Whilst traveling across Australia en route to the first test in Perth I read Never Surrender, The life of Douglas Jardine by Mark Peel and the recently published book on leadership by the former England Manager Gareth Southgate. Whilst spanning almost 100 years, I wanted to see what they had in common when it came to leadership.
Jardine was an England cricket captain in a vastly different era, an era of gentlemen and players. A man who whilst off duty on tour went shooting tigers! His leadership was more traditional and authoritative, often focusing on aggressive tactics and a strong competitive spirit. Jardine was a winner, but a controversial one.
Southgate, our most successful international manager since Ramsey, was a failure in terms of trophies won. His leadership was characterised by a modern approach, focusing on team cohesion, mental health, and inclusivity.
So, what did I think they shared when it came to leadership?
- Focus on mission and purpose. Do not be swayed by feedback or criticism. Stick to your guns. Stick to your principles.
- Trust your team.
- Listen to your team.
- Plan: do detail analysis of your opposition. Data. Identify strengths and perhaps most importantly the weakness of your competition.
- The loneliness of leadership.
- Both were true patriots.
Both felt the heavy burden of representing their country. In sport success and failure are determined on the field of play. Southgate puts the focus on legacy, what people remember, and whilst the results would not be as he wished, he stresses the importance of role models and values. As someone in the business of people development, his championing of mentoring is commendable.
In contrast Jardine, with his win at all costs approach, won the Ashes but few friends in Australia, or indeed the UK establishment, at the time. However, it is interesting how loyal his key bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce were to him and his strategy.
No doubt times have changed but my take, on reading both books, is that Jardine and Southgate have much in common when it comes to leadership.
Having published our From Human Focused Leadership to And Beyond Leadership paper early this year, I wanted to look at whether what Jardine and Southgate do, in terms of leadership, was related to our findings which identified five traits that define the And Beyond leader.
- We identified ‘Inspire purpose and belonging’ as key leadership trait and for Jardine and Southgate this is at the heart of their leadership models.
- Courageous integrity, values driven leadership are self-evident in both, we think this is about demonstrating humility and accountability.
- Not so sure about upside down thinking and fluidity, which is about redefining hierarchies and fostering adaptability through empowerment and agility. Southgate’s critics focus on his negativity; his defence is that his critics didn’t have the complete picture. Jardine’s leadership of the Bodyline tour could be interpreted as upside down thinking, as it was clearly designed to stop Bradman scoring.
- Holistic and systemic leadership is evident in that both protagonists preached a process that would achieve the desired results.
- Longer term thinking is evident in Southgate’s desired legacy after all he had eight years managing England. Not so Jardine, he was focused on winning a single series. His record of two out of two overseas tours wins reflects on his strategic thinking and leadership in winning Test matches.
I commend both books to my readers, I enjoyed both immensely. Sadly, the match in Perth was not a triumph for the England team.
