Corporate Voodoo: Extract 2 - Vodafone's secret weapons

What of Vodafone? Their key weapon has been a real visionary and combative leader in Chris Gent. He has embraced growth and scale on a global basis as his key measurements of success, and has been single-minded and aggressive about achieving these. Vodafone has benefited from having negligible baggage, and being able to hire and nurture its own Fast business gene pool. They have been extremely customer facing, and have worked very hard to communicate on a regular basis with customers. This has not been 'right first time' - but they are good at not making the same mistake twice. Through innovative use of novel financial instruments they have built the financial resources to go on a not-before-seen acquisition run that has seen them dwarf their competitors. This has made them the talent magnet of the sector (unlike BT, who appear still to be appointing only from within, which would lead one to ask: where are the new ideas coming from? But more of that later).

Gent has flown in the face of accepted wisdom. He has attacked on multiple international fronts. Change has been a necessity, not something to fear. Vodafone is very comfortable partnering on many fronts, as long as this delivers the returns and growth that such a large organisation will need to deliver to shareholders. Whilst others have still been working on their strategic plans, Vodafone have been executing good enough strategies, and recruiting great people, and moving them through the organisation at a pace commensurate with their contribution. They have grown their infrastructure with some slick deals utilising experts via strategic alliances and partnerships, very different from the old school of 'we only make, we never buy - no one can do this better than us'. In the new world of business, building everything yourself just takes too long, and most organisations do not have the requisite talent or leadership to do it all.

Voodoo loves virtual

An essential plank of Fast businesses is their ability to be 'virtual' (they don't own all elements of the production process or the supply chain). They are not just comfortable with this approach, they consciously use it as a key part of their armoury. What really separates Gent from his competitors is his courage and his desire to embrace risk in a manner that many of his fellow leaders in this sector just cannot imitate. His stealth attack on Mannesmann was an object lesson in eyes-out assault and nerve.

The attack changed the corporate landscape in Europe. Before the Mannesmann deal Vodafone had already created America's largest wireless business with a deal with US telecom operator Bell Atlantic. It now had more than 28 million customers worldwide, including 10 million in the UK, and posted a 113 per cent rise in profits when the last results were announced. The takeover saw the creation of an international telecoms giant with 54 million customers in 25 countries and across five continents.

The Vodafone chief has been said to combine persuasiveness, affability, guile and determination. While he said "I am not a ruthless shark," at a press conference in Dusseldorf, launching the hostile bid for Mannesmann, one friend recently remarked that "he never does anything that isn't calculated." - Vodafone - from Racal to Riches by Stirling O'Rourke

Days before the final bid for Mannesmann, Gent told reporters: "It may be unprecedented, but it's not unachievable."

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