The Guru in the Bull Ring

Does effective business management require a skilled leader or can a business be managed and the staff brought together under a common banner by someone who is only a marginally effective (yet compelling) manager? Does an employees faith in the company make the company more successful and enable the manager to do her job with better results, or do we need something more tangible built into our businesses to keep the wheels turning.

In his book, 'Raising the Bar', author and adventurer Gary Erickson details his experiences in taking over control of Clif Bar and restoring his company's "mojo". He drew upon the resources of others who had run great companies and who focused on the quality of the employee work experience and faith in their product line as a barometer of the health of the company. Managing and leading from this afferent perspective is what has helped create the culture of Clif Bar and has kept the company vision strong and ultimately sustainable. When his employees believe in the company vision, there is growth and corporate contentment. Erickson writes, "I realized that mojo was an elusive quality and needed to be carefully tended."

In the Spring of 1979 I found myself living for three weeks in the seaside town of Marbella on the Costa del Sol in the south of Spain. I lived with a dozen other people from all over Europe on the flat rooftop of the Pensao Luisa a few dozen yards from the popular (but expensive) youth hostel. The days were pleasant and the evenings were spent playing guitars, buying pitchers of local sangria and eating 'paella' in the local resteraunts. One day, the whole town was invaded by a curious collection of strangers from all over the continent.

One of many Indian guru's of the day was enjoying modest popularity at that time and had rented out the local Plaza del Toros for a three day festival. Tour buses full of the faithful arrived by the dozens and suddenly our little rooftop was crowded with families and their children, young wanderers and even geriatric patriarchs all ready for three days of dust, harmony and churros. Joining the throng on the first day of the event, I made my way to the bull ring along with the rest of the crowd and managed to secure an admission wristband. With my camera hidden under my shirt, I was able to get a comfortable seat in the stands and to snap photos of the crowds and the Indian fellow himself on his dias. One of my photographs depicts the moment that the guru made his appearance to his softly lit stage in his great beige armchair. The sun was setting and the dust was settling in the bull ring as he made his appearance before the exhausted but elated crowd. I never knew what his message that day was but I spent some time observing the crowd who had left their homes, boarded busses, bought tickets and other objects of reverence and for whom now, the magic hour had arrived. Women screamed, children clapped as they sat on their fathers shoulders. Followers of rival gurus made loud hooting noises before settling into their seats. The festival ended three days later, I am told with a unique bonding event in which the guru sprayed the crowd with water cannons full of colored water into the thousands who cavorted through the bull ring in white attire as they recieved this pressurized rainbow colored baptism. After a few days the people left and the sleepy town was returned to normal.

Having never had anything to do with guru's or cults before, I was interested in who these people were and what could possess them to participate in such an event. Thirty years later I still occasionally glance over the photographs of the crowd on that first dusty day in the evening light of the bull ring and marvel at the effect that this little, non descript Indian man had on his followers. He may not have been a very good manager but he certainly seemed to offer leadership (of a sort) to those thousands who thought they needed leading. Could Clif Bar be managed by such a leader as this? Could this young guru have run a company or a country or is this type of leader only able to lead those who need someone to follow?

The trials and joys of running my medical practice are far removed from the events of that Spring day in a small Spanish town. At times in my daily practice life it is interesting to reflect on the power that some managers seem to have over others and to try to understand how this can translate into leadership. Office staff do not have an inherent need to have someone to lead them or guide them the way the faithful flock to their spiritual guides, but they are searching for that key idea and vision that will sustain them in the workplace and help them return to work each day with energy and committment and.....mojo.