Client Corner - Steve Hearsum

Steve Hearsum has been a Castlefield client since 2006, along with his wife Paula. Steve has worked with leaders in his role as a change consultant over many years. In this Client Corner feature, Castlefield's Michael Owens asks Steve to tell us more about his new book "No Silver Bullet: Bursting the bubble of the organisational quick fix".

Here, we delve into the inspiration behind this book and find out more from Steve about his past experience in this field.

Michael Owens: Please could you tell us a little bit about your background 

Steve Hearsum: I have worked as both and internal and external consultant for nearly thirty years. Early career was in the media, including launching Soul Mates, The Guardian’s dating service back in the 90’s, commercial roles, change work and more.

Is "No Silver Bullet" your first publication?
Yes

What’s your new book about?
Leaders face an array of challenges, often seeking quick, fool proof solutions to complex problems. "No Silver Bullet" debunks the myth of quick fixes, revealing how unconscious patterns of shame and anxiety drive the market for them. This book delves into the reasons behind the appeal of quick fixes, including out of date ideas about leadership and business education, the glorification of theory and the alure of thought leaders, amongst other things

What inspired you to write this book?
My observation and experiences of working as a consultant for over twenty years. In particular, observing how intellectually people know there is no silver bullet for complex problems, yet still persist in behaving as if they do e.g. sellers of solutions marketing their wares with huge certainty and promises of guaranteed outcomes when messy reality dictates these are improbable. Plus buyers paying vast sums of money for things that they hope will make problems go away with the minimum of fuss. This leads to oversimplification and the myth of fixability. See Brexit and ‘oven ready’ deals proffered by dishevelled politicians as a perfect example.

...People know there is no silver bullet for complex problems, yet still persist in behaving as if they do

What areas of your life and career motivated you to write about this subject?
I have worked across multiple sectors nationally and internationally and it is remarkable how the human dynamics and systemic issues are so similar. My motivation is simple: to get people to think a little more deeply and critically, and to challenge a collusion between buyers and sellers of Silver Bullets that creates dependency rather than building capability.

In the book you talk from your own experience a lot. How has your time consulting in change management shaped the message of the book?
Hugely. You can only see the same patterns show up repeatedly and wonder why human beings make the same daft mistakes before you wonder why…

Has your work informed your and Paula’s decision to invest responsibly?
Maybe. In as much as I think about change in terms of sustainability, and so it is not a huge leap to see that as important in how and where we invest.

What do you think are the main ethical challenges of the day?
Hmmmm…. In no particular order: an inability to embrace nuance and ambivalence: public discourse orientates to binary either/or positions and it is seems impossible to hold paradoxical or even contradictory views e.g. one has to either be ‘for’ or ‘against’ something. A lack of critical thinking and reflexivity, and an education system that is more concerned with knowledge acquisition than learning. The inability to assess risk accurately e.g. climate change is an existential risk, whereas Brexit is an ideological bunfight that will end up being a mere pimple on the arse cheek of history. An unwillingness to admit one can be wrong also doesn’t help.

Have you noticed a shift in trends towards a more ‘quick fix’ culture over the course of your career?
Yes, sadly. For the reasons above.

What’s the number one message you would give to leaders trying to shift the culture of an organisation?
Get comfortable with not knowing, and remember you are not omnipotent and omniscient, much as you may believe you need to be and others hope you are. In tandem, do your work on shame and anxiety that gets in the way of engaging in dialogue and working through conflict constructively.

Who would you say can benefit most from this book?
Consultants, managers, HR professionals, in fact anyone who works in an organisation and those studying business, leadership, organising and more.

For more details of 'No Silver Bullet' or to find out about Steve's other projects, please visit: home | Hearsum