Invictus: Mandela, Rugby and lessons in leadership

I have just come back from watching the movie "Invictus" which tells the story of Nelson Mandela and the South African rugby team (springbok) during the 1995 world rugby cup that took place in South Africa.
The movie shows the great character of Nelson Mandela, the man, who after 27 years in prison by an apartheid regime, was capable of leading and reconciling divided nation through a peaceful and highly successful transition. There is no point in relating Nelson Mandela's great personality in a blog and that is definitely not my intent here.
However,I found that we can draw many parallels between what Mandela did for the Springbok and what managers and leaders can do to drive and achieve success for their people and their companies. Some of these parallels that we can all learn from are:
1. Vision: In the movie, Mandela proves that to be a visionary is to see and believe in what other don't see or believe. Mandela's vision was that a victory of the South African team will bring the country closer. Despite the dire political, social and economic context, Mandela was capable of seeing what his aides and advisers could not see.
2. Through vision, true leaders create opportunities during crisis: Mandela did not only have the vision; He was also able to turn a difficult situation into a great success as he implemented his vision. He got personally and politically involved to support a low-performing Springbok as he brought them closer to the black majority of the South African people and brought the South African people to support their rugby team.
3. Get personally involved: Mandela did channel his support through the minister of sport or the director of the team, he went to the players and showed them his personal support and commitment to their success. He memorized their names before going to their encounters during a training session.
If we transpose this to a business situation this would mean that CEO's, executives and senior managers should not only know their direct reports. This should, as much as they can, go to the encounter of the players on the ground: engineers, technicians, researchers, line workers, field engineers, sales associates, customer service staff ..etc etc
4. Inspire: Once again, Mandela's interest in the well being of his country's economy and social environment did not make him forget that his people needed inspiration as much they needed jobs, money and healthcare.
He invested precious time and lots of energy to inspire the whole nation and bring them together defying the prevailing racial, political and economical divisions in a country that recently emerged from apartheid.
Once again, in a business/corporate context, this means that while meeting deadlines, delivering quality and profits are important, inspiring the employees of the company is also very important. Through inspiration, leaders can create an environment that unites their employees towards a common good while fulfilling their personal and emotional aspirations.

The movie really great and I encourage you all to go watch it and learn from it.
Ali
20 Dec. 2009

Lunch Break in US and France

Having spent 9 years now working in the US after about 10 years spent studying then working in France I want to talk about the striking differences I have seen between these two countries (cultures) when it comes to "Lunch Time".

In France, la "pause dejeuner" (read lunch break) is sacred time in French culture and way of work. As a result, rarely you would see anyone setting up a work meeting between 11:45 AM and 1:15 pm. It is culturally unacceptable to do so and if someone does schedule such a meeting he can be sure that very few people will attend.

The other trait of lunch time in France is that it is a team building activity. Very often, people working in the same team will leave together for lunch and spend a little more than 1 hour chatting as they enjoy their meal. They'll talk about politics, economy, society, sport and work. In an informal and convivial atmosphere they'll debate many issues and share thoughts and lots of laughing. They'll then go and share an Expresso as they end their discussions and head back to work. I do think that such excercise is good for team building as employees get closer and know each other more and more. Also, very often employees will have lunch with colleagues form other teams and departments thus making lunch room (la cantine) a place to exchange important communication messages between teams, such communication is essnetial in keeping
different teams aware of what is going on within the company. These "mini town-hall" meetings occur more frequently and less formally in France and are quite helpful in strengthening the work relationship between individuals in different teams.

In the US, lunch break is less formal, more irregular in time and is definitely shorter. Many employees choose to grab a sandwich and a soda at their desk while finishing some work or browing the internet. Few people take time to have a meal at the company's cafeteria and a smaller number go to lunch together.

Between the two ways, my preference goes for the French approach. Not only it is a healthier and more pleasant from a personal perspective, It is also more beneficial for the company as it strengthens the relationship between teams and facilitates the communication process across the oragization.

Reform of US Healthcare system

The debate about the reform of US Healthcare has been going for a long while. Since president Obama took office in Jan'09, one of his priorities was to reform the US healthcare system and rightly so!

There is no doubt that a system which costs 18% of the GDP (twice as much as the utterly expensive French healthcare system), leaves 45 million people un-insured or under-insured and gets the US (the richest country on the planet) to be ranked 37 in quality of care is in deep trouble and should have been reformed long time ago.

The reform of healthcare is a multi-faceted issue that has to be examined from an economic, social and political perspectives. There are many stakeholders with conflicting needs and motivations. This small essai does not pretend to address the complexity of the problem! It only tries offer a different perspective to look and analyze the problem.

The critical question that needs to be answered by the American people is the following: "Is healthcare a merchandise or a right"? In other words, can healthcare be treated as a car or
an ipod or a computer where you can have it if you can afford paying its price? Or is healthcare
a right in which case people can have it every time they need it regardless of their capacity
to afford its price?
The prevailing opinion in the US Today is that healtcare is more of a merchandise. Hospitals, clinics, medical institutions and insurance companies are all in the business of healthcare to
make money and generate profits.
If we look in Canada and most European countries, healthcare is considered more as a right to citizens and residents. Even in the United Kingdom, it is the government who manages healthcare through the National Health Service. While differences do exist between the healthcare systems in these countries, they share common aspects: The government is one provider of healthcare (and in most cases a "significant" provider) and the system covers almost
all citizens and residents of that country (universal healthcare).

The reform of US healthcare system should start by operating a gradual shift in the "classification" of healthcare from a merchandise that can also be offered to those who can afford it to a right to those who need it.

As that shift is taking place, economical and financial aspects of the reform shall also be addressed. There seems to be a consensus that the reform will in the mid/long term provide
substantial savings to the federal government while expanding coverage to more than 95% of
US population.
The reform shall also contain provisions to simplify and streamline the way the delivery, the processing, the billing and reimbursment of healthcare are managed. A significant waste exists today that is costing hundreds of billion of dollars (about $400 bn in 2004) without adding value.

The reform of US healthcare system is a past due one and is needed for economic, financial, social, political and human reasons.

Amazon.com - Great Customer Service

In Today's age of eCommerce and Internet purchasing many of us buy their books, cell phones, electronic gadgets on the Internet. Such transactions are not trivial as the buyer does not see the physical good he is purchasing, does not the seller and on the top of that, he (the buyer) has to enter his precious and unique credit card number to complete the transaction. In many instances the product might arrived damaged, different from what the seller has claimed ..etc etc
As a result, customers perception of the eCommerce company and the confidence they might have in it is critical for the survival and profitability of that company.
In that regard I want to share a few thoughts about interactions I have had with Amazon that really show how the company does really care about its customers and does every thing (I mean every thing) to ensure 99.99999% customer satisfaction.
Let's start at the beginning, say you have an issue that requires talking live to a customer service agent. In other companys you would have to call that 1-800 number, navigate through the maze of selections and options to find that magic number that will transfer you to cusomer service agent. Likely you will have to wait a few minutes before some one picks up and talks to you. Not at Amazon, all you have to do is enter your phone number and they will call you. A real person will call you right away to listen and see how he or she can help you.
The other great thing about Amazon is their product guarantee. Whether you purchased the product from Amazon directly or from a seller listed on their site, Don't worry, Be happy. Recently, I purchased a battery for my personal laptop from a seller listed on Amazon. The battery arrived but was not compatible with my laptop so I returned it to the seller and asked for a refund. For about 1 month I was having back and forth emails with the seller inquiering about the refund and the answer came the same every time, the check will be mailed to you tomorrow. Needless to say, the refund check never showed up, so I called Amazon customer service (ooh actually they called me) and in 2 minutes I explained the situation to the lady on the other line. Once done, I received an email with details on my claim and a targeted closure date by which I should received my refund. One week later I received my refund (including what I paid for shipping and handling). Isn't that great?
In another instance, I ordered a new book from Amazon. Although the shipped book was new, it had a few damages (during shipping I think) on the corners of the hard cover. I had Amazon customer service calling me (after I entered the phone number to be reached at) and explained what happenned. The lady apologized for the damaged item and offered a 20% discount on the item right away If I can keep the book. Otherwise, she could send another book right away and send me a pre-paid package to send the book I already have.