Ground Floor: According to a Milward Brown/IMS poll published in last week's Sunday Tribune, Michael O'Leary is considered by 59 per cent of the respondents to be a good role model for Irish business leaders.
And why wouldn't he be? On a business level he has achieved what all business leaders set out to do. He has made his company an instantly recognisable brand and has revolutionised the area of business in which he operates. His competitors fear him and his customers vote with their feet . And, for himself, he has made the requisite fortune. No wonder so many voted for him as an ideal role model.
He doesn't, however, behave like we expect many business leaders to behave - if he has Armani or Louis Copeland suits he keeps them in the wardrobe and sticks with the casual look for the office. He's blunt and forthright and just plain rude from time to time. He can disseminate with the best of them but his generally straight-talking philosophy is simple. The corporate strategy "like Wal-Mart. We pile it high and sell it cheap" is a strategy that has opened up freedom of movement throughout Europe in a way that a million worthy EU cultural programmes never could. And if he goes over the top with his invective sometimes - it's either part of the cunning O'Leary plan to make headlines or it's a part of his nature that may be offensive to some but which hasn't been stifled by the hand of a homogenous PR company.
Not everything about O'Leary would fit into my ideal role model but his irreverence certainly does.
There are, of course, many different types of role model and many ways of looking the part. One of my ex-colleagues loved the ruthlessness of Jack Welch. Another had a calendar with quotes from Warren Buffett on his desk. And during the "greed is good" phase (which never really left the financial sector) sharp suits, gelled hair and Gordon Gekko-speak were the norm for top-level financial wannabees. People find a comfort in emulating their heroes, no matter who those heroes may be.
I admire Buffet myself, who wouldn't? But the truth is, on the role model front, I actually prefer those who step outside the box a bit.
This might be why I had no real role models in the financial services sector. The problem with finance is that you are a facilitator. Financial products have an inherent value but they are not at the cutting edge of excitement and innovation. (There are plenty of innovative financial instruments out there - some of which have caused the near collapse of the world economy from time to time, but you can't pick up a swaption, look at it and consider it an item of beauty). My favourite business people are innovators but also creators. Readers will know that my computer of choice is a Mac and always has been. When Steve Jobs founded Apple he was the quintessential nerd who saw the future of the computer, if not the industry. Jobs founded Apple Computer in 1976 with a share capital of $1,000, half raised by selling his van and the other half raised by his friend who sold a HP calculator. Four years later after the company went public, Jobs was worth $217.5 million. But why I like Jobs as a role model was his reactions to adversity. He was ousted by the board when new products didn't sell as well as expected but returned 10 years later when the number crunchers bought his software company NeXT. Perhaps his sojourn at Pixar Animation Studios (which produced hits like Toy Story and A Bug's Life) gave him back his innovator confidence as well as teaching him better business skills - since his return the company has gone from strength to strength because it has focused in on his and its original core objectives of producing user-friendly technology that actually works. The iPod is beautiful. And even the box in which your computer or peripherals arrive in is a thing of design perfection.
Steve Jobs rarely wears suits. Richard Branson isn't really a suit man either. In fact, Branson has been photographed in make-up and a wedding dress to promote Virgin Bride, so projecting the sober-suited image has never been part of his persona. Yet Virgin Group produces more than €6 billion in sales every year from a hugely diverse range of companies.
He was once quoted as saying "if the chairman's having fun, it's easier for everyone else" and I think that's a wonderful philosophy for any business leader - even if Jack Welch wouldn't agree.
Both Jobs and Branson are driven individuals and yet both of them seem to get their kicks not only from making money but from testing themselves and their products to the limit.
They've both had their setbacks: Jobs was only 30 when the Apple board dumped him from the company he'd founded; not all of Branson's Virgin brands have been even close to commercial success; but failure hasn't deterred them.
And that's the greatest inspiration you can get from a role model. The ability to deal with failure and learn from it. Maybe that's the one part of the puzzle that's missing in the Michael O'Leary as role model scenario. He hasn't had any high-profile failures.
At least, not yet.
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