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| Ability |
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Context |
| Leadership of an environmentally aware, caring and successful organisation. |
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Anita Roddick is the founder of the Body Shop. From a single shop opening in Brighton in 1976 has sprung hundreds of franchises throughout the world. Anita sees the responsibility of business as being supportive to the community both locally and globally. |
| External Behaviour |
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Emotions (Sustained) |
Going to every part of the organisation - sitting in on meetings, going onto the factory floor, talking to everyone.
Educating and motivating the staff, stretching their abilities and imagination.
Communicating with customers, the community and the media.
Developing a culture of being different.
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Euphorically optimistic, loving, caring, passionate, honest, humanistic, enthusiastic, curious, humourous, magical, fun and breathlessly exciting. |
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Emotions (Transitory) |
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Frustrated, angry, disappointed. |
| Test for values and beliefs |
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Strategy A (test for beliefs & values satisified) |
There is a tangible sense of euphoria.
There is a sense of real energy about the place.
There is a sense of joyful amateurism and fun.
There is a sense of caring, family and community.
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Encourage staff to question the status quo.
Make them feel good about what they are doing and empower them.
Harness the business to ideals. |
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Strategy B (test not quite satisified) |
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Recognise what's wrong and move on to the next idea.
Get departments to brainstorm other departments problems.
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Strategy C (test not at all satisified) |
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Encourage dissonant feedback and devil's advocates.
Tap into the energy of the anarchist and he will be the one to push your company ahead. |
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| Enabling beliefs and values |
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Having euphoric optimism.
Believing with a passion that makes success a reality.
Encouraging followers to overtake. Being a sponge for experience.
Guiding by gut instinct not rules. Communicating with passion.
Loving change.
Having total faith. |
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Beliefs & Values About The Ability |
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| Beliefs and values about the ability |
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Definition of beliefs and values |
Guiding people to the source of their own power.
Creating a commitment to common goals and shared values.
Weaving social and environmental dimensions into the fabric of the company. |
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Involving people in issues greater than retailing for example the environment and the community.
Training for knowledge whilst keeping an eye on the soul.
Educating by sharing passion and grabbing the imagination.
Basing authority on a moral Vision.
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| Core beliefs and values |
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Supporting beliefs |
Desiring to create and control your life is part of the human spirit.
Aspiring to be a true planetary citizen. Having a high need for personal achievement.
Needing to be different. |
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Leadership is the art of managing the future.
Leaders have a different Vision of the world.
People should be guided by criteria based on human values.
Making the business an expression of core values and beliefs and getting the staff and customers to ensure they are adhered to. |
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| Additional Comments |
Environmentally Aware, Caring and Successful Business
Business is the most powerful force for good, for social change and for improvement in the quality of life. Business should thrive on the thrill of the unexpected. Irritation is a source of energy and creativity. Trade not Aid for developing countries. Location is crucial. Pay suppliers promptly. The business should have a strong corporate identity that should not be diluted as the company grows. Business is balancing business and home, risk and caution. Business supplies self-esteem and money for survival. Business has the responsibility to motivate staff by being proud to work for. Be a big company trading like a small company. Trade goodwill as well as products. Growth should never compromise values. Set up a DODGI - Department Of Damned Good Ideas. Good timing is essential. Make story telling part of the organisation's culture. Be prepared to comprise on everything BUT curiosity, values, aesthetics and idealism. Err on the side of eccentricity. Do not advertise. Never have a meeting to discuss profits. Get involved in the protection of the environment and the community. Emphasise what sets you apart from other businesses and constantly re-instate them. Create a network of interlinked ventures. Human energy + money = power. Combine personal and business values. Business should be a personal playground. Business should respond to change and learn to love it. Important qualities are: passion, honesty, optimism, humanism, enthusiasm, curiosity, humour, magic, fun, euphoria, image, design and style.
Conventional Business
No sense of fun. Cannot wholly trust a company solely driven by profit. Worships mediocrity. Loves gigantism. Fears change and pays lip service to it. Often conforms to the hierarchical military or public school model. Many men have not learnt to deal with women.
Women
Women are bonded by shared experiences and rituals, men are not, men need opening gambits. Women are better at dealing with people. For most women the joy of business is not in the bottom line.
Anita
Enjoyed teaching. Enjoys travelling. "I would rather wear out than rust". "I can sell anything to anyone". Has a zest for trading. Admires people who are remarkable and people who follow their beliefs and passion. Loves networking. Needed to be different. Discovered that work could open the doors to her heart. Her Mother told her to "be special". When teaching she believed that no-one should be bored and kids should be proud of themselves. If you are corroded by wealth you are less able to understand peoples problems. "I have never been able to separate Body Shop values from my own personal values". Anonymity is a kind of death.
Success
Measure success by criteria other than money for example: commitment to education, quality of communication, quality of staff care and ability to face social responsibilities. Also: how zany are we? and what is our spiritual profit? Believe with a passion that makes success a reality. You need reserves of energy to overcome problems. Values: have fun, put love where your labour is and go in the opposite direction to everyone else.
Leadership
Leaders can see through the eyes of followers. Leaders want everyone to feel the excitement they feel. Leaders live their message. Leaders are not mainstream they are outsiders. Have a sense of fun. Have a Pandora's box of ideas. Create new rules. Put forward ideas, symbols and metaphors to empower people. Create a style of management that is loosely structured, collaborative, imaginative and improvisory.
Trade not Aid
Work with the people and find out what the truly need. Help them find the right tools and the right approach. Aim to cut out the middle man. Always respect cultures, environments and religions. Use traditional skills and materials. Only use material that are natural and replenishable. Create trade links that will be successful and sustainable. Create projects that are small scale, duplicatable and commit to them long term. Trading rules for developing countries: must be invited in, do not mess with the environment or culture, always reward the primary producers.
Staff
Encourage staff to ask questions to find better working methods, encourage debate. Always be supportive of new ideas this keeps people interested and innovative. Share prosperity with the staff. Involve them in decision making. Listen to staff suggestions. Make heroes of employees who personify what you want to see. Feel free to employ relatives of existing staff. Have the staff write a charter that codifies the core values of the organisation. Always respond to suggestions and acknowledge them. Managers do not always know best. Break the barriers that isolate work from family. Have 2 way assessments staff to managers and managers to staff. Ask your staff "how can we ennoble your life?", and "how can we make your spirit sing?" . Ensure staff that they are not a lone voice. Allow them to grow.
Hiring Staff
Look for people who have energy and curiosity. They should be able to take information and run with it. Be more interested in who they are rather than the qualifications they have for example: what music do they listen to?, what books do they read?, what do they do in their spare time? They should love your business and what you do.
Employ "big" people with big thinking and big ideas. Employ people that will fit in.
Entrepreneurs
Believe that change provides opportunities. Entrepreneurs are dreamers and doers . Entrepreneurs have a vision of something new and they want to see how far it can go. Entrepreneurs find the best way of pushing ideas along. Entrepreneurs use money to oil the wheels of success. Entrepreneurship has three parts, the person, the idea and the resources.
Customers
Explain simply what you are doing, be innocent, approach customers as potential friends. Think of customers as guests. Make them laugh. Always acknowledge customers within 30 seconds of them coming in and talk to them within 3 minutes. Smile, make eye contact and say hello. Offer advise where appropriate. Always thank them and invite them back. Treat all customers as you would like to be treated. Product packaging is irrelevant. Ask the customer what they want and get it.
Communication
Methods of communication are preaching, teaching, inspiring, stimulation and single minded passion. Communicate with simple emotive imagery. Information is power.
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