British Petroleum (BP) is a multinational and diversified company. Consisting of factories, offices, and gas stations all around the world, it needs at its head office a strong leadership-skilled person, who is able to implement a clear and profitable strategy, to keep growing. Robert Horton, employed by BP since 1957, climbed the ladder of the company to reach the CEO position with a cost killer reputation and a corresponding nickname: "Horton the Hatchet". He was appointed as CEO in 1990, when the company was suffering a huge "lack of operational flexibility and collaboration" according to the top managers. However, before implementing any new strategy, he decided to change his own way of managing by "Americanizing" himself and then the company. He succeeded in being recognized by Cleveland's mayor and Chamber of commerce as "the city?s outstanding business executive". Following this idea and operating a "management change", employees from the British Headquarter came to the US Headquarter in order to forge an American "corporate-identity drive".
[...] Communication was not his best faculty compared to David Simon who was a real diplomat, a team mate, and was able to communicate and treat as an equal with everybody. Be flexible is a key factor of success for a top manager/chairman/CEO because due to this status, subordinates tend to think that you only speak and deal with employees from your rank, but when they see that you go on the field, listen their request, take the time to understand their job and make them participate company's strategy, workers feel implied, trusted, and are finally more efficient! [...]
[...] The strategy's 4 major points were: Improve mid-term BP's performance by cutting the workforce Refocus strategy on the core business for a better efficiency and less risks Develop competitiveness in Europe and in the Far East Reach a “profitable, disciplined growth” based on BP's “performance” & not By doing so, the company enjoyed the positive effects of this plan two years later in 1996, when figures showed that BP's share price had doubled and the company had a better return on capital the Shell, its main competitor! [...]
[...] But once again, we can underline the fact that Emma worked in a much more difficult atmosphere such as people were reluctant to the idea of having a woman in the top management team but she finally gained their trust and get respected for good leadership abilities. Steve Jobs is a very different person than the three we have just seen, but appear to be an excellent manager. As Emma had more similarities with David Simon, I would say that Steve Jobs seems more linked to Robert Horton behaviour. [...]
[...] Robert Horton was a good manager, but he did not have this faculty to listen carefully his colleagues, and that lead his strategy to the failure because he did not succeed for example in understanding the cultural differences between Americans and British inside the company! David Simon, who was much more team-oriented, as if he were a captain of his team in the changing room before a game, found easily the words to motivate people work together, achieve goals and follow him to beat Shell, the historic competitor We can feel that thanks to his experience with people he worked more intuitively than Horton, who was much more sensing. [...]
[...] I have been playing Rugby for 8 years and it influences a lot my everyday life behaviour, especially in business: Team spirit challenges in team, bonus on company turnover, Fighting spirit never abandon field to the competitor, Physical effort work hard to be competitive, go always further, Training know perfectly my products and competitor's one in order to give good arguments etc . is one of the values that are driven by the Rugby practice and that you can apply to your company. [...]
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