management blog

All eyes will be on Denver, Colorado, next week, as the Democratic party gathers to salute its Presidential nominee Barack Obama. This week we should be finding out who will be joining him on his ticket as Vice Presidential nominee.

Leadership transitions are done pretty carefully in the otherwise fraught world of US politics. The general election is set for Tuesday November 4, but the new administration will not begin its term until inauguration day, January 20 2009.

In Britain things are done very differently. Our general election is traditionally held on a Thursday, and by the following morning the new government – if voters have opted for a change – takes office. Former prime ministers can be kicked out at very short notice, sometimes, as with Edward Heath in 1974, effectively becoming homeless on their eviction from No.10 Downing Street.

The new mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has been finding out just how difficult these leadership transitions, British-style, can be. Having been elected in May, he has just lost his second deputy mayor (his third senior appointee to go in as many months).

In the frenzied era of 24 hour news, where each political utterance or manoeuvre is instantly and endlessly analysed, British politicians hesitate to do too much planning prior to an election, for fear of being seen as presumptuous or arrogant.

But listen to Mr Johnson’s words, explaining the sudden departure of Tim Parker, his now ex-deputy:

“Over the last few weeks it has become increasingly apparent to both of us that the nature of the decisions that need to be taken are highly political, and there is no substitute for me, as the directly elected mayor, being in charge. There are limits, therefore, to what can be delegated.”

This an absolutely extraordinary admission. In plain terms: “I had no idea what the job of mayor or deputy truly involved, and, three months in, I have had to completely rethink my approach.” But no doubt Mr Johnson and his team avoided planning too extensively for office in case his opponents and critics in the media portrayed him as getting ahead of himself.

In business, outgoing CEOs are often shadowed, sometimes for months, by their successor. No such maturity or good sense in British politics. How much happier would Gordon Brown have been in office had he been able to arrange a joint premiership with the outgoing Tony Blair? Instead, after the false calm of his first few weeks, the new prime minister has been struggling to stay on top of the job.

Whatever your political leanings, it is surely encouraging to hear that David Cameron, the Conservative party leader, is now beginning to prepare his team for office. With a sustained 15-20 point opinion poll lead, that is not arrogant: it is good management.