Henry Tam is a student looking for a challenge and jumps right into one when he decides to assist MGI ownership as part of a school competition. MGI is a small entity led by three unique individuals two of which are considered accomplished composers. The third person is relied upon by the other two for his business savvy. As Henry’s involvement unfolds and as other students join the MGI team, Henry becomes embroiled in many concepts regarding leadership and teams.
To fully understand what Henry faces, let’s start at the end of the case study where Henry asks himself what he can do to help the team work more effectively. Henry’s dilemma haunts him throughout the case study as the team’s dysfunctional behavior slowly reveals itself.
For me the answer to MGI’s woes is a simple one, yet one that surprisingly evades two of MGI’s leaders, those who are familiar with musicians and composers. What MGI needs is a person who can orchestrate success, a conductor of sorts, a person who can provide strategic direction and like a conductor of a great orchestra get all the parts working together (the creative and the strategic), a person who can work with each person’s strengths and build on their weaknesses.
As the case unfolds, here is what we learn:
> MGI’s core leadership (Sasha, Igor, Roman) is comprised of diverse talents and viewpoints. Igor and Roman are known as accomplished musicians and composers; Sasha is a college graduate with business acumen and finance skills.
> MGI’s product is a software program where through game play the user can both learn and enjoy music. This presents a conflict. MGI’s core leaders believe the software program should be marketed as a game; the student team believes it should be marketed as an education tool.
> MGI’s product is a critical success but a commercial failure, most likely because it missed the Christmas holiday season. Two MGI core leaders who are musicians (Igor and Roman) place this failure at the feet of their business leader Sasha. They believe the problem was that Sasha did not focus on sales, but rather production and fund raising efforts.
> The group dynamic between MGI’s core leaders presents challenges: Igor and Roman have the same upbringing in the Ukraine; Sasha was born in Russia but is viewed as “Americanized” by Igor and Roman as he often refuses to speak in his native tongue; Sasha is also viewed by Igor and Roman as being key to MGI because of his business skills; Igor and Roman are viewed as having poor business skills; Roman is considered the creative person who has the ideas; Igor is considered a workaholic.
> Regardless of how MGI’s core leaders view each other Sasha believes that the group lacks the skills necessary to thrive in the industry. For Sasha they do not have the skill set to properly market their product.
> Much of this is reaffirmed when Henry joins the team as part of his school’s business competition. Yet Henry begins to see some things differently light than MGI’s core leaders. For example, he views Igor as someone who possesses great charisma, but is incapable of articulating anything to do with the business.
> The student team (Henry, Dana, Dav), brought together for the competition, presents yet another level of diverse talents and viewpoints. Henry is an MBA candidate with professional experience in the investment field; Dana is also an MBA candidate with professional experience in the banking; Dav (who joins the team later) is an MIT graduate student with experience in software development and music.
> As the student team meets with MGI’s core leaders they begin to formulate opinions based on observation. Dana discovers that Igor is experienced with teaching children; Henry and Dana are concerned with Sasha’s resume as he has jumped form industry-to-industry with limited accomplishments; Henry and Dana reaffirm their initial belief when they first meet with Sasha as Sasha seems unfocused and jumps from idea to idea.
> Henry and Dana want to establish their specific roles. They see themselves as developing a business plan. However, Igor is looking for a vision and strategy, while Sasha looks to the students as salespeople who can cold call on alumni for financial support.
> As the student team attempts to define their role Sasha and Dana find themselves in conflict over roles and expectations. The conflict is noticed by Henry and Igor, and Igor steps in to resolve the issue. Sasha views the students as learners and helpers while Igor views the student team as critical to MGI’s success.
> As the group continues to meet a new student is added to the team. His name is Alex and he is a music student and is invited to join the team by Igor and Sasha.
> Alex’s music background and expertise is unique. He has worked with MGI’s core leaders in the past. Alex believes the MGI’s software product is a smart way to teach music. From a management and leadership perspective Alex believes MGI lacks organization.
> Several perspectives come from a second meeting. Dana firmly believes leadership is needed as MGI’s core leaders have limited experience. Roman believes Dana takes a very broad view of things, that Sasha also views Dana this way, and that Dana believes Sasha simply as a salesperson. Dana believes the group focuses too much time on brainstorming. Sasha admits he has limited interpersonal communication skills, and this is exemplified by his attempts at suppressing Dana’s ideas. Alex views Sasha as aggressive and strong-willed.
> At the end of the second meeting Henry and David agree that they 1) need to take control of the situation in order to be successful, and 2) have to deal directly with Sasha. Henry and Dana agree to use Sasha’s conflict with Dana to their advantage. Henry and Dana’s plan is simple: Dana will present an idea knowing Sasha will disagree. Then, Henry will propose an alternative that Henry and Dana really want. Sasha will agree to Henry’s idea and simply to spite Dana.
> A third student is introduced at a third meeting. Dav is an MIT student with software development skills. He represents MGI in an MIT business competition. Henry and Dana are troubled by Dav’s introduction, and the fact that Dav was recruited by Sasha and just two days before MIT’s online application deadline.
> Dav spends a lot of time with Sasha and Igor and helps to get a rough draft of the business plan’s Executive Summary ready for submission. Dav also reviews the software program and believes it is excellent and more suited as a game than educational tool.
> Dav also spends additional time with Sasha and Igor and helps with technical aspects of their product. As Dav spends more time with MGI he believes his style is compatible with the MGI core leaders. He feels comfortable with the core leadership because he is not aggressive in a group setting.
> At a third meeting, Henry and Dana present a very professionally PowerPoint presentation that summarizes the work completed to date. The presentation impresses Igor and Roman. On the other hand, Sasha’s presentation is very basic and not electronic. Sasha expresses frustration as he feels he is being alienated by the group.
> At this meeting Dav makes a few observations. Dav feels there is conflict between the HBS students and MGI’s core leadership. Roman is disagreeable; Sasha and Igor believe there are too many people involved.
> Dav also notes cultural differences that impact the groups’ synergy, and uses stereotypes as a basis. According to Dav, Sasha is stubborn while Roman is less stubborn and gives reluctantly.
> Alex is less convinced of the cultural differences noted by Dav. For Alex, he views the differences simply as people wanting to be thorough, and coming from different experiences and skill levels.
> Alex views himself as a go-between, someone with similar skill sets to Roman and Igor, but someone close to Henry and Dana’s age. Alex views the major difference or point of conflict as that between the creativity of Roman and Igor and business sense of Henry and Dana. Dana agrees with this perspective.
> As the group moves ahead the conflict boils down to how to best market MGI’s product. Henry does a lot of market research and believes the product should be marketed to teachers and education market. Dana agrees with this perspective. Roman disagrees and states that the education market is small compared to the music industry. Sasha states that it would be a failure to focus on the education market because MGI has neither the experience nor interest to do so. Henry counters that in fact the education market is indeed smaller but it best suits where MGI’s product is in development. Dana adds a critical perspective by noting that MGI should take a short term and long term viewpoint. MGI’s core leadership begin to gain respect for Henry and Dana.
> As the group progresses, however, Henry and Dana find no clear leader. For Henry the leader was that person who at the time had the most energy to give to an issue.
Yet, the question remains – how can Henry help MGI be successful with so many varied challenges? For me, I believe Henry needs to direct MGI to find a conductor, a person who can direct activities and weave the diverse personalities together towards a set of common goals. Based on my experience, this is a person who can:
> Communicate a compelling vision and inspire allegiance to this vision.
> Walk the talk – a person who practices what s/he preaches, all the time, and regardless of conditions.
> Infuse an attitude of trust, integrity, and professionalism to the work place.
> Motivate teams to reach for goals; find ways for teams to experience success and gain a passion for being successful.
> Communicate and coordinate efforts to ensure effective implementation of programs that are needed and wanted by members.
> Help members to rise above weaknesses and to make full use of their capabilities.
> Encourage an attitude of lifelong learning. Ensure activities are put in place to develop new skill sets and to enable continued personal and career growth.
> Effectively blend people into teams as needed, and develop an appreciation for of thought.
With this in mind, the next question we must ask is this: is the conductor currently a member of the MGI core leadership or student team? Possibly. Alex could be that candidate. He already acts as a go-between, has a skill set similar to the creative Igor and Roman, and is close to Henry and Dana's age. Alex also seems to relate to the business side of the business. However, I am not convinced that Alex is the right person for the job because he tends to ignore the cultural aspect of the conflict.My recommendation would be to bring in some one from the outside who has industry expertise. Ideally, I would look for someone between a blue and red, using the Insights Discovery Profile schematic. This would be an individual who would ensure:
> a shared approach to problem solving
> that issues are dealt with in a rational and logic manner
And someone who is red who would ensure:
> goal driven behavior
> respect for everyones talentsI would then structure MGI's organization in such a manner that would place Igor and Roman in charge of creative concepts, Sasha in charge of business operations, Dav in charge of production and deployment, and Henry and Dana in charge of business analysis and marketing. Sales would fall on several individuals but primarily the new person along with Igor who is viewed as charismatic. Alex can assist with Igor and Roman with the creative.
