Leadership Lessons from Game of Thrones

What sets Game of Thrones apart from even an epic like Lord of the Rings is the very realistic characterization of the protagonists and antagonists, few of whom are entirely good or entirely bad. Viewers can meanwhile use management and quality principles to predict the outcomes, whether good or bad, of the characters' decisions. My prediction is, by the way, that Daenerys Targaryen and/or Jon Snow will destroy the Iron Throne in the last episode, for reasons explained further below. The story, meanwhile, incorporates numerous leadership and management principles with which quality practitioners are quite familiar.

 A Leader who must Flaunt his Authority is No Leader

 There is an excellent scene in which the teenaged King, Joffrey Barathion, who is best described as an incarnation of the deranged Roman Emperor Caligula, threatens a subordinate by reminding him that he is a king with the power of life and death over his subjects. Joffrey's grandfather Tywin Lannister, who is the real power and brain behind the throne, interjects, "Any man who must say 'I am the king' is no true king."

 Leaders of civilian enterprises have nowhere near an absolute monarch's level of authority and, even though they can threaten to fire subordinates, this threat is best not exercised except as a last resort. Henry Ford made this quite clear, although perhaps not as eloquently as Tywin Lannister: "You can show your authority till doomsday and make people fear it too; but you will never make them respect it" [1].

 "Assume" Makes an Ass (or Dragon Food) of U and Me

 Alan Dean Foster phrased this principle in Splinter of the Mind's Eye as, "The universe is full of dead people who lived by assumption." Whereas Tywin Lannister is normally the brains behind the ruling Lannister family while his grandson Joffrey is a self-centered sadistic bully, even Joffrey is like a broken clock that is right twice a day. Daenerys Targaryen, the heiress of the former ruling dynasty, has assembled a relatively small group of followers on another continent, and has also figured out how to hatch three dragon eggs. The Targaryens had previously used dragons to conquer the entire continent of Westeros.

 Tywin assumes, based on past history, that these new dragons are too small to be dangerous. Joffrey wants to know whether they are in fact nothing more than living cigarette lighters or highly intelligent weapons that can do to any city in Westeros what the air forces of the Second World War did to numerous cities—the difference being that nobody in Westeros has fighter aircraft or even antiaircraft weapons more sophisticated than medieval siege engines. The French assumed similarly in 1940 that tanks could not penetrate the Ardennes Forest, and the United States assumed in 1941 that the water in Pearl Harbor was too shallow for air-dropped torpedoes.

 The same lessons carry over into industry where Swiss watch makers helped develop the quartz watch movement, but did not patent it because they assumed that customers wanted mechanical watches. Kodak helped invent digital photography, but it apparently assumed that everybody would continue to want photographic film. Henry Ford, in contrast, bought one of every automobile that anybody produced because he wanted to know what his competitors were doing. This ties in directly with ISO 9001:2015 clause 6.1 on actions to address risks and opportunities. The whole point of root cause analysis (RCA) is meanwhile to find out, rather than assume, the true root cause of a problem. Many problem solving exercises do not work because the process owner assumes he or she knows the root cause, when it is really something else.

 Solve the Right Problem

Problem definition is a key aspect of root cause analysis, and Dr. Stephen Covey once presented an anecdote to explain this. A group of people were working very hard to make a path through a forest when one of them climbed a tree, looked around, and yelled down, "We're in the wrong forest!" The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros had similarly erected a huge wall (modeled on Hadrian's Wall, but much taller) thousands of years ago. Everybody believes that the wall's purpose is to keep out the Wildlings, an assortment of northern tribes whom George R.R. Martin apparently modeled on the Picts. Its real purpose was to keep out the White Walkers, zombies who seek to kill all humans and transform them into more zombies, and the Wildlings are as terrified of the White Walkers as everybody else. The protagonist Jon Snow gains enormous credit for figuring out that everybody has been working on the wrong problem for thousands of years, and then persuading most of Westeros that it had better start to work on the right problem before they became part of the problem (as zombies).

 Don't Create a Weapon You Can't Control

The White Walkers were created originally by the Children of the Forest, a race modeled on mythical English creatures like faeries who were integral parts of the forests. The First Men invaded Westeros long ago with bronze weapons that were superior to the obsidian ones used by the Children, so the Children designed the White Walkers to be unkillable by metal weapons. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but the fact that only the Children possessed the means to destroy White Walkers did not mean the White Walkers could not kill their own creators.

 The villainess Cersei Lannister meanwhile empowers a group of religious fanatics known as the Sparrows so they will imprison her daughter in law (whom she thinks has too much influence over her son the King) and another member of her daughter in law's family. It is only a matter of time before her victims' grandmother (portrayed by Diana Rigg from the original Avengers series) gives the Sparrows evidence of Cersei's own transgressions.

 Queen Isabella of Spain, the same one who is rightly famous for backing Christopher Columbus' expeditions and unifying Aragon and Castille, similarly empowered the Spanish Inquisition to persecute anybody who might be disloyal to the new kingdom. The Inquisition later gained so much power that Spanish monarchs and nobles were themselves terrified of this institution. Revolutionary France's Committee for Public Safety ended up guillotining some of its own creators such as Robespierre, while Communist Russia often had purges that killed off or exiled to gulags Party members who were previously in good standing.

 Robert Barathion Explains ISO 9004:2018 Clause 7.1.1; Daenerys Targaryen Implements It

 King Robert Barathion is a good warrior but a miserable King. He spends money his treasury doesn't have, and he occupies his time with drinking, hunting, and cheating on his wife Cersei, who in turn cheats on him. The latter leads me to wonder George R.R. Martin deliberately gave the Barathion crown, which features the horns of the stag that is on the family's coat of arms, a double meaning; a cuckold was once said to "wear horns."

 Robert is however like that broken clock that is right twice a day. He explains "unity of purpose," a phrase that appears twice in Clause 7.1.1 of ISO 9004:2018, by asking which is stronger: five or one. He emphasizes his point by holding out five spread fingers, and then clenching them into a fist. The feudal nature of his own realm requires him to call on his vassals during time of need while the Dothraki, who are modeled on Central Asian steppe peoples like the Mongols and Huns, might one day unite under a single leader to invade Westeros.

 A Google search on George R.R. Martin and Machiavelli shows that Martin apparently read The Prince, which noted that a European kingdom like France was easy to conquer but difficult to keep. An invader could win some disgruntled French nobles over to his side, and then take over the realm with their aid, but he would in turn have to rely on the same nobles who might similarly turn on him one day. The nobles switch sides in Game of Thrones just as they did during England's War of the Roses, which underscores this point. The Ottoman Empire was, in contrast, difficult to conquer because it had but one master, the Sultan, whose centralized power made him largely independent of whatever nobility his country might possess. If an enemy could overthrow the Sultan, however, he could easily keep the realm because there were no nobles who might rise up against him. The Roman Empire meanwhile endured as long as it maintained unity of purpose; it collapsed only when its rulers and would-be rulers fought one another while bringing in barbarian mercenaries to help them achieve their goals.

 Daenerys Targaryen later achieves the unity of purpose that King Robert feared. She uses her immunity to fire to burn down a yurt to roast all the Khals (khans who often fight one another as well as outsiders) and then walking out of the flames unharmed to demonstrate to the Dothraki that she is indeed something special, while conveniently leaving them otherwise leaderless. She also, and perhaps more importantly, proclaims that all Dothraki, as opposed to a hand-picked handful, are her bloodriders; personal retainers similar to the hatamoto of Japanese warlords.* She then gives them a very simple objective; invade the Seven Kingdoms, kill her enemies, and place her on the Iron Throne. This is a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound) goal, and the fact that she commands three very large dragons shows it to be highly achievable.

* The book version adds that the bloodriders and their Khal share a single life, and that the bloodriders are expected to follow their Khal into death. The feudal Japanese counterpart was junshi, or "accompanying suicide" as committed, for example, by General Nogi and his wife upon the death of the Meiji Emperor.

 That Ain't an Ethical Dilemma, Mate; This is an Ethical Dilemma

 Many "ethics" case studies relate not to ethics, but rather decisions between obviously good and evil choices. There is no "dilemma" as to whether to falsify quality data, or claim continuing education credits one has not earned; these are simply flat-out wrong. An ethical dilemma arises when one must choose between at least two partially wrongful alternatives, such as which innocent person an autonomous vehicle should hit if it cannot avoid a collision. India's Bhagavad Gita focuses meanwhile on the ethical dilemma of a great warrior whose duty (Right Way) requires him to fight his own cousins and teacher.

 One of C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower stories includes a similar ethical dilemma in which Hornblower, now an admiral, meets Napoleon's Marshal, Cambronne, at sea. Cambronne is on his way to rescue Napoleon from Saint Helena and bring him back to France, which would doubtlessly mean another war and hundreds of thousands of casualties. Hornblower lies to Cambronne by telling him Napoleon has died, thus committing the unthinkable act of breaking his word to another gentleman; even an enemy officer is entitled to the truth under circumstances of this nature. Even an author as renowned as Forester can't get his hero out of this one without a deus ex machina ending in which Napoleon actually dies in the meantime. Game of Thrones protagonist Jon Snow meanwhile refuses to lie to Cersei Lannister to create an alliance with her upon which survival of the entire human species depends, after which both Daenerys Targaryen and Tyrion Lannister criticize his decision while admitting that his action was in fact honorable.

 Jaime Lannister meanwhile becomes known as the Kingslayer for murdering the king he had sworn to defend with his life—the same king who, while preparing to destroy his own city and the people within it, orders Jaime to kill his own father. A knight's vows include obedience to one's king, loyalty to one's father, and protection of the innocent, which meant that Jaime had to break at least one vow regardless of what he decided.

 An item that tips the balance in Jaime's favor is the fact that a lord who accepts a vassal's fealty swears that he or she will not ask the vassal to commit a dishonorable action (like parricide or complicity in mass murder of noncombatants), so the king arguably broke his own vow first and forfeited Jaime's loyalty. This lesson carries over into the real world where an employer who tells an employee to falsify quality data, ship nonconforming work to a customer, or sign off on a Space Shuttle launch under weather conditions in which the O-rings might not function, cannot credibly accuse the employee of being disloyal for refusing to support the dishonest or unsafe action in question.

 Loyal Shield Bearers are Priceless

The "loyal shield bearer" is a friend who shares a leader's vision and will do everything possible to make it a reality. This friend will tell the leader what the leader needs to hear, whether he or she likes it or not. Batman's butler Albert, Colonel Sapt from The Prisoner of Zenda, and Jean Victor de Constant Rebecque (as portrayed at Waterloo in the Richard Sharpe series starring Sean Bean), are fictional examples. Sapt does his best to preserve the country of Ruritania despite his king's poor governance, while Rebecque does the same for the Netherlands despite the incompetence of Prince William of Orange. The historical Otto von Bismarck tried similarly to advise the Kaiser, but the Kaiser dismissed him and took the management of Germany into his own hands. It is conceivable that, had Bismarck's influence been allowed to prevail, the First World War might have been avoided.

 Henry Ford's production chief Charles Sorensen played a similar role at the Ford Motor Company. Ford heeded his advice most of the time, which explains why the company was so successful. When Ford suffered a series of strokes that diminished his mental capacity, Sorensen did his best to hold the company together so he could hand it over to Ford's grandson.

 Ser Davos Seaworth tries to be Stannis Barathion's loyal shield bearer, but Stannis doesn't listen to him and therefore comes to a bad end. He later, however, comes to support Daenerys Targaryen, as do Tyrion Lannister, the eunuch Varus, and Ser Jorah Mormont. All four want to advise her not because they expect her to shower them with riches, but because they believe that she is looking for ways to serve her subjects rather than lord it over them. While she is normally a very capable and self-made leader who, among other things, uses psychological warfare to capture a city—by launching broken slave collars into the city to foment a slave revolt—she also has the mercurial temper that runs in her family. She fortunately listens to her advisors when they tell her that using her dragons to flatten various enemy-held cities, as practiced by her ancestors, might not be the best way to win the hearts and minds of the people she intends to rule.

Character and Integrity are More Important than Appearance

Sansa Stark is enamored first by the young and handsome Joffrey Barathion, and then by the young and handsome Ramsey Bolton, both of whom turn out to be highly abusive spouses or would-be spouses whom she cannot divorce or obtain a protection from abuse order against. She meanwhile finds Tyrion Lannister, whom she has been forced to marry (and vice versa) repulsive because of his short stature even though he treats her with the utmost respect and courtesy. Tyrion also has numerous other good qualities including, as but one example, his personal leadership in repelling Stannis Barathion's assault on King's Landing while Joffrey's participation is limited to bragging about what he will do to the enemy, and then staying well out of danger during the actual battle. It would not be surprising or disappointing to see Sansa marry Tyrion after all, assuming that both are still alive in the last episode given the rather high casualty rates among all the protagonists.

This outcome would also parallel that of Shakespeare's King Richard III: "We will unite the white rose and the red" with a marriage between York and Lancaster or, in this case, Stark and Lannister.

 "My Way or the Highway" Often Means the Highway—For the So-Called Leader

King Stannis Barathion is a very capable combat commander who does not ask his soldiers to take any risk he will not take himself. He proves, however, incapable of putting together any kind of coalition because he insists that the Wildlings or Free Folk bend the knee to him when it is not their custom to kneel even to their own chosen ruler. They desert his cause as a result, thus leaving him at a fatal disadvantage in battle. What makes his failure particularly tragic is that he almost had them; he promised them unused land in Westeros, and safety from the menace from the other side of the Wall, in exchange for their fealty. He should have instead found out what kind of gestures of respect they made among themselves, and accepted and adopted those courtesies himself, instead of demanding that they kneel to him.

 Daenerys Targaryen does considerably better by adopting the language and customs of the Dothraki, but she then demands that Jon Snow—now King in the North—bend the knee to her because she believes it is her birthright to rule the Seven Kingdoms, including the North. It will be interesting to see what happens when she learns that Jon Snow is actually her cousin and, as the son of her elder brother, actually has the senior claim. (According to most medieval laws of succession, the son of the former king's son would be senior to the former king's daughter.)

 Yes, any person in a position of authority can say, "My way or the highway." This works only while the purported leader controls the subordinates' paychecks or supply chain partners' contracts but, when they choose the highway, the leader might find himself out the door as well because modern business relationships are interdependent.

 Organizations Must Create Lasting Systems and Structures

 My prediction for the last season is that Daenerys Targaryen will, after winning the Iron Throne that is hers, and her cousin Jon Snow's, by right, destroy it—much as George Washington refused an offer to become King of the United States. There have been enough hints to this effect in the story. She said she was not going to stop the wheel on which one noble family was on top, and then another, she was going to break that wheel. Jon Snow, who is actually the rightful King, meanwhile doesn't even want to be King in the North let alone King of Westeros or, to paraphrase Mel Brooks, "It ain't so good to be the King." She knows that her own family almost destroyed itself with civil wars by fighting over the Iron Throne, and there is nothing to stop this from happening again once she and Jon are gone. It is also noteworthy that her dragons are all males, which makes them the last of their line, so any hereditary successors she and Jon might produce will not be able to use dragons to enforce peace.

 The real-world counterpart to this situation took place upon the death of Alexander the Great, who named no successor and instead left his empire to "the strongest." The last Targaryens will therefore have to come up with a lasting structure to succeed them.

 While the villainess Cersei Lannister warned, "When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die," the truth has been far closer to, "You win and you die" and, as stated by the computer in WarGames (1983), "The only winning move is not to play." None of the six most recent occupants (The Mad King, Robert Barathion, Ned Stark, Joffrey Barathion, Tywin Lannister, and Tommen Barathion) died from old age, while Cersei will almost certainly come to a bad end as well, for a total of seven successive deaths due to causes other than natural ones. It might be telling that Tyrion Lannister was too short to sit in it during his tenure as Hand of the King, or he didn't want to sit in it, so he may well survive through the last episode.

 The Founding Fathers of the United States realized long ago that only a system, similar to what we look for in good quality management systems, can endure forever. European nations had seen good kings and queens, and bad kings and queens, come and go. The French Revolution showed that bad (Louis XVI) might easily be replaced by worse (the Terror followed by a genuine world war, fought on no fewer than four continents), and that systems and institutions must be created that will survive the worst possible chief executive. My prediction is that the last Targaryens will create some kind of Constitution under which the Seven Kingdoms all agree to live, as well as agreements over borders to eliminate future pretenses for war. I doubt that Martin will go so far as to have the relevant parties sign a document that beings, "We the People of Westeros, in order to form a more perfect Union…" but one never knows.

 This principle carries over again into the real world, where the Ford Motor Company lost its way after Henry Ford suffered a series of strokes, Edsel Ford died, and Charles Sorensen retired. The company, despite its phenomenal success, was entirely dependent on a small group of individuals who would, sooner or later, no longer be around to guide the company. Ford's security chief Harry Bennett wrote, in fact, that when Charles Sorensen retired, the River Rouge plant lost its soul [2]. This is probably why Ford's world-class production system is now known as the Toyota rather than the Ford Production System, although Taiichi Ohno credited Ford with many of the principles behind it. The bottom line takeaway is, however, that organizations whose well-being depends on individual performers rather than systems cannot endure.

 References

[1] Ford, Henry. 1922. Ford Ideals: from "Mr. Ford's Page." Dearborn: The Dearborn Publishing Company

[2] Bennett, Harry, as told to Paul Marcus. 1951. Ford: We Never Called Him Henry. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, Inc.