HIPPO – Highest Paid Person’s Opinion
A lesson from the 90’s
In 1994, Francis Lee became chairman of Manchester City, ousting Peter Swales from the position after purchasing £3m pounds worth of shares.
He was welcomed as a hero by City’s supporters, who backed his attempt to gain control of the club. In 1996, Lee appointed his friend Alan Ball as manager, but the appointment proved unsuccessful and the club was relegated. Lee stepped down in 1998, with the club on the brink of relegation to the English Third Division.
Lee had something of a reputation for interfering with team selection. It is understandably difficult for a manager to refuse the chairman, but the club suffered. Lee dominated, the manager was complicit and the results were not produced to forgive the ‘presence of the anti pattern’.
The Anti Pattern Codified
Anti Pattern Name [HIPPO – Highest Paid Person’s Opinion]
Type: [Cultural, Managerial]
Problem: [Meddling in decision making and failing to adhere to strategy, principles or governance processes. In certain cultures, organisational hierarchy is strictly obeyed which results in subordinates toeing the line without protestation. HIPPO is a problem when the HIPP is not suitably qualified.]
Context: [Bullish management, often preceded by a period of stagnation or indecision, HIPPO intervention may or may not be helpful.]
Forces: [stagnation, interventionism, mavericks, control freakery, deferential culture.]
Resulting Context: [Manchester City nearly ended up in Division Three.]
Solution(s): [Challenge the HIPPO, test it as rigorously as any other solution hypothesis. Acknowledge the potential danger of deferential behaviour.]
This post uses the Anti Pattern template (with some modifications) from c2.com as its structural basis.
