Perception Magician

Attitudes impact your bottom-line, Paul Bridle, the self-styled leadership methodologist from UK, tells OER

There is something pervasively pink about Paul Bridle. His business card is pink. His handouts are pink too. “I am passionate about pink,” admits the self-styled leadership methodologist from the United Kingdom. The Zimbabwe-born, bearded leadership guru was on a visit to Muscat to talk on his pet theme: “Prevailing attitudes and the culture that directly impacts your bottom-line”.

This son of a missionary couple now teaches leadership to a wide variety of audiences. Paul has something that appeals to his audience. ‘I may not be Tom Peters. But I am different,” he admits candidly.

How different is he? “I closely interact with people at all levels and am able to see their points of view as well. Listen properly and you are bound to be rewarded,” he bares out the secret. In essence, he says, most of the challenges in organizations – small, medium and large – emanate out of misconception. “Communication is a perception issue. Whatever either side wants to convey to the other party, let them keep it simple. Challenges will vanish automatically,” he explains.

What is new, one may wonder. His prescription may seem like common sense. But the irony of the matter is that common sense is very uncommon, he points out with a chuckle. Bridle’s knowledge or wisdom is not all bookish. He had walked the talk in the sense that he had played both roles: an employer as well as an employee. He has seen both sides of the coin. Political turbulence in Zimbabwe (earlier known as Rhodesia) compelled the Bridles to move to South Africa and subsequently to the United Kingdom. A labour unrest in the form of worker picketing at a factory left him a disillusioned man and he decided to quit.

It was around that time in 1988, he began consulting. Small and medium entrepreneurs began to knock on his doors seeking guidance. Bridle recalls an IT-savvy entrepreneur’s predicament and how he fixed his ‘problem’. Running a business is different from writing a software code, he convincingly proved. Under his tutelage, the company turned the corner and the word spread about his “healing touch’” The next couple of years saw Bridle doing roaring consultancy business and lecturing on what leadership is all about.

A voracious reader, Bridle has already penned a book entitled “Leader, the Never-ending Story’. His go-getting and friendly approach has endeared him to his audiences across the globe. “I don’t read, but study,” he corrects, trying to explain how one is different from the other. He is gracious enough to admit that his panacea for cures of the business world does not merit the tag of “out of the box thinking”. The success of any enterprise, according to him, depends a great deal on the attitude of people working for it.

Fear is a major emotive factor that affects any relationship, he points out. His analogy is fairly simple and straightforward. Children always look up to their parents as a supporting block because the parents exhibit “consistent behaviour” – always protective in nature. In a similar vein, Bridle explains, workers expect a consistent behaviour from their superiors. Simply put, the leaders are expected not to be too clinical in their approach. They are expected to be accommodative. Not that wrong moves ought to be condoned, but they can be controlled over a period of time.

And the incidence of fatal mistakes that may affect an organisation’s bottom-line can be substantially brought down, he says.

Bridle is of the firm opinion that management, essentially, should tackle policies, structure and culture and leadership – with capital L – ought to focus on strategy, alliances and partnerships. Empirical evidence suggests that as against the essential doze of 40 per cent leadership, 50 per cent management and 10 per cent functional work, one – irrespective of station in life – spends 10 per cent on leadership, 40 per cent on management and 50 per cent on functional activities. Lopsided, did you say? No doubt!

All said and done, what is the role of a leader? “To manage people’s perceptions and that includes the attitude people have towards their job, their colleagues, their customers and any other aspect of the job that affects their behaviour,” quips Bridle. Towards achieving this end, the leader has to understand the prevailing attitudes that motivate colleagues across the board. Begin from this perch and embark on managing people’s perceptions, and in turn, bring about a change in perception. On the surface, it may sound easy, but it calls for extraordinary vigilance and energy to implement. Good leaders achieve their goals effortlessly. Others fall by the wayside. which side are you on?- Ramesh Kumar