The Coronel Suárez story

This is our last article on the exceptional Coronel Suárez polo team and their remarkable story. The frst two parts of the series (in the October 2014 and February 2015 issues of Hurlingham) highlighted two key aspects: their focus on creating an effective organisation and their equally effective leadership through Juan Carlos Harriott Sr and his son, Juan Carlitos Harriott. In this last part, we will look at how culture plays a critical role in building successful organisations and also provide some insight into how Coronel Suárez leveraged this aspect in their success.

The culture of an organisation is, to put it simply, the way an organisation does things. When individuals embrace a culture, it defnes not only their principles but their beliefs about themselves and others; it defnes their values and it directs their actions. A culture comes with certain practices and carries a lot of weight in the determination of roles and responsibilities, and thus has a signifcant impact on how decision-making occurs. In his book The Culture Cycle, Professor James L Heskett, head of business logistics at Harvard Business School, says that effective organisational culture can account for a 20 to 30 per cent differential in corporate performance when compared with culturally unremarkable competitors. This sets a clear distinction between ‘culturally remarkable’ and ‘culturally unremarkable’ organisations.

Culturally remarkable organisations

Using this key component of Prof. Heskett’s assertion, we defne ‘culturally remarkable’ organisations as those whose successes can be traced back to a distinct, unique culture established and practised religiously within the organisation. Shaping the culture was crucial to the long-term success of Coronel Suárez. It was central to the level of collaboration, both on and off the feld, and to how competitive the team would become year after year, leading to its remarkable record, which includes 10 consecutive Argentine Open Championships between 1961 and 1970. Effective leadership and culturally remarkable organisations are inextricably linked. Creating a culture that helps an organisation remain competitive should be the focus of the leadership, as it was with Juan Carlos Harriott Sr and Coronel Suárez.

We established in the previous article that Juan Carlos Harriott Sr was the visionary behind the team, providing leadership during their foundation years, 1956 to 1964. During this period, the role of organisational culture as a competitive differentiator and strategic tool was something he understood and cared very deeply about. Our conversations with his son and Alberto Heguy – both team members – revealed that Juan Carlos Harriott Sr dedicated a great amount of time and effort to the Coronel Suárez project. This is important because, to achieve any success with organisational culture, leaders must have a clear sense of purpose, be dedicated and,

above all, be authentic and believable. It was this that made it possible for him to establish a unique culture learnt through his relationship with members of the Venado Tuerto team, and to embed these cultural practices within the organisational fabric of Coronel Suárez. Juan Carlos Harriott Sr sought to establish the best ways of doing things, in order to mould his individual performers into strong team players and enable the team to succeed the Coronel Suárez way.

Origins of the Coronel Suárez culture

The Coronel Suárez Polo Club is based in the town of Coronel Suárez, about 500 miles from Buenos Aires. Polo started in earnest there with the completion of the club and felds in 1928. Historically, teams competing at the Argentine Open represented mostly country clubs or family estancias – and Coronel Suárez was no exception. The 19th century had seen the emergence of railroads to network the country and enable the growth of commercial farming activities. Many of these clubs grew out of a need for the British settlers involved in this to socialise with fellow immigrants and engage in familiar sports such as cricket, rugby and foxhunting. These clubs naturally became the meeting places for families and friends – a practice and tradition that had taken root in Britain and was brought to Argentina. Other clubs who share a similar history include Hurlingham, Los Pingüinos, Venado Tuerto, Los Indios and El Trébol, who have all contributed to the game in no small measure.

By the time the frst game was played on the Coronel Suárez Polo Club felds, there was already signifcant interest in polo and it had been played at the nearby Estancia La María, owned by the Garros family. By the time the club was inaugurated, it included at least 16 players, including Enrique Alberdi and Manuel Andrada. Another key fgure instrumental in establishing the culture of training and mentoring at the club was Enrique Padilla. A military offcer, as well as an accomplished player, he was on the Argentina team that won the Olympic gold in Paris in 1926, as well as the Hurlingham team that won the Argentine Open in 1926 and 1929. Alongside Alberdi, Padilla teamed up with Eduardo and Ricardo Garros for the very frst game at the club.

Born in Coronel Suárez, Manuel Andrada was another key infuence; polo historians refer to him as the frst ‘gaucho’ to achieve signifcant success as a player. He was one of the most remarkable of his generation, considering he started as a farm hand and was not allowed to play polo, only to train horses for the owners of the estancia. Against these odds, his achievements as an elite player (rated a 9-goal at his prime) include six Argentine Open championships on four different teams and an Olympic gold medal (Berlin 1936). He also won the US Open at Meadowbrook in 1931 with an Argentine team while on tour after winning the Pacifc Coast Open.

The foundations for the club’s culture and tradition established by Andrada and Padilla were crucial, and benefciaries included the Alberdi and Garros brothers. In 1930 and 1931, the Coronel Suárez team won the Copa República Argentina, the second most important tournament on the calendar of the

Right, from top February 2015, Juan Carlos Harriott Jr (centre) is inducted into the US Polo Hall of Fame; working on the Coronel Suárez project at the Harriott Estancia, La Felisa, in 2013, with Alfredo Harriott (left) and José R. Santamarina

Argentine Polo Association after the Argentine Open Championship, and went on to win the tournament a record 15 times. In 1934, Coronel Suárez won their frst Argentine Open with a team made up of the two pairs of siblings.

El Trébol and Venado Tuerto

The 1920s was a period marked by economic, social, artistic and cultural dynamism in cities around the world. But if there was ever such a time of increased creativity and innovation in the history of polo, it would have to be the 1940s. This period witnessed the emergence and subsequent dominance of two teams – El Trébol and Venado Tuerto, who won the Argentine Open a total of 11 times between 1939 and 1950. The vision for Coronel Suárez, and the team’s culture, was greatly infuenced by these two polo powerhouses.

El Trébol – representing a relatively new club of the same name – were anchored by brothers Heriberto and Luis Duggan, and Charlie and Julio Menditeguy. The team dominated the Argentine scene from 1939, winning consecutive championships until 1943, by which point they had attained a total handicap of 39 goals. Perhaps what was most unique about their success was the fact that the Duggan and Menditeguy families had a reputation for being top polo-pony breeders. In his book The Evolution of Polo, renowned polo historian Horace Laffaye gives us an idea of what made El Trébol so special and what would essentially become key aspects of the Coronel Suárez culture: ‘What made this team so good was a combination of superb ponies, lightning speed, accurate hitting and brilliant team play – and the immeasurable addition of good chemistry among the players.’ He goes on to describe how El Trébol were mentored by Lewis Lacey, who taught them the principle that the ball travels faster than the man. These key aspects were taken on board and soon became part of the Coronel Suárez culture, too.

The Venado Tuerto team was put together to counter the dominance of El Trébol. This team consisted of the Alberdi brothers from Coronel Suárez and Roberto and Juan Cavanagh from Venado Tuerto, and the team fnally achieved their objective in 1944 by defeating El Trébol. Venado Tuerto then continued their success by winning consecutive championships between 1946 and 1950 and somewhat setting the stage for the emergence of the Coronel Suárez team as we know it – Juan Carlos Harriott and Enrique Alberdi collaborated to win a championship for Coronel Suárez in 1952. Fast-forward to 1962, which was another successful year for Coronel Suárez, and the team, comprising Juan Carlos Harriott Sr, Juan Carlos Harriott Jr, Horacio Heguy and Daniel González, had just won two consecutive championships (1961 and 1962). For many observers, this was the perfect line-up – they were extremely competitive, well-mounted and playing perfect polo. The investments and efforts in team-building were paying off – or so it seemed from the outside – but Juan Carlos Harriott Sr knew there was still work to be done. He had one overriding message for his players: we are not yet playing like a real team. Diego Bonadeo captured it best in an article for El Gráfco sports magazine following the conclusion of the 1962 Argentine season, where he wrote about Horacio Heguy’s comment during an interview, that Coronel Suárez were not yet playing like EL Trébol and Venado Tuerto had done 20 years previously and needed to be involved in more practice games to attain that goal. Clearly, Heguy had bought into the vision of Juan Carlos Harriott and saw El Trébol and Venado Tuerto as models for Coronel Suárez. Combined with his own ideas, a clear sense of purpose and authenticity that made it possible for him to create a unique team culture based on established best practices, Juan Carlos Harriott Sr adopted and adapted many of their practices to achieve the success of his own organisation.

In our upcoming book, The Coronel Suárez Way, we further explore aspects of the culture, examining how it prioritised the preparation of the players and the team, placing a premium on team success over individual achievements. Juan Carlos Harriott Sr required each member to be completely committed to the programme. Anything other than this meant they were not permitted to be a part of the team’s future.

He also leveraged the practice of using mentors and mentoring relationships, utilising Enrique and Juan Carlos Alberdi as mentors for his son, Juan Carlos, as he groomed him to take over the leadership role and, most importantly, to maintain the remarkable organisational culture of Coronel Suárez when he eventually stepped down from the team. This he eventually did after Coronel Suárez won its 4th consecutive title in 1964. During one of our many discussions with Juan Carlos Harriott Jr at his ranch, La Felisa, in Coronel Suárez, he recalled his father’s famous words, repeated to him many times during the foundation years of Coronel Suárez: ‘Copy the Alberdis – don’t copy me.’