{"id":1056,"date":"2012-02-27T09:22:16","date_gmt":"2012-02-26T23:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/knowledgetoday\/?p=1056"},"modified":"2012-02-27T09:23:55","modified_gmt":"2012-02-26T23:23:55","slug":"who-will-be-the-labor-party%e2%80%99s-captain-grumpy-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/blog\/2012\/02\/who-will-be-the-labor-party%e2%80%99s-captain-grumpy-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Who will be the Labor Party\u2019s Captain Grumpy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Professor Chris Styles<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today is a big day.<\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s the day that the Allan Border Medal\u00a0for Australia\u2019s premier cricketer\u00a0will be awarded. Allan Border, or \u2018AB\u2019, is known for a lot of things, including a number of cricketing records. \u00a0But perhaps the biggest thing he is known for is being the reluctant captain that took over in a time of crisis\u00a0in the mid 1980s.<\/p>\n

For those of us around at the time, the tearful resignation of the then captain, Kim Hughes, that lead to AB\u2019s appointment,\u00a0will be remembered as a\u00a0pivotal point in Australian cricket. \u00a0The turnaround that followed took time, but it was pronounced and long lasting. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Given the captain of the Australian cricket team is supposedly the second most important job in the\u00a0country,\u00a0perhaps there are some lessons to be learned by the current\u00a0Labor\u00a0Government.<\/p>\n

When AB took over\u00a0as captain\u00a0Australian cricket was at\u00a0a\u00a0low point. \u00a0 The team had experienced many deep defeats. A rebel tour of South Africa was about to happen and the mighty West Indies had inflicted wounds that were hard to heal.\u00a0\u00a0But over the next decade Australian cricket experienced a turnaround that set it up for a decade of dominance.\u00a0\u00a0AB\u2019s leadership was a critical component.<\/p>\n

Irrespective of who wins the\u00a0Labor\u00a0party\u2019s challenge today the focus will be on how the\u00a0floundering organisation\u00a0\u2013 that is not unlike\u00a0the Australian cricket team of the 1980s\u00a0–\u00a0can begin the road\u00a0to recovery.\u00a0What lessons can ABs leadership provide\u00a0them and others\u00a0in a similar situation?<\/p>\n

There are perhaps three key ingredients to what AB achieved. The first\u00a0was\u00a0having a clear goal. \u00a0It is well known that AB\u2019s obsession was winning the Ashes. Of all cricket\u2019s conquests, this is the one that meant most to him. \u00a0Wining the one-day World Cup in 1987 was nice (and unexpected), but it was a step on the way to\u00a0the prize\u00a0that\u00a0really\u00a0mattered.\u00a0\u00a0Once he won 4-0 in the six test series in 1989, he did not lose a test\u00a0against England until\u00a0he retired. For political parties the goals are clear – election victory.<\/p>\n

The second key ingredient was focus. \u00a0Everyone in the team knew what was required. Everything else was a distraction. Knowing why you are there and what needs to be achieved provides clear\u00a0direction for decisions.\u00a0Players were dropped, and plans were hatched. Everyone knew why. For the Governments its about a clear legislative program and societal outcomes. Ministers who perform stay, those who don’t, don’t.<\/p>\n

The third\u00a0ingredient\u00a0was discipline. \u00a0During the 1989 Ashes tour AB gained the title \u2018Captain Grumpy\u2019. \u00a0He decided that the team had to shun their\u00a0English opponents and be totally dedicated to their defeat. \u00a0He even put his own close relationship with Ian\u00a0Botham\u00a0to one side. No\u00a0idle chatter, no coming together after games\u00a0with the opposition, and\u00a0the\u00a0level of\u00a0aggression\u00a0on the field\u00a0set the standard for\u00a0the\u00a0sledging we see today.\u00a0 Most would agree that the last 12 months\u00a0has not been the most disciplined performance of the parliamentary Labor party.\u00a0\u00a0John Howard was a\u00a0 leader that understood discipline and the results followed.<\/p>\n

Once the dust settles after Monday\u2019s leadership battle, the focus\u00a0will\u00a0need to be on how to dig\u00a0the Federal\u00a0Labor party\u00a0out\u00a0of\u00a0its deep\u00a0hole. \u00a0It\u2019s hard to argue that\u00a0it\u00a0will be at a low point and\u00a0will be in\u00a0need of organisational renewal and turnaround, a situation not unlike that faced\u00a0by AB.<\/p>\n

The big question is how to move forward. Despite both leaders assurances that they’ll encourage the party to unite around the chosen leader, the destructive comments about both leadership contenders over the last week will make it very difficult\u00a0for whoever wins Monday\u2019s vote\u00a0to achieve the turnaround that is needed.\u00a0Like\u00a0Australian cricket witnessed in the 1980s, perhaps\u00a0Monday will bring a tearful end\u00a0to leadership ambitions and then at some stage\u00a0perhaps a\u00a0‘reluctant captain’ will\u00a0emerge. Although in politics, there are probably few leaders who are truly reluctant.<\/p>\n

Chris Styles<\/a> is the Deputy Dean and Director of the Australian Graduate School of Management.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Professor Chris Styles Today is a big day. Yes, it\u2019s the day that the Allan Border Medal\u00a0for Australia\u2019s premier cricketer\u00a0will be awarded. Allan Border, or \u2018AB\u2019, is known for a lot of things, including a number of cricketing records. \u00a0But perhaps the biggest thing he is known for is being the reluctant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":336,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12672,1],"tags":[6429,12754],"class_list":["post-1056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leadership","category-uncategorized","tag-agsm","tag-leadership-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/336"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1056"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1067,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056\/revisions\/1067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}