In praise of redundancy

Redundancy in the corporate world, technology, business, or sports is commonplace. Although redundancy always conveys a negative connotation, it is inevitable. Then how can redundancy be praiseworthy? It all depends on how we look at it.

While reading a book named, "If Better is Possible", it occurred to me that redundancy is not how we commonly look at it. It has its own beauty and profundity.

The book was authored by John Marshall Buchanan, a former coach of the national cricket team of Australia. Buchanan believed that the role of a coach was to consistently challenge the players and the team with possibilities and drive them outside their comfort zone into the realms of uncertainty. And one day the coach makes himself redundant through his own scheme and that is his success. A coach teaches players to shake off "myself" and embrace "ourselves" as a motivating factor for victory. In the corporate world, an effective mentor or coach does the same thing.

Similarly, parents help a child take its first step. But after a while, the child is on its own and the parents get the first feel of redundancy. Parents never feel dejected, rather celebrate the child's success and their own redundancy.

Ardently applied, the concept equally works in the business and corporate world. Take the example of Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric from 1981 to 2001. 

Welch would get GE's bottom 10 per cent of the executives as redundant every year and replace them with new candidates. He challenged the traditional management concept and inspired a new thought: "You do not manage people. Rather, you lead them".

In return, each employee becomes a leader in what he does and the manager becomes redundant. Welch succeeded with his visionary ideas and turned GE's value from $12 billion to $280 billion in just 20 years.  Welch outdid the conventional thought process of decision-making and literally made them redundant.

See how the US presidential election of 2012 emerged. President Barack Obama outperformed his opponent Mitt Romney by an astounding margin. Newsweek, in disbelief, wrote: "The Obama Conquest: Lucky General or Master of the Game?"

Karl Rove was Romney's election strategist. He applied the same strategy he used to lead George Bush to victory. He thought his strategy would work indefinitely. Rove was attacking Obama's strengths. President Obama did just the opposite. He attacked Romney's weaknesses. The result was a landslide victory.

Through the victory, President Obama proved Rove and Romney's strategy obsolete. Before doing that, Obama made redundant his own first-term election strategy against John McCain.

The point is many corporate leaders do the same blunder as Rove did. During my consultancy life, I have experienced corporate leaders stubbornly sticking to the ideas that once worked for them. But when the same strategy does not work the second or third time, the corporate leaders blame their teammates and the company instead.

Let me share a folklore that I fondly remember from my childhood days. An old man, his days numbered, invoked God and prayed for eternal life. The man was very pious and righteous, so God did not reject his prayer outright.  Instead, God sent His angels to tell the man that if eternity is given, he will no longer hear the cry of a newborn and celebrate historical milestones such as birthdays or anniversaries. Humanity will cease to exist.

The man momentarily realised the purpose of creation that everything must conclude in order to create. Therefore, redundancy is a reminder that we must "end" in order to "begin".

The author is an independent director of Bank Asia Limited.