“Ruy Díaz de Vivar, the Cid Campeador, was a successful entrepreneur, an inspirational leader and a model businessman who knew how to manage his resources in a hostile environment, overcoming adversity with courage, determination and leadership capacity.”
This is how María López Herranz, professional coach and founding partner and director of Onda Positiva, the Center for High Management Performance (CARD) and Russ Natural Horse Way describes the figure of this classic character, from the perspective of business management and leadership. ,
In her book “The strategy of the Cid” (Leven Anclas Editorial, 2014. ISBN: 978-987-45118-3-6), María López Herranz carries out a practical analysis of the strategy with which the Cid managed to accomplish his war feat, while inviting us to discover the keys to current leadership and put them into practice (the work includes various exercises that invite reflection for this).
The author assures that more than ever, inspiring leaders are needed, promoters of committed people and desired projects: “He left ruined to a cruel and uncertain destiny, but with a clear objective in mind: to clear his name, demonstrate his courage and intelligence and make clear the error of his detractors. Like so many businessmen, entrepreneurs and leaders today, he had to learn to adapt to the changes that his new situation marked with the maximum possible agility and prepare to start his project without any economic capital..
Exiled, without help, without fortune and apparently without much future… what were the keys to El Cid’s success? According to López Herranz, there were five:
“Brand capital is supported by the qualities, skills and values that differentiate us and that make others choose us, prefer us and decide to be with us.” “Courage, creativity, deep discipline, intense ability to tolerate the mistakes and weaknesses of others, honesty, humility as a vassal of his lord and as lord of his vassals, high capacity for communication and persuasion, and personal dignity are the skills and values that gave to the Cid, unbroken credibility and the irreproachable reputation that put him on the path to the most overwhelming success.”, indicates the author.
“Leading consists –assures María López- in serving others, so that they can achieve their goals and take advantage of all their abilities. “This is how the greatest loyalties, bonds of gratitude and desire to respond to expectations are generated with unstoppable energy capable of overcoming any challenge and achieving any goal.”. “In El Cid’s professional career, exile represented change, the unexpected, uncertainty. And by being able to adapt to him so nimbly and effectively, she began to demonstrate both his natural leadership competencies and the clarity of his strategic vision.”.
“Motivation consists of wanting to meet the expectations that others have placed on us,” says the coach. “The men to whom El Cid demonstrated his total trust more than returned it, making the maximum possible effort so that the entrusted work turned out perfectly, which, in turn, El Cid knew how to thank with the recognition of good work. fact and the relevant financial reward”.
“Strategic alliances with other companies or people, that is, agreements aimed at mutual benefit, constitute one of the most profitable ways to reinforce the growth strategies of organizations and projects.s”, according to María López. “The Cid’s open-minded and even-tempered character, and his reputation as a generous, fair and courageous man, allowed him to find and maintain powerful allies, always willing to help him and satisfied with their status as Cid’s partners. At the same time, they also benefited from the help that El Cid could provide them, both in war and in peace, and from the advantages that being his allies represented to them, in terms of image and protection..
“Rewarding appropriately (finding the balance between emotional rewards and material rewards and adapting them to the particular preferences of each employee) to employees whose talent is highly valuable is one of the most profitable decisions an organization can make”explains the author.
“On many occasions the knights of the Cid feel so motivated by other causes that they not only reject the financial rewards offered to them, but also put their assets and even their lives at the Campeador’s disposal for whatever is necessary. This level of involvement is only achieved when other generous rewards come into play that have nothing to do with economics and are completely related to emotional satisfaction.” “Satisfaction and gratitude for a job well done continue to be the rewards we most like to receive.”
