Lessons from being fired

Roger Martin, the former dean of Rotman School of Management, regaled Proctor and Gamble alumni recently with the story of how he was fired on three separate occasions by the company when carrying out consulting work.

The first instance came in the early 1980s, when P&G hired the Monitor consulting firm, where Mr. Martin worked, to help it gain greater market share in the chocolate chip cookie segment with what was then a unique soft cookie version of Nabisco’s leading Chips Ahoy brand. The consultants decided it would take a massive additional investment to have only a small chance of prevailing and thus it was smarter to drop out of that category. Mr. Martin actually didn’t work on that study but was present when chief executive officer John Smale told the consultancy he hadn’t hired them to tell him to exit the business. He hired them to tell him how to fix it — and would dispense with their service on the file.

However, about 18 months later, he called Monitor back because competition had played out essentially as forecasted. “His message was that while he found us somewhat annoying, we did see things that they didn’t see, and P&G leaders needed to learn how to see those things,” Mr. Martin writes in his blog. “My lesson from firing No. 1 was that it was extremely painful, but if you are willing to take the hit for giving your honest assessment, you stand a chance of being rewarded.” It won’t always work out that way, he acknowledges, but hopefully it will often enough and it’s the right thing to do.

His second firing came after advising P&G to embrace an everyday low pricing strategy rather than the existing high prices with occasional sales. Many people had fought internally against a study – they believed they had the right strategy – but the company’s flip to everyday low pricing led it to build a strong relationship with Walmart.

“It was a huge victory for an unwanted study,” he notes, but a new CEO came in, arguing real executives don’t hire consultants, and although cost reduction consultants did continue to work for the company, Mr. Martin and his firm were gone. He was demoralized and for years refused to accept calls from P&G, but eventually a new North American president for the company came to his office, convinced him to return, and it led to some important breakthroughs in Mr. Martin’s strategic thinking. “My lesson from firing No. 2 was to always leave the door open a crack, even if you are really mad!” he writes.

Five years later a new CEO came in who didn’t seem to like Mr. Martin and the relationship soured further when the consultant offered unwelcome tough advice on things the corporate chieftain was doing. “He sent me a letter explicitly firing me. I still have the March 2000 letter. It is brutal. Most times when a client doesn’t want to work with you anymore, it just doesn’t hire you again. This is the only time I was explicitly fired by personal letter,” he says. “But there is always karma … In June 2000, the firer became the fired — largely because of business results arising out of the two behaviours about which I warned him.” The replacement brought Mr. Martin back. His lesson from that third firing is a combination of the first two lessons - do what you think is right, accept the consequences and always leave the door open a crack.”

Paul McCarthy, a consultant working out of Edmonton and Nelson B.C., has been fired four times from executive leadership roles – twice from big Canadian consultancies, once from a small boutique consulting firm and also from a tech startup. The first time came when a large consultancy lured him from Britain to support the growth and development of its human capital practice in Western Canada. They claimed to want fresh thinking but when he provided some the director of business development told him, “Son, I have suits older than you.”

Mr. McCarthy has reflected on those four incidents and his own possible role, and decided he was fired primarily because he had the audacity to speak out against the norm. He believes he was right and like Mr. Martin that we must give our best advice even if it can lead to punishment. He urges you to follow a model he calls F.I.R.E.D. leadership and for companies to seek rather than fire such F.I.R.E.D. individuals:

• Fresh thinking: These leaders can’t stop coming up with new ideas. It’s how they’re wired. When they see problems they seek creative ways to fix them.
• Inquisitive nature: It’s in the nature of these leaders to always ask: Why? They have an unbridled and habitual curiosity, bringing a childlike approach to thinking into the business environment.
• Real and accountable: What you see is what you get with these leaders. They are candid and honest. They practise what they preach.
• Expressive and challenging: Organizations need cultures where leaders are willing to embrace conflict and dissent in a way that brings out the best in people.
• Direct and transparent: “Direct and transparent leaders are truth tellers. No filter. No dissembling. No observance of the finer points of social etiquette. Straight, plain, undiluted honest observations,” he writes in The F.I.R.E.D. Leader.

Companies say they want – even prize – those qualities. But the experiences of Messrs. Martin and McCarthy suggest they don’t always. “I believe F.I.R.E.D. leadership is one path to evolving and regenerating the practice of leadership,” says Mr. McCarthy. “Let’s work together to get there.”

Cannonballs

• To get the year off to a good start, a good question to ask direct reports is: What are we not doing for you that we should do? Consultant Lolly Daskal also recommends: What part of your job would you like eliminated?
• Writer Jennifer V. Miller says leaders forget how important their actions are when it comes to making deposits and withdrawals in their team member’s emotional bank accounts. Deposits can include praising them and offering help to a struggling colleague. Withdrawals can involve losing your temper, missing important deadlines or blaming others for mistakes.
• Thought leader Shane Parrish notes: “You can buy people’s skills but not their hearts. You can buy people’s time but not their loyalty. The most valuable things must be earned.”

Harvey Schachter is a Kingston-based writer specializing in management issues. He, along with Sheelagh Whittaker, former CEO of both EDS Canada and Cancom, are the authors of When Harvey Didn’t Meet Sheelagh: Emails on Leadership.