, but may be, they still have an ace or two up the sleeve.
Russia - Spain 0:1
Italy - Denmark 1 : 1
Totti spitting, and threatened to be out of for a couple of games, the Italians blaming everything but themselves for bad performance. Same with the Russians in the earlier game - they basically blamed the heat. Hey - you are paid a ot of money. And well, this is happening to companies going down the hill. Suddenly, everything is bad, and against them. Competition is unfair, the economy is bad, China too strong, terrorist attacks threaten, there are floods and hurricanes and everything - just not the management or even the CEO. A little while later, the company declines some more and ends up bankrupt or so. Here, this is the classic rule of bad management. Instead of rolling up the sleeves and look, what you can do internally as it is manageable, it is easier to blame outside forces.
Greece - Spain 1 : 1
The Greece did it again, upsetting another champion, this time Spain. Well, I wrote already that it is a fresh and disruptive force that always can uproot incumbents - but that often, an incumbent is also able to battle back. So, may be Greece was like the many dot.coms in the late 1990s in the US, of which was said that they would change how markets operate and than, destroy those entrenched. Well, many died - some are still there, like Amazon.com. So, do I compare Greece with Amazon? No, not really, but the point I want to make is that they have a strong leadership in Otto Rehagel, also called King Otto. Way back, in the German Bundesliga, he made Werder Bremen to become great. Before him, the team was battled with fears and frequently threatened to be relegated to second league. He changed to Greece, after Bayern Munich, and still, Bremen is a strong team, were just made champion. Rehagel is thus a Level 5 leader, in the terminology of Jim Collins (From Good to Great), someone, who leaves behind a high performing team, that still succeeds after the CEO left. And Rehagel transformed Greece - it might be a matter of time until they get beaten, but may be, they still have an ace or two up the sleeve.
Russia - Spain 0:1
Italy - Denmark 1 : 1
Totti spitting, and threatened to be out of for a couple of games, the Italians blaming everything but themselves for bad performance. Same with the Russians in the earlier game - they basically blamed the heat. Hey - you are paid a ot of money. And well, this is happening to companies going down the hill. Suddenly, everything is bad, and against them. Competition is unfair, the economy is bad, China too strong, terrorist attacks threaten, there are floods and hurricanes and everything - just not the management or even the CEO. A little while later, the company declines some more and ends up bankrupt or so. Here, this is the classic rule of bad management. Instead of rolling up the sleeves and look, what you can do internally as it is manageable, it is easier to blame outside forces.
posted by Andreas @ 11:52 am
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