Pt. 9 of 18. Consistency, leadership lessons from organised crime

For the good of society - 18 leadership lessons from organised crime

Preface

In Part 1, "Ambition" we set the scene.

According to Interpol, the UN and WTO the organised crime industry is one of the worlds largest with quantifiable revenues of at least $3 Trillion per year and despite trillions of dollars worth of investment to counter act their growth the industry is growing faster than ever leaving a trail of devastation in its wake.

In a world first we reveal how Syndicates, some of whose annual revenues top $200 Billion use influence, resources, technology and vision to build global empires and translate it into a business language that philanthropists can use to build prosperous companies that can help repair some of the societal damage by creating new jobs, simplifying international expansion, building engaged workforces and creating new, selfless collaborative cultures.

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During our investigation we uncovered 18 categories, to read them just click on the link below:

1. Ambition
2. Customer Service
3. Bribery and Corruption
4. Devolved decision making
5. External Problem Resolution
6. Internal Problem Resolution
7. Local Touch
8. The Lean Team
9. Consistency
10. Loyalty
11. Perks
12. Disruptive Innovation
13. The Flight to Favourable Jurisdictions
14. React to Real Time Events
15. Process as the Enemy
16. Spying on the Competition
17. Emigres Clusters
18. Trust, Faith and Openness

(9) Consistency

What this means to the Shadow Industry

The phrase career criminal isn’t happenstance and this is particularly apparent within syndicates where crime has become synonymous with the “Family Business” so while it’s often not a coincidence to find the current crop of recruits following in their forebears footsteps we can argue that organized crime is one of the world’s most consistent industries. These profound customer to Soldato and Caporegime and Consigliere to supplier bonds, forged across generations significantly enhance the syndicates agility and ability to identify and move into new markets in ways that many legitimate industries could only dream of.

The relationships and socio-political insights that these familial relationships provide are pivotal in helping syndicates identify and capitalize on the latent intellectual potential and knowledge within their organisations which would otherwise lie unused; furthermore when new market opportunities present themselves it’s these same relationships that help the syndicates rally resources, share risks and maximise the chances of success while simultaneously minimising the impact of failure.

Each successive generation of new Soldatos, irrespective of their families history or lineage learn their trade from the ground up in the streets before making their way into tight knit crews where the Caporegimes make every one of their colleagues responsible for mentoring them in every area of the crews operation before they finally change crews or advance through the ranks into their chosen specialisms. This unique culture of three hundred and sixty degree team mentorship gives each recruit first hand experience of every part of the operation and provides them with a better understanding of the crews limits and operational constraints all of which are subsequently fed back to the Caporegime who can make necessary adjustments or push recommendations up the chain to his Consigliere.

What this means to legitimate industries

As many of you will know the corporate world has become synonymous with inconsistency. Let me ask you a question – where does the majority of your organisations interaction with customers and the market take place? If you’re like every other organisation then it’s likely you’ll have said Sales.

While your organisations visions and goals may not change external pressures such as shareholder expectation and the uncertainty created by dealing with increasingly dynamic marketplaces mean that organisations who are driven top down rather than bottom up where the rubber hits the road are always struggling to gain the right insights to help them create growth strategies that gel with the needs of the market. The knowledge they need is there but it’s traditionally captured by employees at the coal face and the less time the leadership teams take to listen to their employees and the more they move them around the fewer insights they get, the more misguided their strategy becomes and the more frequently they’ll reorganize and change their go to market strategy.

Many organisations reactively change their go to market strategy every year because they don’t have the necessary insights to predict or lead the market but whatever changes take place you can often guarantee that they will be Enterprise wide - affecting not only sales but every other corner of the organisation as well. Management teams change, sales teams change, market focus changes, remuneration changes, relationships get broken, confusion reigns, confidence falls and revenues tank. Change is a constant but continually ripping up and refashioning your go to market strategy is one of the fastest ways to destroy value. 

Takeaway

Organisations that don’t take time to listen to the experiences of the people at the coal face often have to react to market conditions but with the right framework in place organisations can use their employees, customers and partners insights to predict and lead market changes.

The key takeaways are:

• Structural Reform must always be underpinned by the right Mechanical Reform
• Create a framework that helps you predict and lead market changes
• Prioritise and preserve your organisations valuable relationships
• Foster a job for life culture