An interesting article in Macleans about the demise of the CanWest (Global TV) media enterprise... and a couple leadership lessons.
1) The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Yes, I know this sounds like a biblical quote (and it is) but it really is the story of this article. CanWest was a successful and growing company that got greedy and too multi-faceted. It was not satisfied to be a "wildly profitable player, secure in its Canadian niche." Rather they wanted more, more, more. In that effort to accumulate, they accumulated huge debt and killed the company.
2) When the idea fails, admit it and get back to the basics. Its seems that there were plenty of opportunities for Izzy Asper or his son, Leonard, to admit "defeat" and stop buying more assets - and more debt - in an effort to find the one that would turn the company around. And yet they kept acquiring various pieces of media that just kept putting them further and further in trouble fiscally. As much as a leader may be "committed" to an idea, sometimes its best to give it up, let it die, and be satisfied with what is working. As a former colleague used to say in reference to baroque music, "If it ain't baroque, don't fix it."
No comments:
Post a Comment