Competence, Admitted

Tim O'Toole is the managing director and CEO of London's "Underground." There were the 7/7 bombings last year. The Underground was open for business the following morning by rush hour. O'Toole's philosophy: There were 14,000 frontline workers out there who knew what to do and how to do it. They behaved that way because of training and competence.Not just paper evidence. We "drill, drill, drill, and train, train, train."

There has to be proof of every member's competence. He gives them something to hang on to, like his slogan, "A world-class tube for a world-class city."

But he knows it all hinges on their competence, tested.

In this era of proprietary panaceas, it is refreshing to hear a CEO talk about the foundation stone, competence. It is a foundation stone of my book Leadership: Thinking, Being, Doing. O'Toole represents a small cadre of common-sense CEOs who understand that a competent organization hinges on competence in every role in that organization. There is no fairy-dust, contrary to the posture of so much of our business press in the U.S. Maybe the Brits know something we don't?

More in the full text of "Turning Around the London Subway System: From Terrorism to the Olympics" at the link here.