Mr Gabriel Kow, Partner

Nationality: Australian

Based: London Office

Practice Area: Head of the Turnaround Send e-mail

Businesses today are facing many challenges. It might be said that running a business today is much like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Unfortunately, it is not like putting together the typical jigsaw puzzle you buy in a shop, where you have a fixed number of pieces, some with perfectly straight edges, four corner pieces, and a clear picture of what the completed puzzle should look like. The ‘business jigsaw puzzle’ rarely has a picture on the cover that is clear; the edge pieces continually change shape, and quite often, the pieces themselves change shape when you try to make them fit together. An appropriate question might be, ‘how can we expect that managers and decision-makers can successfully realise the potential of a company; i.e. put the puzzle together?

Ensuring that an organization is able to realise its potential requires that there is a clear, concise picture of what an organisation is trying to accomplish, for what reasons, how it will accomplish this future, and within what timeframe. The ‘painting’ of this picture is the responsibility of the senior management team, led by the CEO. The ability to ‘paint this picture’ reflects a strong competency of entrepreneurial leadership. Leadership is not about getting things done – that is what management is all about. Entrepreneurial leadership is all about creating an environment in which the entire organisational population, both individually and collectively, can realise its potential. This requires an ability to understand both the dynamics at play in the organisation, as well as a clear view of the potential future and an understanding of the ramifications and consequences of moving toward that desired future.

Once there is a clear picture, a picture that all employees can see and understand, the next step is to ensure that all decision-makers are empowered and held accountable for the decisions they make and implement that are designed to move the organisation toward its desired future. Inherent in holding managers accountable is the need to set forth a level of ‘stretch’ in their decision-making process. If there is no stretch in the expectations of decisions, decision-makers will revert to their own ‘comfort levels’ of decision-making. An environment in which there is no stretch involved for managers is one that demonstrates risk adversity, which will result in stagnation, an inability to compete, and eventual business demise. By incorporating ‘stretch’ decision-making in an organisational culture, a leader is able to set new direction, to engage the organisation, and to increase the ability of the organisation to realise its potential – the genesis of a learning organisation. Stretch thinking also expands how managers and other decision-makers view the difference between thinking and acting efficiently as opposed to thinking and acting effectively.

Effectiveness is all about making the best decisions at the appropriate time; efficiency is all about producing predictable value for investment results. An ‘effective’ organization is one in which success breeds success, reducing the level of risk aversion, potential for stagnation, and instead creates the opportunity for sustainable gains. By driving a focus on effectiveness instead of solely on efficiency, managers and other decision-makers begin to learn how to view ‘their world’ in a more systemic, sustainable way. They begin to understand the ramifications of their decisions and behaviours, and, consequently, perform better through a greater understanding of how all the pieces of ‘the business puzzle’ fit together. This is thinking, influencing, and achieving systemically – looking at the big picture and understanding the internal capabilities and external opportunities. Decisions that are effective need to be recognized and rewarded. The best way to incentivise employees to make better decisions is to recognise them for their understanding and achievements in an entrepreneurial environment. This is the most appropriate path to ensuring sustainable growth.

My experience and track record over the last twenty-five years – turning and building businesses in Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America – has formulated this philosophy utilizing my key competencies: entrepreneurial leadership, systemic thinking, shifting fundamental performance behaviours, dealing with detail and dynamic complexity, strong communication ability across multiple-cultures; all resulting in the proven ability to deliver large-scale sustainable change and operational performance turnaround.

Skills and Expertise

Project Experience

Gabriel acts as a board advisor to Rhodia SA and as investment advisor to venture capitalists Duke Street Capital, CVC and PPM Ventures and was formerly the President and CEO of Huntsman Global Surface Sciences.

Dr James Rieley, Partner

Nationality: Dual (British and American)

Based: London Office

Practice Area: Head of the Leadership

Send e-mail

James Rieley is an advisor to CEO’s and senior leadership teams in both Europe and America. He has written extensively on the subject of organisational dynamics and quality, having been published in The Journal for Organisational Excellence, Community College Journal, Quality Progress, The Systems Thinker, National Productivity Review, The Business Journal, Corporate Reports Wisconsin, Leverage, On The Horizon, and other media, as well as being the author of a research report for GOAL/QPC on Strategic Planning for education titled Closing the Loop, and co-author of an implementation workbook on Institutional Effectiveness. His work has been cited in Fast Company, Making It Happen: Stories from Inside the New Workplace, A Fieldguide for Focused Planning, Fundamentals at Work, and Breakthrough Leadership, as well as being nominated for the national Shingo Prize for Excellence in Research.

Rieley has developed curricula in the areas of organisational learning, leadership development, systems thinking, community building, systems thinking archetype applications, and strategy development. He has facilitated training sessions for both internal and external clients, including: the Five Disciplines of Organisational Learning, Building Leadership Capacity, Advanced Facilitation Methods and Tools, Change Enablement, the Seven Management and Planning Tools, A Systems Thinking Mindset, Constructing Causal Loop Diagrams with Visio, Using a Vision Deployment Matrix to Enhance Personal and Organisational Capacity, and, The DNA of Organisational Culture. He is the author of Gaming the System, (The Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2001) and Plain Talk About Business Performance (to be released early 2004).

Skills and Expertise

Project Experience

Previous clients include Halifax Bank, British Petroleum, Shell, Celanese, Huntsman Chemicals, Aventis, LaFarge, ESAB, Uniqema, RMC and 3Com.