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Archie Norman was thirty-seven years old when he took over as chief executive of a
supermarket chain, Asda. Before joining Asda, Norman had no previous experience in the
grocery business. He had attended Harvard Business School MBA and had worked for the
McKinsey consulting firm. When he took over Asda, it was in the brink of collapse. Asda
had lost sight of its core customers, their competitors were gaining market share and Asda
was nearly in $2 billion in debt. Norman was able to turn this struggling company around
by exhorting an adaptive leadership
Adaptive leadership helps leaders and organizations adapt and thrive in challenging
environments. Adaptive work is challenging because it requires that we relinquish some of
our deeply held beliefs and learn new skills where old ones are insufficient (Heifetz &
Laurie, 2003). Archie Norman recognized this challenge very early on. He found
demoralized employees with no clear direction of where the company was going. Asda lost
track of its core customers, working class, and was targeting the wealthy consumer. Asda
embarked on new disastrous business operations such as furniture and carpeting. It also did
not help that management was spending lavishly on corporate jets and high style corporate
offices. Norman knew that in order to turn the company around he had to revitalize the
company by shattering its current culture.
Adaptive leadership promotes five principles that need to work in conjunction with one
another. One principle is to identify the adaptive challenge. The first task in adaptation is
to spot the challenge and identify its implication for the organization (Heifetz & Laurie,
2003). Archie was very honest with its employees about the severity of the company’s
financial situation. He made it clear that this was a huge challenge and a bigger
undertaking. A regional manager did not know the severity of the company’s financial
difficulties and it then became clear to employees how close they were to the edge.
Respect for conflict, starting at the top, allows people to learn from diverse perspective
(Heifetz & Laurie, 2003). He fired several managers and assembled a new top
management. This new top management shared Archie’s vision of change.
Effective leadership is more about what people do than who people are. Archie wanted
change, but he also knew that he needed to gain the trust of employees and stockholders.
Archie visited stores, talked to employees, and took notes. He also gave a three-year
profitability plan to the stockholders. He was honest about the sacrifices that the company
