The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is one of my favourite movies of all times. Quite entertaining and subtly insightful especially with lessons on determination, love, resilience and empathy. It equally presents us with turnaround strategies and how organisations could be more agile, flexible and innovative.
In the highly entertaining movie, some British seniors faced with different challenges, chief among which is how to live a good life with their little retirement money especially with the troubles around the British economy. They individually decided to relocate to India and live in the glamorous “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” believing that with the little money they will enjoy life better in India than Britain.
Understanding the Situation
The customers: are old and have different life challenges, they are retired and are desirous of a better life.
Their expectation: a palatial resort where they could enjoy the last of their golden years for a lesser amount than what obtains in the United Kingdom.
The reality: On arrival at the hotel, hope, unfortunately, gave way to despair. The hotel was a crumbling, old, shabby, chaotic, rusty, dirty and dusty environment. Unbeknown to them the hotel was heavily photoshopped and made to look good on the internet. They meet the manager of the hotel. His name is Sonny, a young man who seems to have undertaken a project way beyond his capacity, resources and experience. Although largely unqualified, Sonny has terrific courage and vision for success.
“The only real failure is the failure to try, and the measure of success is how we cope with disappointment.”
Tough Times: Golden Opportunities
Sonny has a dream and good intentions; he refuses to give up in the face of overwhelming odds. He does not even let the embarrassment cripple him. Nelson Mandela once told an interviewer that if it weren’t for the time he spent in prison, he might never have developed the strength later required to lead his nation out of apartheid.
Lesson: There is always a pothole on the road to greatness, and a bright side to every dark spot. It is often during life’s most difficult times that we discover our hidden critical strength and unleash the best of our capabilities.
Empathy Works
Disappointed and frustrated by what they met, the tourists would automatically leave but then they just couldn’t. Sonny’s zest and quest for success were captivating. Once the reality of his foolishness and lack of empathy stared at him, he was compelled to put himself in the shoes of his guests and obtain mutual empathy from them. Instead of leaving, they go over the bar and work with him to transform the hotel. Though their new home is not what they had imagined, however, they realised that life and love could begin again if only they let go of their pasts.
Empathy is the first step in design thinking. It exemplifies the best way to solve a problem by involving those affected creatively. It enables us to understand and share the feelings that others feel. Rightly employed, it will lead to transformational growth and build competitive advantage?
Empathy as a Strategic Driver Requires that Leaders in Organizations should:
- See things from the perspectives of their customers.
- Understand customer behaviours, interests and their values.
- Create a culture that deliberately put aside existing knowledge, opinions, beliefs and worldview to understand customers’ views.
- Be humble enough to abandon preconceived ideas and biases.
To explore the power of empathy as a strategic driver for corporate positioning and competitive advantage, leaders must act as role models. Remember
“Emphatic Culture + Right Business Model = Sustainable Success.”
In his book, “Love Works” Joel Manby of The Undercover Boss show, highlighted seven principles that leaders should demonstrate to drive empathy:
- Be patient—demonstrate self-control in challenging situations.
- Be kind—show encouragement and enthusiasm.
- Be trusting—place confidence in those around you.
- Be unselfish—think of yourself less.
- Be truthful—define reality corporately and individually.
- Be forgiving—release the grip of the grudge.
- Be dedicated—stick to your values in all circumstances
Benefits of Empathy
Empathy can significantly improve all the organisational lines: the bottom-line (organisation performance and profitability), the baseline (achieve beyond the standard) the headline (recognition and award-winning and publication in the media), the breakeven line (accelerate the time required to ramp-up period).
I will bring this article to a close with excerpts from the movie.
“The only real failure is the failure to try. And the measure of success is how we cope with disappointment. As we always must. We came here, and we tried. All of us, in our different ways. Can we be blamed for feeling we’re too old to change? Too scared of disappointment to start it all again? We get up every morning; we do our best. Nothing else matters.” — The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011).
Great leaders will try to do their best, build empathy driven business model, as David Novak, the Chairman/CEO of Yum! A company with 36,000 restaurants in 117 countries stated in his book “Taking People with you: The only way to make it Big” No business will ever make big things happen until they learn how to get people on their side, this is a critical skill in business.
Do your best to feel the pain, frustration and disappointment of your employees, customers and other stakeholders. Understand their expectation and how best you could meet it. I am persuaded that in the age “robotised” world and Artificial Intelligence the winning organisation will be those that learn to lead with empathy because they understand that profit is a product of doing the right thing.
Dr Olukunle A. Iyanda, Ph.D., FCA, MBA
Founder/Chief Executive Officer, BROOT Consulting
iyanda@brootc.com
