• Tweet

 Powered by Max Banner Ads 

Rupert Murdoch

Rupert Murdoch, media mogul and 132nd richest man in the world, says that being Mr Nice Guy doesn’t win you anything. Business is not about being nice. In fact Rupert Murdoch rules partly by fear.

Murdoch manages people similarly to how he approaches other parts of his business.  There are no grey areas and there is no middle ground. If you don’t deliver you get fired. There’s no hesitation and certainly no great nurturing atmosphere. You have to perform.

For Rupert Murdoch, business is outright war. He frightens his own employees and terorises the opponents. He is a competitor who wants to win, regardless. He will fire people who might stop him from winning and he approaches business deals in the same manner.

Murdoch does not spend too much time thinking out his strategy and being cautious in his approach. He wants to win. And winning in his book means wiping out the competition. This does shine a bit of a spotlight on monopolies. He has managed to steer clear of monopolies regulations though so far.

As much as he wins, and often, the downside of this approach is that ruthlessness is a sledgehammer rather than the more subtle tools that might be more in tune with modern management trends. Murdoch drives straight on ignoring potential sensibilities.

Sir Alan Sugar

Let’s have a look at a British businessman. A recently elevated to a Baron,  Alan Sugar is worth round about £830 million and is ranked 59th in the Sunday Times Rich List 2009. This despite the fact that he was supposed to have lost £100m during the 2008 crash.

Sugar made his fortune with the sale of Amstrad, one of his large business ventures. He is involved in a string of other businesses in IT, advertising, property and aviation. He is also fairly famous for hosting the Apprentice show as Donald Trump does in the USA.

It is said that his management style is a model for bad management. He is a bully and narrow minded and rules by fear. During his years as owner and chairman of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club he was disliked because of the way he treated the club. It was all about money and never about the game or the players.

He is also known for his sexist discrimination to women. He is accused of having an outdated attitude towards women. He opposes the 1970 law which makes it illegal to ask a woman whether she plans to start a family during a job interview. Sugar feels that if you can’t ask that question you can’t employ them.

Neither Murdoch nor Sugar seem to have a penchant for being Mr Nice Guy. They rule their flock of workers with an iron hand and in Sugar’s case even resorting to bullying tactics.

Yet both businessmen have made their mark from a wealth point of view both growing businesses from tiny beginnings and managing in Murdoch’s instance to grow an empire and for Sugar a knighted, wealthy and famous existence.

What’s your view?

Post from: manager skills

Is ruthlessness the no 1 quality of great leaders?