Pooh and business
With Gordon Brown making the transition from chancellor to PM today I found myself thinking about the transition from managing the finances to being a leader. Actually it was more with the FT’s article humorously titled, “Eeyore must become Tigger of No 11” comparing business roles to characters in Winnie the Pooh. Segue: it’s interesting that the FT’s renamed the article online, but I swear that was the title in the print version! Oh, and sorry if you’re stuck outside the FT’s walled garden.
I love the comparison of finance people to Eeyore and Chief Exec’s to Tigger’s. For those who aren’t familiar with the characters, Wikipedia puts it perfectly, Eeyore is a pessimistic, gloomy, old, depressed stuffed donkey and Tigger is a cheerful, outgoing, competitive in a friendly way, and completely confident in himself Tiger.
In my (admittedly limited) experience with finance people and Chief Exec’s that’s really been the case. Sure there are exceptions, but it’s an interesting analogy. Most of the finance people I’ve come across have been Eeyore-ish and a lot of Chief exec’s have been Tigger’s. Actually let me rephrase that, a lot of the successful chief exec’s I’ve read about have been Tigger’s.
Personally, I’m a lot more Tigger then Eeyore, with a little bit of Pooh – a gentle bear who never attacked anyone, and is much loved for being playful - thrown in.
An interesting game would be “Tigger’s or Eeyore’s” looking at business personalities and politicians as characters from Winnie the Pooh. From what I’ve read I would guess that:
- Steve Jobs is a Tigger
- Jerry Yang is a Tigger
- Bill Gates is a Tigger with a bit of Eeyore hiding deep down
- Not sure what to make of any of the Google guys
- Warren Buffet is an Eeyore with the heart of a Tigger
- Mark Cuban is a Tigger
- George Bush is a Piglet (who masquerades as a Tigger and an Eeyore)
- Tony Blair is a Tigger
- Gordon Brown is an Eeyore trying to make believe he can be a Tigger
Can you convert from one personality to another, I’m not so sure. But it will definitely be interesting to see Gordon Brown try.
