As promised at the bottom of my At Issue column in the May Horse Sport, today I am sharing with you today the oeuvre that Akaash Maharaj produced in response to my request for input on what advice he might offer EC’s new CEO. I was unable to squash even a tiny fraction of what he had to say into my article, which was a shame because there was so much great material.
I’d like to point out that in March, back when he was still talking to me, EC Prez past-and-present Al Patterson said he expected the new CEO to be installed by May. We are approaching the equator of that month, and so far not a peep from EC M&C dept. about any incoming Grand Poobah. I can hardly wait to see who EC manages to persuade to climb on its merry-go-round this time.
Thanks again to Akaash for taking time out of his busy schedule as Executive Director of the Global Organization for Parliamentarians Against Corruption to reflect on the lessons he learned as one of EC’s many temporary CEOs. I hope you find his words as interesting as I did.
Top Ten List of Tips for Equine Canada’s Next CEO
20 March 2014
Things to Know Before Arriving at Equine Canada
(1) Be a horse person
Equestrianism is unlike any other sport, and having a horse background is an unequalled asset for an Equine Canada CEO.
Others play at their sports: they may play hockey; they may play lacrosse; they may play football. But we are equestrians. Equestrianism defines who and what we are in a way that no mere game ever could. Our sport is more an affair of the heart than a decision of the head, and it must be difficult for a non-horse person to develop the insights necessary to navigate the Canadian horse community.
The economics underlying equestrian sport are fundamentally irrational, making the sector’s business architecture the exception rather than the rule. The sport’s culture celebrates the rugged individual, making collective governance a test of diplomacy rivalling my current responsibilities with the United Nations. The most important actor in the sport – the horse – is unable to speak for himself or to defend himself from exploitation, making an instinctive empathy for horses critical to any equestrian leader.
None of this would have come naturally to me when I served as CEO, if I had not had arena dust coursing through my veins.
(2) Prepare for an uneasy relationship between volunteers and professionals
Equine Canada is unquestionably the largest volunteer-driven equestrian federation in the world. Its volunteers provide a level of experience, talent, and sheer labour that the federation could never afford to purchase. This is EC’s greatest asset, but also its greatest challenge.
EC has more than one hundred volunteer committees with an average of nine people each, creating an impenetrable governance fog, which clouds lines of accountability and strains relationships with EC’s professional staff.
The new CEO should be prepared for this environment, and aware the he or she will need to build trust between and amongst volunteers and professionals who frequently have too much history and too little respect for one another. He or she will have to lead by example, empowering volunteers to play a meaningful role in the federation, insisting that staff are treated like professionals, and upholding divisions of responsibility. I know from personal experience this is a brutal and thankless task, where balance often means that both groups feel equally dissatisfied. This is also the most important internal management role of the CEO.
(3) Know that Equine Canada is not one organisation
Although Equine Canada was formed as one corporation, it is functionally better understood as a federation of eight FEI disciplines, two non-FEI discipline families, breed registries, recreational riders, ten provinces and one territory, horse welfare advocates, equine industry groups, equine government relations, the national team, officials regulation, coaching certification, competition accreditation, drug testing, rules and standards development, and more.
All of these entities come together under EC because of a belief that they can be stronger together than apart. However, the new CEO should be prepared for the reality that he or she will be the only person in the entire sprawling beast whose job is to advance the totality of EC, rather than just one part of it.
Typically, the actors at the table in EC feel that they there not there to serve the common interests of the federation’s members, but instead to protect their entity’s interests. As the most obvious example, every entity wants the federation to absorb its costs and provide it with services, but no entity wants the federation to claim its revenues.
The EC Board recently entitled its new strategic plan One Vision, a tacit admission that the federation’s existential challenge is creating a common sense of purpose. The new CEO should come prepared to make a stark assessment: can the federation fulfil this strategic plan, or should it break apart into smaller but stronger organisations?
Things to do While at Equine Canada
(4) Live out the ideal that to lead is to serve
Holding a position of leadership is not a licence to rule, but a contract to serve. As the professional leader of Equine Canada, the CEO has the honour of being the first servant of the EC membership, and everything he or she does must be measured against his or her accountability to the membership.
My most valuable hours at EC was the time I spent listening to the members, taking their advice, answering their questions, speaking with them in both national languages, and giving them a chance to hold my feet to the fire. It made it possible for me to take better decisions, it made those decisions more legitimate, and it was a humbling privilege to meet so many people who share my passion for the horse.
The CEO has a special responsibility to engage with the members and solicit their views, before representing EC at institutions such as the Canadian Olympic Committee, the FEI, and Sport Canada. I was always deeply conscious that when I appeared before such institutions, I was not there because of my personal qualities, but because I was the representative of a hundred thousand Canadian equestrians, and the words that I uttered had to be ones that those members would be proud of.
Not everyone in the EC apparatus shares this philosophy, and they will argue that the EC membership can not understand and does not care about the issues discussed in the corridors of power. Those people are unworthy of the trust of Canadian equestrians.
(5) Exercise leadership on the international and national stages
Equestrianism has historically had a lower profile in Canada’s national sport system and Canada has historically had a lower profile in the FEI, putting Canadian equestrians at a disadvantage. Yet, there is a tremendous opportunity for Equine Canada’s CEO to exercise leadership in both spheres, and thereby enable EC to better defend the interests of Canadian horses and riders.
During my tenure at EC, I was asked to chair the FEI’s global Constitutional Task Force, to represent the summer sports in a set of discussions with the Canadian Olympic Committee, and to help argue Toronto’s case in its bid to host the 2015 Pan American Games. I believe that each of these roles helped me augment EC’s influence with the institutions concerned, and strengthened EC’s hand in later negotiations on behalf of our athletes.
Equally, however, each of these roles came about only because of years of diligent effort, to build confidence in EC, to persuade other sport actors that Canadian equestrians could not be ignored, and to demonstrate EC’s value to our peers in the international equestrian and national sport systems. However, relationships that take years to build can collapse in months if they are not actively sustained, and I do not know whether EC has worked to retain its standing, in recent times.
The new CEO should carve out the time, the scope, and the mandate to rebuild EC’s role as a leader in the Olympic, Paralympic, and FEI systems. Without this, he or she may find EC being elbowed aside when the time comes to stand up for our sport in Canada, and for our country in the FEI.
Be the sword and the shield of our (6) horses and (7) riders
I must confess to a personal bias in this sphere, both as a doting horse owner and as an athlete who has ridden for Canada, in the recondite sport of Tent Pegging.
I believe that Equine Canada must be first, last, and always the sword and the shield of our athletes, both equine and human. Ultimately, if EC does not defend Canada’s equestrian athletes, no one else in the world will.
At the time of my departure from EC, the Horse Welfare Committee was in full cry, and carrying out high-quality and much-needed work on the control of equine infectious diseases and standards for humane horse care. If the committee has continued to grow since then, the new CEO could engage them in shaping EC’s positions at the FEI. Too often, the FEI decides questions such as rollkur, the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and abuse in high-speed Endurance, based on the loudest voices rather than the strongest science. If the Horse Welfare Committee has reached a point where it is able to commission peer-reviewed scientific studies, then the new CEO will have a chance to fundamentally change our sport for the better, for its most important yet most vulnerable members.
I also sense that the new CEO will have some work before him to demonstrate to our human athletes that Equine Canada is not a fair-weather friend. During my tenure, I felt that it was my duty to do everything in my power to protect our riders from harm, and to ensure that they did not face adversity alone. I know that that is an approach that has been carried on by EC’s Team Leader and Chefs d’Équipe, but I do not believe that our riders feel that it has been universally honoured in the federation.
What to do When Leaving Equine Canada
(8) Keep your integrity intact
Without exception, every CEO in Equine Canada’s history has left the federation after a breakdown in his or her relationship with the Board of Directors. Either the CEO lost respect for the Board leadership, or the Board leadership lost confidence in the CEO. It is possible that the next CEO will have a different experience, but the weight of history clearly suggests otherwise.
When I joined EC, my intention was to do as much good as I could during my time in office, and to judge my tenure by the extent to which I helped to make Canadian equestrianism stronger. In retrospect, I think it was the correct approach.
If a time comes when the next CEO feels that his or her conscience, dignity, or professional ethics are at risk, then he or she should not hesitate to ride off into the sunset, and to take pride in what he or she has accomplished. Sometimes, the greatest service a leader can offer an organisation is to refuse to compromise his or her integrity.
(9) Take the high road on your way out
Equine Canada is enormously dependent on direct and indirect support from government, funders, and multi-sport organisations for its effectiveness, and indeed for its very survival. This support relies critically on the relationships between the EC leadership and the decision-makers in those organisations.
Before I announced my departure from EC to the membership, I contacted each of those decision-makers personally, to let them know I would be leaving, and to reassure them that the policies and programmes that had earned their confidence would carry on in my absence. I then asked for, and received, their reassurance that their support for EC would not be diminished after my departure.
There may be an understandable – but dishonourable – impulse for a departing CEO to turn his back on the federation after he or she has walked out the door. But to do so would only hurt the people, horses, and sport that he or she worked to support.
(10) Keep your friends and the good memories
For all Equine Canada’s trials, tribulations, and absurdities, the opportunity to serve my sport, my community, and my country as CEO will always be one of the great honours of my life. Few people find a vocation that allows them to combine their ideals, passions, and profession, and fewer still discover it amongst new friends and kindred spirits. I know it sounds absurd, but I felt that I was given a chance, in a modern context, to answer the call of chivalry that my ancestors had heard centuries ago.
Future CEOs will have their own reasons for accepting the post, and their own motivations for each day at the office. I am certain, however, that they will have the same chance I did to make new friends, to find people they admire, and to accumulate anecdotes that will make them smile even on the coldest days in the barn. I encourage them to hold on to the friendships and the memories, long after their tenures as CEOs close.
