In spite of the fact that I told my staff that I would lay off cycling for a bit, now that the tour is over, we did receive a comment this past weekend from a reader whose support of Armstrong may not be entirely enthusiastic.
“Do you have any idea on what Armstrong said to Candel Evans after he sneaked in front of him and taking the 11th place on the last Tuesday stage? “Why have you done that?†It is known that Armstrong intimidates the other riders and that anyone who does not obey, as Candel did, is punished? Years for now, after each tentative escape from the peleton, Candel will be followed by the Discovery team, which will lead the peleton into Evans’ annihilation. Now, that’s the “team spirit”, and Armstrong kicked T-Mobile asses because they dared to walk outside the leadership of the Great Lance. ”
It is my intent to link this discussion to relevant management issues, and as I read the posted comment, I remembered a conversation I had with a South African fellow named Gideon Malherbe. We were talking about those companies who maintained a strategy of Market Dominance. Seven tour wins reminds me of market dominance, though we were talking about Wal-Mart and Microsoft. Gideon’s parting thought to me was, “If you are the 800 pound gorilla in a market and not stepping on some toes, then you are missing the point.”
I am curious, what do you think? -TF
“If you are the 800 pound gorilla in a market and not stepping on some toes, then you are missing the point.â€
That’s a great quote. Everyone goes after the leader (at least that’s what I assume, I’ve never heard any company adopt “we want to be #2” as a mission statement). If the leader can’t defend himself using the things that got him there, he doesn’t deserve the spot.
Sean
You are so correct Tom. As you get sucessful and begin to have a siginifcant share of the market, everyone takes aim at you and attempts to take it away from you. This can manifest itself in many ways including criticism of business processes or stealing employees or robust competition.
As an executive in the catalog industry for 30 years, I have successfully managed over 10,000 people. The key to success in my business is the same as it is in any team situation – the leader sets the goal, gets the team to buy into that goal and all members of that team work towards achievement of that goal. Lance Armstrong si the leader of that very successful team, and all the team members are committed to achieving the goal. there approach achieved the desired and agreed upon results.
Any team will have players or employees who are not pleased with the results, or feel they are not treated fairly…..simple solution…..join another team.
Every successful sports team always changed players, sometimes in mid-season, sometimes going into the next season. I am sure Michael Jordan had his detractors as well.