The Coronel Suárez story

In our previous article, published in the October 2014 issue of Hurlingham, we presented Coronel Suárez, the polo team whose impact on the game is legendary. We highlighted their achievements, which include winning polo’s most coveted prize, the Argentine Open, no fewer than 17 times during their 20-year heyday. In this second instalment, we reveal the secret behind the strong leadership that drove the team up through the ranks and helped maintain their top-ranking position.

Opposite Juan Carlos Harriott in 1978 Below Coronel Suarez in 1976. From left, Alberto Heguy, Horacio Heguy, Juan Carlos Harriott and Alfredo Harriott Organisations are essential to life and society. We participate as members, managers and customers and are infuenced by the success of these groups. As we will see with Coronel Suárez, without there being some essential factors in place, this kind of expertise doesn’t just happen – even with the best players, employees or members, although that might help. Ultimately, such organisations create real value by setting, meeting and then exceeding their goals. They tend to be innovative, having the ability to assess strategic options better than their competitors. They can be seen to embrace change, often pursuing a culture that enables productive collaboration. Dynamic leadership is perhaps the core strength here, as seen especially in Coronel Suárez.

Much has been written about the brilliance of the team’s captain, Juan Carlos Harriott, both as a polo player and in his role as leader. Polo Argentino by El Gráfco included these descriptions in its profle of Harriott: ‘He was the archetype of a polo player… he played to perfection… [he was] a great jockey and a magnifcent horseman with long and certain mallet shots… he brought a sense of ubiquity to the feld… he had anticipation, speed and an extraordinary capacity to organise… [he possessed] exceptional team sense… [he was] a serene leader, a pilot in the storm’. Meanwhile, in Profles in Polo Harriott was described by renowned author Horace Laffaye as ‘the undisputed captain, organiser and leader’. Laffaye also references a fattering account of the captain by the late Gonzalo Tanoira, another outstanding player and one-time president of the Argentine Polo Association: ‘Juan Carlos’s superiority is so obvious that it defes all comparison, because he truly played a level much more above all his contemporaries’.

These are just a few of the many accolades used to describe the qualities he brought to his

role heading up the team. There are many facets of excellence to be learnt from Juan Carlos that, although signifcant, do not tell the complete story of the team’s success as an organisation. For now, however, let’s look at effective leadership in two categories – the foundation years, and the growth and dominant years.

The foundation years – building the framework for success

Any substantive analysis of high-performing, successful teams and institutions ultimately reveals the existence of a visionary thinker, especially in the foundation years. If we look at Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, and, of course, at Facebook and Twitter, they all share a common trait – their successes are traceable to the leadership of such a person.

The importance of vision cannot be over- emphasised, as it acts as a guide for a company’s foundation and the establishment of its goals and objectives. Visionary thinkers as leaders inspire action, demand commitment and, like an architect, oversee the transformation of the idea into something tangible. They ‘own’ the vision of the organisation and maintain tight control and oversight, ensuring its successful implementation. They are effective in their leadership and, together, their actions generate value, essentially creating the future of that organisation and, consequently, its success.

So, who was the visionary thinker of Coronel Suárez? Luisa Miguens, the polo historian and wife of the late Gonzalo Tanoira, offered a historical perspective on its beginnings in her book Passion and Glory. According to Miguens, Argentine polo in the Forties was dominated by two strong teams, which featured eight of the best minds in the game: the Alberdis (Enrique and Juan Carlos) and the Cavanaghs of Vernado Tuerto, and the Menditeguys and Duggans of El Trebol. There was a consensus in the polo world then, a desire to see a ‘third’ team competing. Those were the foundation

years of the Coronel Suárez polo organisation, and its eventual recognition as the ‘third’ team fully materialised in 1957 when, according to Miguens, Coronel Suárez was favoured to win the Argentine Open. Referencing an article from El Gráfco, she wrote: ‘Juan Carlos Harriott Sr and Juan Carlos Harriott Jr, playing together with Andino Grahn and Enrique Alberdi, worked together so well that their opponents did not stand a chance. They wore them down little by little until they were defeated.’

This success was a result of the collaboration between Juan Carlos Harriott Sr and the

Left Jorge Tanoira, left, helps his brother Gonzalo, 1970 Above Coronel Suarez, Argentine Open winners, 1957. From left, Bertil Andhino Grahn, Enrique Alberdi, Juan Carlos Harriott Sr and Juan Carlos Harriott Jr. (the latter’s frst Open win). A young Alfredo Harriott joins in the celebration

Alberdis. Andino Grahn was a replacement for the injured Juan Carlos Alberdi, originally slated to play with Coronel Suárez. Teaming up with the Alberdis was strategic and instrumental in the foundation of the team, and undoubtedly reveals Juan Carlos Sr as the visionary thinker he was. Apart from this, not too much is documented about him. However, he was an accomplished player, winning eight Argentine and Hurlingham open championships, each while attaining a 9-goal handicap. As the architect of Coronel Suárez, his leadership, keen sense of effective organisations and ability to maintain his team as a cohesive, highperforming entity were pivotal.

What we discovered from Juan Carlos Harriott Jr and his brother Alfredo, along with Alberto Heguy and a few others from the polo generation of the Sixties and Seventies, was that Juan Carlos Sr built the very foundation of the Coronel Suárez group – a critical base for its success to grow upon. He created several practices that developed into what became the culture of the team and what we have defned as the ‘Coronel Suárez way’. Many of these were based on successful results from the Alberdis, as well as others in the polo world. He combined these with his creativity and incredible attention to detail. His passion for the game – and for winning it – tended towards an obsession, which factored greatly into all decision-making. His goals and priorities for the team were always made clear to each member of the group, and he had a frm belief that when his team failed, it was because he had failed to prepare them. Even after he retired from the team as a player, following the 1964 championships, his input and direction were still taken into consideration. He remained part of the organisation, and, although his son, Juan Carlos Jr, became the leader and gradually enhanced some aspects of the culture, much of it was already institutionalised. The framework for success was already built.

The growth years, the dominant years

There is no doubt that Juan Carlos Harriott Jr provided the leadership between 1965 and 1980. This is the period we consider to be the remainder of the Coronel Suárez growth years and all of its dominant years. The choice of Juan Carlos as successor was of strategic importance to the next phase of Coronel Suárez. This is especially true, given that leadership changes can have an impact on the success of an institution, which could have been the case with Harriott’s team. Juan Carlos Harriott had a different outlook from his father and thus made slightly different leadership decisions, while keeping the foundation of the organisation intact. However, changes he made continued to establish the effectiveness of the team and, by his own admission, Coronel Suárez grew and became a much better team, especially after 1975, when they attained their true potential, as was always envisioned. The team continued its success under Juan Carlos’s leadership, which was dominant until it came to an end after the 1979 season.

We will conclude this three-part series in the next issue with a few more lessons learnt from the Coronel Suárez story, focusing specifcally on the team’s culture. Effective leaders defne and enforce the right culture within an organisation and, in that regard, Coronel Suárez was no different.

Above The Coronel Suarez team in 1982. From left, Celestino Garrós, Alfredo Harriott, Alberto Heguy and Luis Lalor