Leadership: the frugal option

Published: 2008-12-01   please add a comment below

Carlos Ghosn, global head of Renault Nissan, talks up “frugal engineering”. He sees it as key to delivering affordable cars in emerging economies like China and India. But, what does he mean? And, by extension, what would “frugal leadership” be?

Frugal means careful, sparing and economical. But, my engineering professor would have said all good engineering is frugal. You build things to meet specification, plus with an agreed margin for safety. And, he derided over-design in much public infrastructure as inflating cost with no increase functionality or safety. He saw this as professionally lazy and socially wasteful. Would he have approved of Mr Ghosn.

Yes, I believe he would. The objective of low-cost, mass-produced cars is to minimise waste in design and manufacturing, and enfranchise millions, who otherwise ride bikes or cart their families on small motor bikes - with risk to life and limb.

So, what would my prof. say about "frugal leadership"? Again, I think he'd say leadership should always be frugal. Actions should be carefully chosen to meet need, sparingly applied, and be economical in their disruption of those being led.

I was close to him in my honours year and observed he was an excellent leader - of both staff and students. He discerned, as if by magic, what bothered us: about where we were heading; what was expected; whether we could do it; or, how we fitted in. And, whatever our concern, he took action to point the way (and inspire) but not so much as to remove responsibility or close out experimentation, mistakes and learning. He dealt with technical and people issues with equal grace. For many, he became a life-long model of good (and frugal) leadership.

So, how can you or I know what is concerning our people, and choose appropriate leadership actions? One way (partly inspired by him), is my V|E|C|T|O|R Leadership framework. In an hour, you can identify key follower questions, appropriate areas for action and what specifically you intend to do.

V|E|C|T|O|R is down-to-earth and practical; and, leads to a printable plan. I think my prof. would like it. You might too. And, he'd be particularly pleased the cost is frugal. A big business tool at a small business price. He'd like that.

Dr. Timothy Pascoe AM
PhD (Cambridge), MBA (Harvard), BE & BEc (Adelaide)
Creator, V|E|C|T|O|R Leadership^®