Jonar Nader says that corporate executives must not be rewarded with shares or stock options. It is a distracting practice that must cease if we are to see executives rising to the challenge of why their real job. Further below is a transcript of the video.
Here is the transcript:
Announcer: One source keeps you on top of you investments: Biz News 1.
Mike Russell: Welcome back. Good morning, everyone. This is Mike Russell. You’re watching Biz News 1. What current corporate practices do you beg to differ with in this book?
Jonar Nader: Well, look, there are many things. For example, I say that anybody who wakes up and looks at this ticker tape that’s on the beautiful bottom of your screen here right now is actually ought to be sacked because your job as a CEO, your job as a general manager of an organization is not to watch the ticker tape but to watch the promises you’re making to you customers, to your share holders, towards the promises you’re making to your staff and see if actually you are delivering, because we all know that these things can be manipulated. How many times have we seen prices manipulated, but, “Hey, John, cancel the order, sack three people and, hey, now we’ve got good bottom line.” Come on. That is not in essence a foundation of a good business.
Mike Russell: So what leadership skills are essential right now in this connected network world?
Jonar Nader: Yeah, well, there are three things, and the first is to understand yourself. You cannot be a leader of an organization if you yourself are not firm and solid. And, by that, I mean not a PhD and MBA, but wisdom and integrity and honor and valor. These are the things. The second thing is to learn how to work with others. And that doesn’t mean being nice to people. And the third is to understand the network world. How can you operate in this world if you don’t understand what the network world really means?
Mike Russell: But why is diplomacy in your view a waste of time? Isn’t it valuable in many situations, especially in establishing relationship with people?
Jonar Nader: Yeah, look, diplomacy in itself has its place, but in general terms, not in a representative of time. It is a waste of time because actually we’re not exercising diplomacy. Often we’re trying to say, “Oh, please like me and I don’t want to do anything so that you don’t like me,” or, “Can we please not upset the Japanese or not upset the Australians or whatever?” Would you stop worrying about who you’re going to upset and just be firm and solid and have an opinion? And if you say we produce a quality product, don’t go to bed until you know you’re factory is producing a quality product. We say so much rhetoric and nonsense and we go up on Wall Street and wherever and we give all these, “Oh, we’re now going to have a good quarter.” Who cares? Are you actually delivering on your promise? And if we do that, the rest will take care of itself. You know, I come from Sydney, the Olympic city. Do you think any Olympian who wakes up in the morning says I want a gold medal is going to get one? But the Olympian who says, “Gee, I love swimming. Get out of my way I want to swim,” now, there’s an Olympian in the making. An executive who just kept watching the scale like someone on a diet, sort of having one peanut at a time thinking how this go, just forget it, just eat, have a healthy lifestyle.
Mike Russell: My guest is Jonar Nader. He is author of “How to Lose Friends and Infuriate People,” published by a Plutonium. And he is our guest on Biz News 1.
Operator: One source to keep you on top of your investments: Biz News 1.
Mike Russell: Welcome back to Biz New 1. And as you check future’s prices, we’ll continue with my conversation with the author of “How to Lose Friends and Infuriate People,” published by Plutonium, Mr. Jonar Nader. Thanks for joining us today.
Jonar Nader: Hi, Mike.
Mike Russell: Let’s talk about the firm that you operate. What services does it provide to businesses?
Jonar Nader: Yes, well, you know, I’m often in boardrooms talking at the board level and CEOs ask me all sorts of questions and I – and they say to me things like, “Jonar, we’ve such merged two a huge companies, can you please help us harness our strengths?” and I say, “No, no, no. Do you know in the network world, the secret is you look at your weaknesses, because in the old world, the weak plus the strong gave you synergy?” In the new world, the weak plus the strong gives you the weakest. So I’d say, “Show me your weakest point here because that’s what’s going to trip you up. Same with personal life.” So in the network world, the weak plus the strong is the weakest. And the other thing is that we’re operating in intangibles. So you really have to understand the intangible things like whether it would fear or integrity and so on. And then I look at things like the rhetoric, what they say, what they mean, what they want.
Mike Russell: All right.
Jonar Nader: And so we look at things like teamwork. And I say, “Look, there is no such things as teamwork. Stop it, you know. Don’t tell me about highly effective self-led team. It’s a great buzz word and lots of books are written about it. No such thing.” A team can only operate if it has one leader and it can only operate if that leader has full control and full authority. If that don’t exist, stop kidding yourself. You know, wake up. You’re old enough now. You can do something about it.
Mike Russell: What would you – what do you believe is true leadership?
Jonar Nader: Well, look, I actually said there’s a big difference between being a leader and engaging in leadership. A leader is someone who carves a new path for good or for worse. For better or worse, that’s a leader carving a new path. Leadership is about breaking down barriers. So if you want to be a leader who engages in leadership while you’re carving a new path, you’ve got to break down the barriers, whether that be bureaucracy or idiotic behavior or whatever. But you say the Chinese philosophies of all, which are wonderful, I disagree when they say, “Avoid – conflict avoidance. Go around the barriers.” And I say, “But If you, a CEO, don’t tear these down, who’s going to do it? So get up there and tear down because you cannot empower people. You can only take away the things that stop people from being empowered.”
Mike Russell: What’s your opinion of the practice of CEO taking a lower salary but getting a lot of stock…
Jonar Nader: No, I wouldn’t do it.
Mike Russell: …or stock options from the company to motivate that CEO? You don’t agree with that?
Jonar Nader: No, no, forget it. I wouldn’t at all because it’s actually a whole game, a manipulation game. And any CEO half-worth his weight can manipulate the share price anyway which way he or she likes, you know, not withstanding on earthquake or something like a natural disaster or sex scandal. No, I want to the CEO to focus on the business. And the stock prices are just too distracting.
Mike Russell: So, how do you reward the CEO? What’s the best way to do it and how you do you reward the employees and motivate them? What’s your recommendation?
Jonar Nader: Well, I would find someone who’s not motivated my money. I would find someone who is rewarded. I’d give people 50% of my profits when I own a company in the sense – and I do that already. So we must share our profits very liberally because you will then find that they will double and quadruple. They way I would find and work with an executive is give them the things that make the heart, the intangibles things work like the freedom to express, the joy to work together with people, not, you know, you get this $12 million or $30 million. But once you get to that level, what’s the difference?
Mike Russell: Are those the most crucial issues that the organizations and individuals will deal with in the next decade, these issues? Or what are the issues?
Jonar Nader: Well, the major issue is understanding the network world, it’s understanding that your bottom line today. Most corporations today that have a good bottom line, beware. The reason I have a good bottom line is several fold. One of them is through inheritance. They have inherited a momentum and have inherited a brand, a market share and so on. So beware when you’re investing in a company and it seems to be looking good and say, “How do they get so good? It is through manipulation or through momentum?” If it’s one of the two, it’s still not good enough. I want them to get well through a quality work and real expertise at the ground level.
Mike Russell: Are there any companies out there that you know of that are getting right right now? Do you agree with their philosophy?
Jonar Nader: Yes, but it’s my philosophy never to mention companies on air because, you know, I can be dangerous both ways.
Mike Russell: All right. And what about work and play, can they be the same?
Jonar Nader: Absolutely. In fact, if work, rest and play is three different things for you, you’ve got a problem. You see, work, rest and play have to be one so that every minute of every day is fun, exciting, challenging, and you have up times and down times and it’s all merged as one. See, if people think if I have three miserable hours at work and three good hours on the golf course, somehow I’m happy. That’s what I call balance. You know, it’s called extremities and schizophrenic living.
Mike Russell: All right. And one more question, about 10 seconds left.
Jonar Nader: Yeah?
Mike Russell: Corporate staff meetings, are they effective or should they be frequent or how should they be conducted?
Jonar Nader: It doesn’t matter. They should be honest. And if you have to get up an say one thing and mean another one, suit yourself. I think, you know, it’s just a waste of time.
Mike Russell: All the best for the book. I hope you come back and see us again, Jonar.
Jonar Nader: Thanks very much.
Mike Russell: My guest, Jonar Nader, author of “How to Lose Friends and Infuriate People,” published by Plutonium. You’re watching Biz News 1.
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