Eileen Dooley is a talent and leadership development specialist, and a leadership coach, based in Calgary
One day in late October, Canadians woke to damaging news that the U.S. had broken off trade negotiations with our country. Turns out U.S. President Donald Trump wasn’t too happy with an anti-tariff advertisement commissioned by Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government, an indirect party in the crucial trade talks between the two countries.
It seems Premier Ford has forgotten the game of “Follow the Leader,” which is essential in politics as it is in our working lives.
Our leader, in this case is Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose job, along with his administration, is to advocate for Canada in trade negotiations with the U.S. It’s similar to how a chief executive officer and its management team leads a company, with an expectation that they fall in line – or at least not go rogue. Whether in business or in politics, having alignment among your team is critical for negotiations, especially something as significant as the livelihood of millions of Canadians. As with many large-scale issues, there is an overriding strategy in play and even the smallest detour from that strategy could have devastating results.
Well, this is exactly what happened when the anti-tariff ad ran and eventually caught the attention of President Trump. Whether it was the sole or contributing factor to the halt in trade talks isn’t really the issue. It was the decision to launch an attack from the sidelines, leaving the actual team leader to deal with the fall out.
In this case, the provincial government will carry on and Mr. Ford will remain in power until he is voted out. However, in the business world, if someone went rogue on the CEO they would likely be shown the door almost immediately.
Before deciding to break the rules in the Follow the Leader game, carefully consider these questions:
Will the result work in your favour? I am not sure what the result of Ontario’s anti-tariff ad was, other than to anger the U.S. president. Yes, the ad may have got a message across to Americans, but then what? If you break from the leader, the result should be to either lead your own group or convince others to join you for your cause. Neither happened in this case.
How will the opposing leader react? When we are talking about President Trump, you know it will be bad, quick and with no consultation or critical thought applied. He’s reactive and impulsive. This, coupled with his ego and showboat nature, make for a bad combination of action (halting talks) retaliation (more tariffs). Make sure you can ride out the consequences. In this case, it was derailing much of the progress made in recent months.
Are you keeping your eye on the big prize? Never think about what is best for you, as you will find yourself on a team of one, and we all know there’s no “I” in team. Mr. Ford’s actions focused on instant gratification and shock, all of which have short-term results. The big prize, a national trade deal, has disappeared for now.
Of course Canada’s premiers want what’s right for their province – that’s their job. The trade war, however, is not a provincially led battle; it’s a federal one. The fight has to be led by our federal government, with the comfort that individual provinces – or their leaders – won’t interfere. Provinces should play a supporting and advisory role. Trust on both sides is paramount and, with Mr. Ford’s actions, it may have been eroded.
Effective teams require patience, loyalty and trust in its leader. Going off script can undo any advancements a team makes toward achieving its goal. Premier Ford’s independent move resulted in Canada being tagged out in the tariff game with the U.S. Now, it’s up to the actual leader to turn it around and get us back in.
One day in late October, we woke to damaging news in Canada’s trade negotiations with the United States.
All talks were off, and the president picked up his ball and left. Left standing in the middle of this mess was Ontario Premier Doug Ford, a participant in this game of Follow the Leader, who did not play by the rules.
I wrote about this key topic last year - how the game we all learned in primary school is essential to our working lives.
The leader in this case is the Prime Minister of Canada, whose job is to advocate for Canada (or designate others to represent him) in trade negotiations with the U.S. Just like a CEO is for a company. They select their leadership team and the expectation is they fall in line or at least not go rouge. It’s critical for deal negotiations, especially one this significant. As with many large-scale issues, there is an overriding strategy in play and even the smallest detour from that strategy could have devastating results.
Which is exactly what we saw when the anti-tariff ad ran and eventually caught the attention of President Donald Trump. Whether it was the sole or contributing factor to the halt in trade talks does not matter. No value was added to the cause, just anger. This leaves the leader with having to pick up the pieces.
In this case, the provincial government will carry on and Mr. Ford will remain in power until he is voted out. The business world, however, would likely have a different outcome, as someone going rouge on the president or CEO would likely not be coming back to their role. So, before you decide to stop playing Follow the Leader, carefully consider these questions:
Will the result work in your favour? I am not sure what the result was, other than to anger the president. Yes, he may have gotten a message across to Americans, but then what? If you break from the leader, the result should be to either lead your own group or convince others to join you for your cause. Neither happened in this case.
How will the opposing leader react? When we are talking about Mr. Trump, you know it will be bad, quick and with no consultation or critical thought applied. He is reactive and impulsive. This, coupled with his ego and showboat nature, make for a bad combination of action (halting talks) retaliation (more tariffs). Make sure you can ride out the consequences. In this case, the consequences derailed all progress.
Are you keeping your eye on the big prize? Never think about what is best for you, as you will find yourself on a team of one, which is hardly a team. Mr. Ford’s actions focused on instant gratification and shock, all of which have short-term results. The big prize, a national trade deal, has disappeared for now.
All the premiers want what is right for their province – that is their job. The trade war, however, is not a provincial issue. It’s a federal issue that requires our federal government to lead, knowing that individual provinces will not interfere. They play a supporting and advisory role. Trust on both sides is paramount and, with Mr. Ford’s actions, that trust may have been eroded.
Effective teams require patience, loyalty and trust in its leader. Going rouge will do nothing but derail any progress the team makes toward achieving its goal. The game was played foolishly and Mr. Ford got us all tagged out. Now, only the opposing team’s leader can let us back in.