What are the business lessons we can take from the Iranian Regime?

The world in which business operates is evolving faster than at any previous point in history. AI is changing the nature of work and employment, at the same time organisations are struggling to create meaningful culture and staff engagement.

Ideology: The first lesson that can be drawn from the events in Iran is the evolution of the cause. Prior to the American attacks the country was ruled by the likes of Ali Khamenei. The culture was based on revolutionary ideology. This is very big picture. The current generation of leadership, based largely on service within the IRGC, are taking a different approach. It’s more structured and nationally focussed. The sense is of pragmatically defending a nation rather than religious ideology. This is combined with constant inward evaluation of weaknesses and opportunity with a view to evolving performance. The outcome is a strengthening of the resolve of the Iranian people rather than the instant regime change that the Americans were counting on.

So what: Many businesses have a highly polished set of values that feel more like ideology or marketing sound bites than a culture. The aim should be to create a focused set of behaviours that identify how you operate every day. This creates an identity that everyone can relate to. More important is that the team feel like they’re a part of the that culture and understand how it relates to them, rather trying to live up to a set of high-level values that don’t feel relevant. 

Empowerment: The overarching plan of the Israeli and American forces seems to be to destroy the command and control function of the Iranian forces. Kill the leadership, remove centralised command and take out crucial communications infrastructure. Militarily this has been achieved in a way which has been spectacular and from a targeting perspective incredibly successful. So why hasn’t the regime collapsed, and a surrender been negotiated? Previous conflicts have taught the new Iranian regime that centralised functionality, reliant on a few senior figures that could ultimately be described as micromanagement, makes them vulnerable. Instead, their forces have been dispersed across the country and rather than be linked physically they are networked via communication links. Power and command have been disseminated to local area commanders who in turn understand their mission and how to achieve it. Smaller groups of fighters and their leaders have been empowered to fight on their own terms and take ownership for local mission success. This approach means that there is no single location to take out and no individual leader is mission critical. Combine this with a shift from ideology to nationalism and you have a personally motivated, agile force with inherent redundancy. The system is now much more resilient.

 So what: If we want to build resilient organisations, we have to consider the businesses ability to react and adapt to ever changing environments. Teams that are hard wired to follow a rigid process are unlikely to seek new solutions to problems. Empowering local teams and leaders, ensuring the lines of communication are always open, means that leaders at all levels can be agile and proactive. This approach means that no one person or location is business critical.

 Objectives: If the IRGC were to take on the Israeli or American military in a conventional fight its exceedingly unlikely they would or could win. As a result, they’re not trying to! Rather than line up conventional forces the Iranians have understood where they’re vulnerable and where they’re effective. They’ve grasped that they’re playing an infinite game. Whilst the Americans keep trying to define success in terms of specific mission outcomes or political objectives, which keep shifting, the Iranians are fighting for survival. They don’t need to achieve a specific objective or target, just keep themselves in the fight long enough to alter perception. They’ve done this by focussing on what they can do and what kit and tactical advantages they do have. The use of cheap replaceable drones operated from mobile sites is proving decisive. Rather than fight an unwinnable conflict they’ve identified vulnerabilities in the bigger picture. By choking the straights of Hormuz, with relatively little kinetic action, and targeting UAE tourist sites, they’ve altered perception and confidence in the American ability to get the job done. This causes the coalition to communicate inwardly and defend their own actions, weakening their ability to act.

 So what: Modern businesses are bombarded with data and information. It’s critical to filter out the background noise and concentrate on the intelligence. Don’t respond to emotion or perception. Work out what the objective is and look for ways to achieve it whilst remaining open minded no non-conventional solutions. Rather than be forced into linear thinking, work out where your competitive advantage lies. When trying to solve complex problems focus on what you can do and the resources that are available to you. Spending time on situations we can’t control and wishing for resources we don’t have merely increases frustration and limits the time available for actually solving the problem.

If a business wants to influence the way clients act and take decisions it shouldn’t focus on the actions and decisions, it should focus on perception. How is the business viewed and how are its capabilities evaluated? If required focus on altering these perceptions.

 The Iranian regime will never be viewed in the same way again. Its ability to affect global commerce and world markets will now always be factored into future negotiations in a way few people anticipated.

 This article is not meant as political insight. The entrenched Iranian regime is managing to survive the onslaught of the world’s most powerful military machine. It’s my view that there are valuable lessons to be learned from how and why they’ve been able to survive so far.