20
Golf and the Game of Leadership
figured that a round of golf was finished when the Scotch ran out.
Hence, 18 holes. Fact or fiction, I like the story!
A Tough Course
The model for the Global Leadership Course discussed in this
book is the Black Course of the historic Inverness Club in Toledo,
Ohio. Inverness was originally designed by the late Scottish-born
architect, Donald Ross. It is recognized as one of America’s great
golf courses. Most of the golfing greats have strolled the fairways
of Inverness during its long history. It has been selected as the site
for the 1920, 193l, 1957, and 1979 USGA Open Championships,
the 1973 USGA Amateur Championship, the 1986 and l993 PGA
Championships, and the 2003 USGA Senior Open Championship.
At first glance, Inverness appears to be a simple golfing layout.
But ask a club member or any of the professionals and top ama-
teurs who have played the course and they will tell you that Inver-
ness is a very difficult course. Long par-4s, narrow fairways, and
small, fast, undulating greens create a true golfing challenge. In-
verness is a difficult golf course to play but a prestigious one. It is
an appropriate model for the Global Leadership Course, which is
also more difficult to play than it first appears but when played
well rewards the leader who wishes to achieve the status of a ‘‘real
leader.’’
Low scores in the game of golf most often result when players
do a good job at three aspects of the game. They are:
1.
Keeping the ‘‘ball in the fairway’’
2.
Hitting ‘‘greens in regulation’’ (which means using no
more than two shots on a par 4 and three shots on a par 5

on key tasks, and commitment to professional standards of per-
formance.’’
Golf and the Game of Leadership is about hitting quality shots
in the leadership game from wherever your responsibility lies. It
is about helping you to stay in the leadership fairway. Just as the
golfer concentrates on achieving the right results with each swing
of a golf club, so too the leader’s energy must be concentrated on
accomplishing the right results.
Challenge at General Motors
Maryann Keller, in her book Rude Awakening: The Rise, Fall and
Struggle for Recovery of General Motors, wrote, ‘‘What kind of
place is [General Motors] really? . . . It might surprise you to learn
it’s the kind of place great novels are made of, full of drama,
intrigue, and high adventure. What goes on here may well be the
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22
Golf and the Game of Leadership
ultimate example of the heartbeat of American business. GM is a
study in many of the things that are right about corporate
America . . . and much that is wrong.’’
1
In the mid-to-late 1980s, GM, faced with increasing competi-
tion and technological challenges, was going through major
change in every aspect of its business. The corporation was build-
ing new plants, revamping old ones, introducing robotics, retrain-
ing the workforce, trying a new method of operating (in Saturn),
and reorganizing on a massive scale. In one organizational re-
alignment more than 200,000 employees changed organizational
identities in a single day.
A McKinsey and Company study, commissioned by GM, con-

the twenty-first century?
■
What is getting in the way?
Simple Answers
The answers were remarkable. Remarkably simple! Every person
asked—man or woman—said in response to the last question,
‘‘We are.’’ Surprisingly, they did not blame unfair trade with
Japan, government regulations, the attitudes of the workforce, the
union(s), or provide any other lame excuse. They were leaders.
They knew that to get different results they had to lead differently.
They knew the answer was leadership. That was simple. They also
admitted they did not know quite how to change. That was diffi-
cult.
GME&T and Forum then developed a ‘‘culture change’’ train-
ing course for GM’s top 3,000 managers. The effort was originally
entitled ‘‘Leadership 21.’’ But the pilot group, demonstrating an
uncommon sense of urgency, seized ownership and demanded the
program be called ‘‘Leadership NOW.’’ Then in a move I greatly
appreciated, Bill Haupt and his boss, Ralph Frederick, director of
GME&T, invited me to partner with Forum’s lead facilitator,
Marc Sarkady, in the conduct of the program.
We ran the first pilot in late 1986. Then we ran 102 groups in
the United States, plus twelve groups in Europe. We finished in
1990. As I recall, the total number of participants was between
2,900 and 3,000. Participants came from all functional areas and
all parts of the GM system.
I estimate that more than thirty corporate officers and other
top-level executives served as evening discussion leaders. Many
follow-up Walk-the-Talk workshops were also conducted.
What is remarkable is that the GM program administrators

the struggle continues. One thing appears evident, GM is trying
to eliminate, or reduce, unnecessary internal actions that increase
the difficulty of the task. The corporation is searching for simplic-
ity of operation as it competes in the global car and truck market-
place.
The approach of Jack Smith and Rick Wagoner as leaders of
GM has greatly simplified GM’s business approach. The emphasis
is back to engineering, building, and selling ‘‘great cars and
trucks.’’ The ‘‘frozen middle,’’ a term coined by former GM
Chairman Roger Smith to describe an unmotivated middle-
management group created in no small part by the actions of top
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