Find Jonah - Redirect!

Is there a category of employee that fits with being your firm's jonah?

Briefly recall that Jonah was sent to do a job, decided that he could do the company a better job elsewhere, and ended up putting his mates and their ship in peril. Being good and smart mates, they promptly tossed him overboard, from where the HR fish rescued him and put him back onto his original track - and he slogged it out and succeeded!

In the nautical world, if you have a streak of bad luck, you need to find the Jonah fast and get it/her/him off your vessel ASAP. The word 'Jonah' has become firmly linked to bad luck. 

Scenario, #NewTech: A lovely new technology in the hands of a dedicated company, but it's going nowhere! I, or someone like me (troubleshooter), eventually gets a call 'to see if anything can be done.' It's a bit of a last gasp, but before shelving such a promising new tech, one last try is on the cards.

I get to studying the basics:

• Is the tech really promising? Yes.
• Could it be profitable? Yes.
• Competition? Only much inferior older tech.
• Is there a market fit? There could well be. but pricing could be an issue.
• What has marketing been up to? Understaffed, but working hard and not getting places.
• Is the strategy reasonable for the task? Good on paper/spotty implementation.
• What about funding? Ah, there but not there!
• Any other issues? The QA looks shaky, supply chain management is poor, infantile handling of distribution channels, poor CRM, thin NET presence, data poorly organized, and a few minor but fixable things.

What has the upper management been up to? Well, they've changed 3 marketing heads so far and their strategist twice without seeing any real change. The status is that they spent a few millions on R&D and then scaled up, but the turnover for the past couple of years has been pretty stagnant, showing only incremental growth, and they are still very much in the red. Funding is available, but with a track record like this one, there's no confidence left for the commit. 

Were the marketing heads and strategists competent? They do seem to have been, and usually such ones would have assessed the potential for success pretty astutely before taking up that responsibility. Something sent their plans awry. 

A #jonah is now a strong possibility, and by that I don't mean just a random streak of bad luck! 

The modern company's jonah is usually in the upper management or has their ear. This person (often with an inside team) have their own theory of how the job should get done. Anyone, or anything that comes in the way of that plan will be dealt with - most effectively, through quiet obstruction. Holding a key post and being influential, the jonah knows how to subtly fix things. Marketing and strategy eventually find that they can't get things done, and are either fired or if they are smart, will quietly move on before that eventuality arises.

In today's world, now a few years after the last big crash, a little dig into history might provide the first clues. The company was saved from certain ruin because of strong and timely action taken by the one who became the jonah. Having saved the firm from certain ruin, they are trusted, for when others jumped ship, the loyal jonah took the risk and did what needed to be done, and the company survived. This person subsequently, having proved their competence and loyalty, pretty much gets to call the shots or at least have a say in all important decision making.

Now, quite unlike in the nautical world, even if you do find a jonah, tossing them overboard is not the way to go! Here is a person of competence, smarts, and loyalty and who has years of experience in getting things done. What is badly needed is redirection. Find them a challenging new task and get them (and their team) out of the new tech establishment altogether. If it is done right, they will succeed to the company's great benefit.

And jonahs are not to be blamed! Jonahs, after all, are creations of the company... Very often there is a concomitant weakness right at the top which has allowed or maybe even encouraged the jonah, and that weakness too will have to be dealt with in time by the stakeholders.

New tech introduction is tricky and requires well planned funding. Many quick adjustments will be needed in the market to find the fit and then make it work. Only when everything works together will you get a good shot at success! Running an established business is an entirely different kettle of fish, and johahs are typically better at that because they tend to be conservative. It was their business conservatism (in this scenario) that helped them to get the company through times of crisis, but conservatism and new tech do not get along well, especially in the early phases where marketing has to call the shots, and has to have the funds to carve out the new tech's new niche and then build share against the established, older tech, who won't give up their market dominance without a fight.

Disclaimers - Jonah's, in my experience, are rare! A string of bad does not justify a witch hunt! I am using the word in its most generic sense and the scenario given above is very common, while jonahs are not!

I look forward to interacting with you so Please comment/critique, and please do Connect:

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