Where’s my silver bullet?

I am sitting in a full day session with Gary Hamel. I didn’t pay enough money to be alone with him, so I am sharing the hall with a few hundred other people, representing many of South Africa’s top corporates and leading businesses. Gary has been great. I enjoy his style (his PowerPoint slides are are shocker, but he is a relaxed and engaging presenter). His content is compelling. He knows his stuff. It’s been woirth the time and money investment.

But it’s now the afternoon tea break, and all around me I hear the same comment: “I’m looking forward to this last session….”. The reason for the anticipation is that Gary has set up things brilliantly in the morning sessions. He has explained the 21st century context, he has shown us why innovation in management processes is a key to sustained success, and he has inspired and excited us to want to innovate and make a change. But he hasn’t told us what to do yet. That’s what everyone thinks is coming now! I think they will be disappointed. OR, I will be disappointed in Gary. Either way, it’s going to be a disappointing end to a great day.

Here’s why.

What people want from Gary is the “three things” they can do tomorrow to “fix things”. People are going to be desperate for him to tell them exactly what to do. And I don’t think he can. I hope he doesn’t even try. There are no silver bullets. There are no quick fixes. Even some of the case studies Gary has used so far have made me nervous. He spoke of an Indian IT company that does “a number of innovative things” to engage their staff, like giving “trust Bonuses” (bonuses paid at the beginning of the year, before you’ve done anything, rather than at the end). This is a great concept, and in a company with the right culture and climate for innovation I can see how this would work. But at lunch, I sat next to three very excited people who were talking about how they can get a Trust Bonuses scheme approved in their company. In isolation! That’s the point – any of the numerous examples Gary has given today emerge out of a corporate culture. To try and transpose the “thingys”, the cute techniques from one companmy to another misses the heart of the success of that company: a culture that embodies and surrounds the behaviour you’re seeking. The techniques are simply the enablers. Many people at this conference today are hoping that the techniques are the “big thing” that will rescue them.

Maybe Gary will pull a rabbit out of the bag this afternoon. Knowing a bit about what he does for a living (i.e. conference speaking and research), the only way he can weave magic today is if he gives us a model – a mental framework – that we can each apply to our own unique environments, coming up with our own unique techniques, to achieve our own unique outcomes within our unique contexts. Anything less than this will short change the crowd. I fear that regardless of what Gary does, people are not going to get what they want. If all they do is jot down some “thingys” they’ll have to be back next year when someone like Peters or Porter or Prahalad or another global guru can inspire them again and give them some other thingys to try for another year, before they realise those don’t work either.

I fear the worst for this final session. I hope for the best. Come on, Gary, don’t sell out. Keep it real! Please don’t disappoint me.

(Postnote – Gary was great. He didn’t disappoint me. But I think he might have disappointed some people in the audience).

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