Something on PBS is cool? This isn’t a typo. It’s PBS-not CBS or NBC.
What is making me turn on PBS, besides my niece’s unhealthy obsession with Elmo?
Downton Abbey.
Re-acquaint yourself with PBS-it’s still channel 2.
While I make no secret I love entertainment news-you might be wondering where I am going with this. There are so many themes: Employee engagement, different generations working and living together, leadership, succession planning, change management, innovation, and fairness, are rampant!
Throw in dry, Brit humor, juicy story lines, and my blog brain is on overload.
If you aren’t watching this show, here is the quickie overview. Downton Abbey is a British period drama television series . Set in the fictional, Yorkshire country estate of Downton Abbey, it depicts the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the post-Edwardian era .
For this blog, let’s take a closer look at Robert Crawley, 7th Earl of Grantham. There are some stand out leadership lessons and examples-but also decisions that make you want to travel back in time and say, Seriously?
What Lord Grantham Does Really Well
Empathic Leader: Whether it is Lord Grantham’s family or servants, he is protective, emphatic and genuine. He treats the workers like family. Examples:
- Lord Grantham pays for his cook’s eye surgery when she starts to go blind
- He saves a long-standing employee from an unnecessary, embarrassing, public scandal
- When a houseguest insults male employees of Donton for not fighting in World War I, Lord Grantham throws them out of the castle with incredible distaste
- He forgives his eldest daughter for an indiscretion-which at the time would have been difficult for most men, especially in that era. After learning about the ordeal, he simply responds, “..you are not the only Crawley to have made a mistake”.
Adopting New Technologies: While this is also a “developmental” area-it is important to make note of his positive examples such as installing electricity, and telephones that were cutting edge at the time.
What Lord Grantham Needs to Work On
- Innovation: Lord Grantham was against the idea of new technologies and also wanted to revert to financial decisions and methods, which almost ruined Downton. His son-in-law, Mathew had to work very hard, and recruited others to show Lord Grantham future trends and how to keep Downton Abbey sustainable. For the non-watchers, Mathew literally bailed out Lord Grantham and saved Downton from financial collapse.
- Working with Gen Y: I am uncertain what the younger generation was called then, but let’s use modern day terms. The point is: Lord Grantham is slow to embrace the young generation. Whether it is Mathew pushing for new technologies or accountability, his daughter, Edith who wants to pursue a career, or his youngest daughter Sybil, who leaves the nest against their wishes, Lord Grantham struggles with these new ideas, values and opinions. Lord Grantham ultimately does accept them but like many leaders is too protective of the past-and makes it almost difficult to innovate. If it wasn’t for the persistence (and major historical events) of the younger generation, Lord Grantham might be living with Mummy Dearest. If you watch the show, you know it would not be a picnic living with Violet Crawley.
- Don’t Be Complacent: For years Lord Grantham mismanaged Donton’s assets. It almost was the demise of Donton. If Mathew had not pushed, even forced Lord Grantham to “wake up”, Downton would have been history-literally. Are you paying attention? Do you know your own business? Do you have a trusted team to advise you? Do you hold your people accountable? Do not get comfortable-even if you have servants.
Steph. Mello, VPE
