We are talking with Joerg Schreiber, President and Managing Director of Mazda Motor Rus, about his strongest competency - courage: courage to have your own opinion, courage to make a decision, courage to not walk away from the responsibility.
1. What is your strongest leadership trait?
I think that my strongest trait is courage and to know the limitations where my courage ends. Courage and initiative goes closely together.
2. What is courage in your definition?
Well, clearly to have the courage to have your own opinion, to make a decision on a spot when one is required, not to walk away from the responsibility, not to hide behind others, and also to stand up to the difficult ones. That means to accept that you have to deal with negative, not just with the positive consequences of whatever you do or where you say "I join this decision". Question yourself: "How courageous are you in the face of your boss?" Well, how courageous can one be? This is boss and he says, what can you do with that? But what if you do not share what he is saying? How do you deal with it? In principle, first, be determined - "I have to deal with this". The only choice you have to make on the spot is: "How do I deal with this? Now? Loud? In the face of others? Or separately afterwards?" It should never impact your decision. If you do not agree, try to fight for your own position. And that's difficult because it's not a career enhancing thing to do with most bosses, I think. But it makes you much happier person with yourself. And this is how I'm feeding my self-confidence.
3. Can you explain a little bit more?
Same, how courageous are you with your own people? When you are having a healthy sense of responsibility for your own people. I mean you took them in, so you kind of want to protect them, at the same time you have lots of demands: "do this", "do that", "no, do it this way", "why not do it this way", "where is your idea?", "where is your proposal?" etc. But at the same time you will be protective like a father or mother, depends on your gender. And having worked with those people, and I have worked here with many people, to say "no" to them... Say: "No, you are wrong" - very difficult decision to make because it's always so easy for boss to say pleasing things. I tend to believe that people who are very complimentary about themselves, to themselves tend to have less difficulty in saying compliments to others. That is a good thing to be able to do. Well, if the compliment is deserved but do not forget to make it. I tend to forget to make those compliments. My wife is complaining all the time: "Tell me that you love me". You know that I do, why do I have to say this all the time? You know it.
4. Can you name another trait?
Courage to stand up not just for difficult things on the spot but over longer period of time as well - consistency. In the sense: how important is the enhancement of your own personal career over the wish or the drive to leave behind something that has value, sustainable structure that will be remembered longer after you are gone? Just to leave an imprint, an impact on something. That, in most businesses, takes more than two or three years. At the same time you have to realize that you cannot stand on the spot for twenty years, otherwise you will never get to the point where you can live at least some of your visions or implement something because of course position goes with more power and influence. Everybody seems to understand it but then you find quite a few people who are willing to sacrifice the first for the second. I try to route people by this. Who is the one I can rely on when things are getting difficult or who would run away? Who was able to say: I made a mistake? I love people saying that because I think it's much better to apologize for mistake you made rather than to have to explain to your boss why didn't you do anything, or why were you waiting for this to happen when immediate action was required. People are afraid to make wrong things.
5. Why do you think they are afraid?
For two reasons. First, it could be a bad thing for your own career. Secondly, sometimes you just simply don't know what is the right thing to do. But if there is nobody else to look to. Nobody else around. Nobody there who you could ask for help. Take Russia, things sometimes are so specific you cannot turn to somebody and ask how you do it over there. So what do you do? Then, in Russia, you have, out of history, very hierarchical way of working in a company: boss says, boss signs, so you are not just going on vacation you are being ordered to go on vacation. Sounds ridiculous! In every language it sounds ridiculous. You are ordering people to go on vacation. Nobody seems to be offended by this because it's always been that way. This is how things are here in Russia. Look for the boss to make a call if things are difficult or not clear.
6. Can you recall a situation that required such courage from you?
There was that former boss in Europe. Two or three years ago he said: "Look, I got this problem here. I've got a bunch of cars, thousands cars. Can't you just take them? I'll give a huge discount. You can sell them at the bargain in Russia." He was right. I could've sold them easily, there was long waiting line but I said: "No, I'm not going to do this". He wanted me to sell, I don't know, three-four thousand cars and take them tomorrow but I said no. He said: "What do you mean, no?" He was very courageous and still is very courageous, initiative and passionate man, very opinionated which made life with him so interesting. So he said: "Why not?" I said: "Well, because it took me great effort to establish this brand where it is in initial years and we didn't create artificial shortages, we just had them, and what we tried to do is to find a right balance with this shortage and getting more cars, and then you have write price and all of that because I needed that right price because otherwise I wouldn't have earned money. Only with this money I could say to my bosses: "Look, I'm making some profit here, can I please have some more cars?" And if I do what you say, I would be thrown back by two years. I'm not going to do that but let me think about it and I'll get back to you tomorrow."
7. What did you tell him?
"I'm going to take half of the volume now, will sell it at exactly the same price because I think we have the demand for that, and then, let's talk about the other half once we cope with that." He was happy. It was perhaps kind of solomonic decision but I wouldn't have known any other colleague who would've said "no" to this particular person. And knowing him a bit, he rather respected such ability to say "no". Sometimes he was in such a raging mood and he was not my immediate boss. And there was somebody telling me: "Don't contradict him. This time, please don't." and I was saying: "I can't promise this. If he is talking about something that doesn't completely make sense for business, it's mine and your responsibility to find a way to deal with that". They would say: "Ok, we will but not now, not today. Look at him! He is a raging bull". So, sometimes you have to wait with your objection.
8. It's all about the way how you express your objection...
A good friend of mine used to say: "Better to lose a good friend than not to make a good joke". Well, that puts it in an extreme manner. Makes it crystal clear what this is about. Sometimes mouth is just faster than the brain and you should be careful. It feels good at the moment but then you might regret it. Before you respond to people take a break, think about it and sometimes we often do it with emails: write your angry response and leave it in the draft, then take another look at it next day, and then decide whether you want to send it this way or not.
9. What else do you think is important for a leader to have?
There needs to be some certain set of order. Otherwise things don't work. Everybody needs to know what they suppose to do, basically, and there needs to be more or less clear process for initiative, etc. that says: "This is how decisions are being made and then ultimately the money is flowing." In order to protect that organizational backbone, and there has to be one, you also have to be loyal to a certain degree. You can't just do whatever you think is right and jump over everybody because that will ultimately be very creative and very interesting to watch but it will ultimately do greater damage to bigger goal than it might potentially entertain someone, no matter how brilliant the person is.
So you cannot contradict your boss, not a good idea when he is surrounded in the open with other equals or has his subordinates with him. It's not a good idea because it will undermine his authority, and you ultimately need his authority to support your decisions that you want him to make or approve for you. There should be that balance. Everybody knows that but, as always, you will find more people who hide behind this wrong sense of loyalty.
10. Can you give an example?
I'm going to talk about Russia. What do you have here? You've got international companies and quite a few of them have a foreigner in charge, like in our case. So what is now the right way: everybody to get used to his way of doing things or better this one boss getting used to the way things are being done here? Again, this is not a choice: this or that. I think it's a little bit of both. If you are the only boss or if there is a minority of foreigners, better if the minority gets used to what is the local customs, just better understand their own people. And then try to help the local people a bit to understand the body language of this particular company. It can be very different. Ours is not a clear-cut Japanese or British or German, so it's a little bit of everything. Then, we are a part of European organization, I would say probably more driven European that a German-British when you look at the management, well, American as well. There is no clear picture here. So, how do I do things? What is expected of me? Because you also have an interest that your people when they go to Europe make a good impression on your behalf or on behalf of this business. You want them to appear competent and reacting in the proper manner.
