Irish rugby coach says leadership not the role of any one person

Companies and people should strive for value rather than success, and success can be achieved by selling value, Irish rugby coach Joe Schmidt said yesterday.

Addressing the IMI National Management Conference in Dublin, Mr Schmidt said Albert Einstein had it right when he said strive not to be a success but rather to be of value.

“Success is so fickle in the sporting world. It can be dependent on the quality of the opposing team or the conditions. To be of value is pivotal to success in any environment.”

Mr Schmidt drew applause and laughter from the business leaders in attendance, telling them he accidentally hit Taoiseach Enda Kenny in the face with a rugby ball earlier in the day.

He said businesses should not be focussed on the start or finish lines, but the process of getting from one place to the next.

“Instead of worrying about getting a result you must be more concerned about what you’re doing in the immediate moment.”

He said added that leadership was a shared responsibility among an entire group and not the job of any one person.

“There is not one leader. There might be one person who makes a decision but everyone leads.”

Strategies
Irish Management Institute chief executive Dr Simon Boucher told the conference that organisations need proper talent management strategies to build business prosperity and grow.

“Integral to this is business and organisations making better use of their people.”

He said business leaders need to take every opportunity to innovate and create new forms of value for current and future customers.

“The executives that we work with are adamant: the recession has made the world a painfully more competitive place. Any organisation that believes its work is done by surviving until now, and waiting for the rising tide to float their boat, will be bitterly disappointed.”

Eircom chief executive Herb Hribar said companies across Ireland, regardless of their size are finding it a challenge to do business in the current environment: "Change is not easy, but in business it is necessary. No individual or company can afford to stand still."

Separately, a survey published by Ibec this morning showed that companies are increasingly focussing on innovation as a way to improve organisation performance, with 80 per cent of companies having initiatives in place to encourage innovation.

Speaking yesterday in advance of today’s Ibec HR Leadership Summit, Ibec chief executive Danny McCoy said it is vital that the budget doesn’t set back the jobs recovery by taking more money from consumers or increasing employment costs.