Lessons on Leadership - Organizational Culture, Penn State, and Avoidance

It will be many years before the implications of the child sexual abuse perpetrated by Jerry Sandusky will be fully understood. As details continue to emerge in the present we find a horrifying pattern of abuse over many years and an organizational culture that enabled individuals at multiple levels of leadership to look the other way. The echoes of disbelief from similar scandals in the church ring in our ears. We have learned how deluded and deceptive pedophiles can be in securing relationships of trust to exploit children, rationalizing abhorrent behavior as something other than what it is – criminal assault.

Added to our immense grief for the physical and psychological harm done to innocent lives, is the realization that when leaders are made aware of a possible act of abuse, the instinct is to duck and cover. Is this the result of an individual character flaw? Is there some lack of professional training or development? Did they not understand the expectations and responsibilities they carry in positions of authority?

The report released Thursday from the Special Investigative Counsel, Louis J. Freeh, former director of the FBI, details the many failures of leadership involved at Penn State. One reference in the executive summary, however, makes a much broader sweeping statement about the cultural context of the university and the community:

“A culture of reverence for the football program that is ingrained at all levels of the campus community.”

It seems this statement could be adapted to many settings in which the decision to act is mitigated by a fear of bad publicity. The generic version would read, “A culture of reverence for the [fill in the blank] that is ingrained at all levels of the [organization].” Suddenly the pain of the Penn State community feels closer as we all know circumstances in which our regard for individuals or institutions can cause us to compromise on standards that cross moral, legal or ethical boundaries.

As I followed the news coverage of the events surrounding the emergence of the scandal through the Sandusky trial, I was struck by two events that appeared out-of-place. First, when the Penn State board of trustees made the decision to terminate Coach Joe Paterno (along with President Graham Spanier), the crowds protesting the end of Paterno’s career at Penn State seemed odd. The investigation was ongoing. The facts had not surfaced publicly. Yet the exuberant devotion to a sports idol and elevation of the football program to cult status revealed a distorted culture. Children had been sexually abused. We had many more questions than answers. Yet the crowds celebrated the hero-status of someone who knew about it and didn’t stop it. The situation did not call for a celebration; it called for reflection.

Second, the conclusion of the trial delivered a stack of guilty verdicts for Jerry Sandusky. Here again, crowds gathered as if it was a pep rally following the game. The fans cheered as the lawyers emerged from the courthouse to offer “post-game” remarks much like the coach and the MVP of the championship team. Media interviews followed on strategy and tactics. The coach for the losing team signaled he would be back with an appeal. One of the commentators on the news broadcast I was watching was stunned by what he saw. As a trial lawyer himself, he had seen many post trial settings, but nothing like this. The situation did not call for celebration; it called for reflection.

It’s inexcusable, but understandable that a distorted cultural context can give pause to leaders charged to act in ways that may be misunderstood or unpopular. We have much to learn from this tragedy. We have to find ways of developing healthy organizational cultures that will not bend to fears of bad publicity, but remain steadfast in ensuring well-being, providing justice and acting with integrity.

Mark Putnam is president of Central College in Pella, Iowa. He authors a blog, Mark: my words, at http://blogs.central.edu/president/ and can be reached at president@central.edu.

 

Food Cart Design That Doesn’t Block Airplane Aisles Is An Innovative Idea

The Orbit Aircraft Food Delivery System by Heather Dunne is a space-saving solution that solves a common and annoying problem on airlines.

 Orbit is a concept system for delivering food on commercial aircraft by UK designer Heather Dunne. The space-saving solution improves upon the traditional airline food cart by making it slimmer and longer, so passengers can get around flight attendants. The design also allows food to be easily loaded and unloaded and can hold more than the current cart.

At 8 inches wide, Orbit is 4 inches thinner than traditional carts, which allows passengers to move past it in the aisle. It is able to hold up to 60 meals as it is longer than the current design, which holds around 35-40. Bio-pac food packages can be taken from the top using a pressure shelf system. Once one layer of packages is removed, the ones underneath move up, allowing flight attendants to deliver food to passengers without having to bend down. Orbit locks into sunken tracks in the aisles, with a motor that propels the wheels forwards or backwards. They can also be locked into the tracks during turbulence so it doesn’t lift off the floor.

Orbit

via psfk.com

 

Organizational Culture, Penn State, and Avoidance: Ethics

It will be many years before the implications of the child sexual abuse perpetrated by Jerry Sandusky will be fully understood. As details continue to emerge in the present we find a horrifying pattern of abuse over many years and an organizational culture that enabled individuals at multiple levels of leadership to look the other way. The echoes of disbelief from similar scandals in the church ring in our ears. We have learned how deluded and deceptive pedophiles can be in securing relationships of trust to exploit children, rationalizing abhorrent behavior as something other than what it is – criminal assault.

Added to our immense grief for the physical and psychological harm done to innocent lives, is the realization that when leaders are made aware of a possible act of abuse, the instinct is to duck and cover. Is this the result of an individual character flaw? Is there some lack of professional training or development? Did they not understand the expectations and responsibilities they carry in positions of authority?

The report released Thursday from the Special Investigative Counsel, Louis J. Freeh, former director of the FBI, details the many failures of leadership involved at Penn State. One reference in the executive summary, however, makes a much broader sweeping statement about the cultural context of the university and the community:

“A culture of reverence for the football program that is ingrained at all levels of the campus community.”

It seems this statement could be adapted to many settings in which the decision to act is mitigated by a fear of bad publicity. The generic version would read, “A culture of reverence for the [fill in the blank] that is ingrained at all levels of the [organization].” Suddenly the pain of the Penn State community feels closer as we all know circumstances in which our regard for individuals or institutions can cause us to compromise on standards that cross moral, legal or ethical boundaries.

As I followed the news coverage of the events surrounding the emergence of the scandal through the Sandusky trial, I was struck by two events that appeared out-of-place. First, when the Penn State board of trustees made the decision to terminate Coach Joe Paterno (along with President Graham Spanier), the crowds protesting the end of Paterno’s career at Penn State seemed odd. The investigation was ongoing. The facts had not surfaced publicly. Yet the exuberant devotion to a sports idol and elevation of the football program to cult status revealed a distorted culture. Children had been sexually abused. We had many more questions than answers. Yet the crowds celebrated the hero-status of someone who knew about it and didn’t stop it. The situation did not call for a celebration; it called for reflection.

Second, the conclusion of the trial delivered a stack of guilty verdicts for Jerry Sandusky. Here again, crowds gathered as if it was a pep rally following the game. The fans cheered as the lawyers emerged from the courthouse to offer “post-game” remarks much like the coach and the MVP of the championship team. Media interviews followed on strategy and tactics. The coach for the losing team signaled he would be back with an appeal. One of the commentators on the news broadcast I was watching was stunned by what he saw. As a trial lawyer himself, he had seen many post trial settings, but nothing like this. The situation did not call for celebration; it called for reflection.

It’s inexcusable, but understandable that a distorted cultural context can give pause to leaders charged to act in ways that may be misunderstood or unpopular. We have much to learn from this tragedy. We have to find ways of developing healthy organizational cultures that will not bend to fears of bad publicity, but remain steadfast in ensuring well-being, providing justice and acting with integrity.

Mark Putnam is president of Central College in Pella, Iowa. He authors a blog, Mark: my words, at http://blogs.central.edu/president/ and can be reached at president@central.edu.

via excellenceininnovationblog.posterous.com

How to Get the Most from Your Chief Supply Chain Officer - Excellence In Innovation

The chief supply chain officer has emerged as a vital partner in the most strategic aspects of managing complex, global companies. In years past, the procurement function (the sourcing of essential products and services on the best possible terms) occupied center stage. But more recently, the relentless focus on driving out costs has taken a backseat to such issues as supply market risk, revenue enhancement and managing complex supplier relationships.

A word about titles: This article considers the relationship between the CEO and the senior supply chain leader. Larger organizations with a global footprint often have a chief supply chain officer (CSCO). Sometimes they are called chief sourcing or materials management officers. Smaller companies usually have a chief procurement officer (CPO). By whatever name, these executives have similar responsibilities.

 

A Strategic Perspective

“I expect our head of sourcing and materials management to provide a strategic perspective on the markets we deal with, identify and mitigate supply-related risks, lead change internally and work with our supply base to identify and contribute their best ideas,” says Kevin Crutchfield, CEO of Alpha Natural Resources, an $8 billion coal producer based in Bristol, Virginia. “That means contributing to the major areas that drive value creation: revenue enhancement, cost reductions across all areas of spending, working capital improvements and better capital project development and execution.”

Many complex problems that resist solution respond when framed as supply chain management issues. Hospital medication errors, for example, are responsible for more than 400,000 preventable drug-related injuries each year, according to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. It’s tempting to think of the hospital medication errors crisis as a problem for physicians and nurses to solve. After all, it’s physicians who prescribe and nurses who dispense the medication.

“The physician community tried and failed to conceptualize a solution to this issue,” says Lynn Britton, CEO of Mercy, a $5 billion healthcare provider based in St. Louis. The solution, now rapidly being implemented at Mercy and other hospitals, flowed out of Britton’s decision to frame the problem as a supply chain management opportunity.

Britton’s perspective is especially relevant because he is a rare example of a CEO who ascended to the top spot after a career in supply chain management and procurement. His background has paid off and likely saved lives. Mercy hospitals drastically reduced its medication error injuries by repackaging drugs in individually bar-coded unit-dose formats with computer checks at the patient’s bedside. “It’s important for CEOs to involve their supply chain chiefs in the big picture,” Britton says. “Then, it’s fair for the burden to fall on the supply chain leader to articulate an initiative [of] how supply chain management can be a key enabler of that strategy.”

 

Managing Complex Customer Relationships

“Supply chain management should no longer be focused solely on driving out costs,” says Randy Dearth, CEO of Pittsburgh-based LANXESS Corporation, an $8.5 billion chemical company spinoff from Bayer. “When it is aligned with the business priorities of the organization, supply chain management can play a fundamental role enabling the company’s growth agenda, mitigating risk and delivering competitive advantage across the end-to-end value chain,” he says.

Mitigating risk and volatility in the supply chain is an emerging strategic role for CSCOs. For example, the commodities LANXESS uses as raw materials for the fine chemicals, color pigments, plastics, synthetic rubber and water treatment products it manufactures have one thing in common: they are all based on petroleum. The chemical company’s CSCO is part of the team that predicts the volatility in pricing of petroleum products and can hedge some of that volatility, Dearth says.

Although identifying and driving out costs will always remain part of the mix for organizations with mature supply chains, the reality is that there is relatively little incremental cost available for cutting. “As markets mature, the real opportunities for SCM [supply chain management] are in identifying opportunities for revenue enhancement and helping the CEO manage increasingly complex customer relationships,” Dearth says. “Visionary CEOs see profit opportunities in taking a holistic, end-to-end approach that integrates procurement teams across the business.”

Consider the increasing complexity of customer relationships faced by the CEO of a company like LANXESS. Given the relatively small number of major players in the chemical industry, LANXESS often finds itself negotiating with a company that is at once a supplier, a customer and a competitor. “It’s a fine balance that can be easily upended by a procurement manager so narrowly focused on shaving a few cents off the price of a commodity that the customer relationship becomes strained,” Dearth notes. “It’s so easy to get into contentious relationships with partners when there are overlapping interactions,” he says. “A good CSCO applies just the right amount of pressure on pricing so that it doesn’t disrupt strategic supplier or customer relationships.”

Here’s a cautionary tale of what can go wrong when procurement goes for a quick win without considering the larger picture. The procurement manager of a $40 million technology company demanded new payment terms of net 60 days from all of its suppliers. Good for the company’s cash flow, right? Not really. At least one supplier was also a large customer that purchased more product from the company than it sold. That supplier/customer, in turn, demanded 60-day terms from the technology company. Result: a net disadvantage.

 

Capital Allocation

Where the CSCO really earns his or her seat at the table is partnering with the CEO to optimize capital allocation, increase return on invested capital and reduce total costs of ownership. If that sounds like the CFO’s job, welcome to the brave new world of SCM. “Capital allocation is key across the business,” says Lisa Martin, senior vice president of global procurement and operations at Pfizer, the world’s largest biopharmaceutical company.

Martin, who reports to Pfizer’s executive vice president, CFO and business operations, directs her supply management team to promote all-around capital allocation, one of the four strategic imperatives articulated by CEO Ian Read. By implementing a new sourcing model, for example, Martin’s team helped Pfizer commercialize products faster. “SCM plays a role in revenue generation,” Martin says. “We identify levers we can pull to optimize capital, increase speed and maintain our quality standards.” To that end, Pfizer deploys financial impact teams to tackle workstreams specific to return on investment capital (ROIC), such as inventory management, vendor payment terms and real estate optimization. “The modern day CSCO has a significant role in delivering value to shareholders, customers and the public when there is strong collaboration between the CFO and the CSCO,” she says.

Martin also manages Pfizer’s supplier diversity and sustainability programs from a supply standpoint, two elements of a far-sighted SCM portfolio. Pfizer has a public goal to decrease CO2 emissions by 20 percent. The supply management teams are working with Pfizer’s original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and car fleet partners to drive that efficiency, and the company has earned awards for green building and energy conservation in many parts of the world. Pfizer also has a dedicated program to ensure that there are bid opportunities for women- and minority-owned suppliers. “We value the benefit that women and minority suppliers bring to the table,” Martin says. “We find that those suppliers bring a different degree of innovation and responsiveness.”

A Catbird’s Seat on Cash Position

The key element of any transformation of SCM from a focus on shaving costs to a more strategic orientation requires two things: full-throated advocacy by the CEO and a relentless emphasis on the P&L objective. James Hackett, CEO of Steelcase, a $2.5 billion office furniture manufacturer based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, understands that the CPO is as critical to Steelcase’s success as the head of product design. “The CPO must understand the end-to-end process in which our products will exist—from what creates or reduces friction to what adds value—so that we end up with the best manufacturing model.”

Tom Linton is CPO at Flextronics, an electronics manufacturing services provider with operations in 30 countries. Linton believes that the CPO function offers Flextronics CEO Mike McNamara real-time visibility and flexibility over the costs of inputs and a big impact on the cash position and balance sheet of the company. “From the CEO’s perspective, the CPO has a role to play in driving down costs and managing cash, inventory and working capital, as well as providing high-level metrics that drive all the C-suite conversations,” Linton says.

The CEO’s relationships with key suppliers can be just as important as relationships with key customers. Every CEO has relationships with important customers on the sale side of the equation, but the mirror image of that relationship—the one between the CEO and critical suppliers—is often overlooked. A central role of the CPO is to identify the most critical preferred suppliers and help architect a relationship between the CEO and the chief executives of the supplier for the long-term integrity of the supply chain. “SCM is a gearbox for those relationships,” Linton says. via chiefexecutive.net and John Kador

 

via excellenceininnovationblog.posterous.com

How Centered Leaders Innovate Best

Executives can thrive at work and in life by adopting a leadership model that revolves around finding their strengths and connecting with others.

 

For the past six years, we have been on a journey to learn from leaders who are able to find the best in themselves and in turn inspire, engage, and mobilize others, even in the most demanding circumstances. And the business environment hasbecome more demanding: the global financial crisis and subsequent economic downturn have ratcheted up the pressure on leaders already grappling with a world in transformation. More than half of the CEOs we and our colleagues have spoken with in the past year have said that their organization must fundamentally rethink its business model.

Our work can help. We have conducted interviews with more than 140 leaders; analysis of a wide range of academic research in fields as diverse as organizational development, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, positive psychology, and leadership; workshops with hundreds of clients to test our ideas; and global surveys. Through this research, we distilled a set of five capabilities that, in combination, generate high levels of professional performance and life satisfaction. We described this set of capabilities, which we call “centered leadership,” in the Quarterly in 2008 and subsequently in a book, How Remarkable Women Lead.¹ Since then, through additional interviews and quantitative research, we’ve continued to validate the model’s applicability to leaders across different regions, cultures, and seniority levels. Better yet, we have confirmed that centered leadership appears equally useful to men. In other words, it is not just for women, but for all leaders in demanding circumstances.

Five capabilities are at the heart of centered leadership: finding meaning in work, converting emotions such as fear or stress into opportunity, leveraging connections and community, acting in the face of risk, and sustaining the energy that is the life force of change. A recent McKinsey global survey of executives shows that leaders who have mastered even one of these skills are twice as likely as those who have mastered none to feel that they can lead through change; masters of all five are more than four times as likely.² Strikingly, leaders who have mastered all five capabilities are also more than 20 times as likely to say they are satisfied with their performance as leaders and their lives in general (for more on the research, see “The value of centered leadership: McKinsey Global Survey results”).

 While such results help make the case for centered leadership, execu-tives seeking to enhance their leadership performance and general satisfaction often find personal stories more tangible. Accordingly, as this article revisits the five dimensions of centered leadership—and their applicability to times of uncertainty, stress, and change—we share the experiences of four men and one woman, all current or former CEOs of major global corporations.

Meaning

We all recognize leaders who infuse their life and work with a sense of meaning. They convey energy and enthusiasm because the goal is important to them personally, because they are actively enjoying its pursuit, and because their work plays to their strengths. Our survey results show that, of all the dimensions of centered leadership, meaning has a significant impact on satisfaction with both work and life; indeed, its contribution to general life satisfaction is five times more powerful than that of any other dimension.

Whatever the source of meaning (and it can differ dramatically from one person to another), centered leaders often talk about how their purpose appeals to something greater than themselves and the importance of conveying their passion to others (for more on conveying meaning to others, see “Revealing your moment of truth”). Time and again, we heard that sharing meaning to inspire colleagues requires leaders to become great storytellers, touching hearts as well as minds. These skills are particularly applicable for executives leading through major transitions, since it takes strong personal motivation to triumph over the discomfort and fear that accompany change and that can drown out formal corporate messages, which in any event rarely fire the souls of employees and inspire greater achievement.

Avon Products CEO Andrea Jung described how meaning and storytelling came together when her company faltered after years of rapid growth. Andrea’s personal challenge was acute because some key sources of her passion—creating a bold vision for growth and inspiring others to dream big, being a member of a close-knit community, and achieving extraordinary results—were deeply connected with her work at Avon. Suddenly, it became harder for her to see where her momentum would come from. What’s more, she had to streamline her cherished community.

To remain true to her personal values, Andrea rejected the “more efficient” approach of delegating to managers the responsibility for communicating with employees about the restructuring and of sharing information only on a need-to-know basis. Instead, she traveled the world to offer her teams a vision for restoring growth and to share the difficult decisions that would be required to secure the company’s future. The result? Employees felt that Andrea treated them with honesty and humanity, making the harsh reality of job reductions easier to accept and giving them more time to prepare. They also experienced her love for the company firsthand and recognized that both she and Avon were doing all they could. By instilling greater resilience throughout the organization, Avon rebuilt its community and resumed growth within 18 months.

Positive framing

Positive psychologists have shown that some people tend to frame the world optimistically, others pessimistically.³ Optimists often have an edge: in our survey, three-quarters of the respondents who were particularly good at positive framing thought they had the right skills to lead change, while only 15 percent of those who weren’t thought so.

For leaders who don’t naturally see opportunity in change and uncertainty, those conditions create stress. When faced with too much stress (each of us has a different limit), the brain reacts with a modern version of the “fight, flight, or freeze” instinct that saber-toothed tigers inspired in early humans. This response equips us only for survival, not for coming up with creative solutions. Worse yet, in organizations such behavior feeds on itself, breeding fear and negativity that can spread and become the cultural norm.

When Steve Sadove took over Clairol, in 1991, for example, the company had been shell-shocked by a significant decline in sales volume. “I remember going to a very creative person, who did all the packaging and creative development,” Steve told us, “and saying, ‘Why don’t we do anything creative?’ He opened some drawers in his desk and started showing me all of this wonderful work that he’d done. Nobody was asking for it; people kept their head down in that culture. So part of my role as the leader was to create an environment that was going to allow innovation and creativity and make it OK to fail.”

Fortunately, we can all become aware of what triggers our fears and learn to work through them to reframe what is happening more constructively. Once we have mastered reframing, we can help others learn this skill, seeding the conditions that result in a safe environment where all employees are inspired to give their best.⁴

Steve found ways to stimulate creativity, such as exploring opposing points of view in discussions with colleagues. Over time, he convinced others that speaking up wasn’t just tolerated but encouraged. He helped colleagues reframe the way they reacted to dissent, forging a less defensive and ultimately more innovative culture. Steve and his team introduced a winning hair care brand, Herbal Essences, and ushered in a golden period of growth for Clairol.

Connecting

With communications traveling at warp speed, simple hierarchical cascades—from the CEO down until the chain breaks—are becoming less and less effective for leaders. For starters, leaders depend increasingly on their ability to manage complex webs of connections that aren’t suited to traditional, linear communication styles. Further, leaders can find the volume of communication in such networks overwhelming. While this environment can be challenging, it also allows more people to contribute, generating not only wisdom and a wealth of ideas but also immeasurable commitment.

The upshot: CEOs have always needed to select exemplary leadership teams. Increasingly, they must also be adept at building relationships with people scattered across the ecosystem in which they do business and at bringing together the right people to offer meaningful input and support in solving problems.

Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren learned firsthand about the power of connecting the internal community in 1988 when, 15 months after joining the retailer Neiman Marcus, he became its president and CEO. Shaking things up was core to his role: “I was one of the first non–Marcus family members with that title for any extended period of time.” Employees greeted him with widespread skepticism. “They were all thinking, ‘Who is this 37-year-old guy who is going to tell us how we should run our fantastic business?’” So Terry held a town hall meeting in the library across the street from company headquarters, in downtown Dallas. He invited anybody who wanted to come. The first time, he recalls, “I had only about 30 people show up! I thought it was going to be a little bit bigger than that, but I tried to be very direct and use the time mostly to listen and respond.” He kept holding meetings, noting that “it really moved the needle quickly in terms of getting things done in that company.” By the time Terry left, the twice-a-year meetings filled a 1,200-seat auditorium.

Today, as Terry leads Macy’s, he connects the dots internally and externally in many ways, from scheduling a monthly breakfast with new managers to forming relationships with peers who have led companies through change. Terry has also emphasized corporate connectivity, regrouping Macy’s stores into 69 districts, each tasked with creating “My Macy’s” for its customer base. And comparable-store sales are up this year, reversing a negative trend. Terry’s top team believes its efforts to connect managers more closely to one another and to customers, through enhanced information sharing and product offerings tailored to local needs, help explain the company’s trajectory.

Engaging

Of survey respondents who indicated they were poor at engaging—with risk, with fear, and even with opportunity—only 13 percent thought they had the skills to lead change. That’s hardly surprising: risk aversion and fear run rampant during times of change. Leaders who are good at acknowledging and countering these emotions can help their people summon the courage to act and thus unleash tremendous potential.

But for many leaders, encouraging others to take risks is extremely difficult. The responsibility CEOs feel for the performance of the entire organization can make the very notion of supporting risk taking extremely uncomfortable. What’s more, to acknowledge the existence of risk, CEOs must admit they don’t, in fact, have all the answers—an unusual mind-set for many leaders whose ascent has been built on a virtuous cycle of success and self-confidence.

Doug Stern, CEO of United Media, has a number of ways to help his people evaluate risks and build their confidence about confronting the unknown. Because he has seen the destructive impact of anxiety, Doug follows an explicit process anytime he’s facing a new, risky project (for example, selling some of his company’s assets). The process helps everyone—himself included—prepare by devising risk mitigation strategies using these steps:

• asking the team to imagine every bad scenario, even the most remotely possible—what he calls the “darkest nightmares”
• giving everyone a chance to describe those scenarios in detail and then to “peer into the darkness” together
• devising a detailed plan for countering each nightmare—in effect, rehearsing the best collective response to each potential issue

Once fears have surfaced and been dealt with, the team has a protocol in place for every worst possible scenario and a set of next steps to implement.⁵

Managing energy

Sustaining change requires the enthusiasm and commitment of large numbers of people across an organization for an extended period of time. All too often, though, a change effort starts with a big bang of vision statements and detailed initiatives, only to see energy peter out. The opposite, when work escalates maniacally through a culture of “relentless enthusiasm,” is equally problematic.⁶Either way, leaders will find it hard to sustain energy and commitment within the organization unless they systemically restore their own energy (physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual), as well as create the conditions and serve as role models for others to do the same. Our research suggests sustaining and restoring energy is something leaders often skimp on.

While stress is often related to work, sometimes simple bad luck is at play, as Jurek Gruhn, president of Novo Nordisk US, can attest. Nine years ago he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Working for a world leader in diabetes care, Jurek was no stranger to the illness and, along with his optimistic spirit, his no-nonsense orientation became a deep source of energy: “My first reaction was, ‘You may have Type 1 diabetes, but you could also have a lot of other diseases that are much worse.’” So, he told us, “I went to the hospital for two or three days of testing and then went back home. We had our Christmas break. After that, I was back in the office. My wife, who is a physician, said to me, ‘That was a quick process!’ I basically took on my disease as a task.”

Jurek realized that one key to living a normal life with the disease is to embrace life, at work and at home. “A healthy lifestyle is important. I have five kids: my oldest daughter is 25, and my youngest is 6. Sometimes they completely drain my energy, but they can energize me a lot. And now I feel healthier because I have also changed my lifestyle: I eat breakfast now every day, I exercise much more, and I started rock-climbing on a regular basis.” Everything improved—his physical condition, mental focus, emotional satisfaction, and spirit. He even learned to face what drained him most—unhealthy conflict at work—by addressing it directly and quickly, much as he handled his diabetes.

Even for leaders without such a challenge, Jurek sets another valuable example: “I saw this comedian who said that a man’s brain is filled with boxes, and one of them is empty. Well, when the day’s really tough in the office, I go into my empty box for 10 or 15 minutes and I do nothing. If I completely switch off for a short period of time, I get my energy back. Now, I’m not switching off every 15 minutes after working for 15 minutes—maybe I do it every few days. But I do not work weekends unless I really have to. And I’m not one who wakes up and the first thing is the BlackBerry. No way!”

Centered leadership is a journey, not a destination, and it starts with a highly personal decision. We’ll leave you with the words of one executive who recently chose to embark on this path: “Our senior team is always talking about changing the organization, changing the mind-sets and behavior of everyone. Now I see that transformation is not about that. It starts with me and my willingness and ability to transform myself. Only then will others transform.”  via Mckinsey Q
 

Joanna Barsh is a director in McKinsey’s New York office, Josephine Mogelof is a consultant in the Los Angeles office, and Caroline Webb is a principal in the London office. The authors would like to thank Aaron De Smet and Johanne Lavoie for their extraordinary contributions to this work.

 Jim Woods is principal and founder of InnoThink Group. An innovation and competitive strategy consultancy engaged to catalyze bottom-line growth. He has worked with government, U.S. Army, MITRE Corporation, Pitney Bowes, Whirlpool, and 3M. Jim’s business experiences, extensive research on competitive strategy and innovation have given him a fresh perspective on improving individual and organizational performance. Jim is a prolific speaker on strategic innovation, creative leadership, uncertainty and competitive strategy. Speak with us for consulting or speaking engagements call 719-266-6703 or click here for more information. Follow us @innothinkgroup LinkedIn Facebook

 

The Post Recession Innovation Myths In The Age of Commoditization

<div style="margin-bottom:5px"> <strong> The Innovation Myth </strong> from <strong>Luminary Labs</strong> </div>

 

Jim Woods is principal and founder of InnoThink Group. An innovation and competitive strategy consultancy engaged to catalyze bottom-line growth. He has worked with government, U.S. Army, MITRE Corporation, Pitney Bowes, Whirlpool, and 3M. Jim’s business experiences, extensive research on competitive strategy and innovation have given him a fresh perspective on improving individual and organizational performance. Jim is a prolific speaker on strategic innovation, creative leadership, uncertainty and competitive strategy. Speak with us for consulting or speaking engagements call 719-266-6703 or click here for more information.

Follow us @innothinkgroup

LinkedIn

Facebook

 

How do you label innovation? Braden Kelley

"I had the opportunity a while ago to interview Jeffrey Kaufman, Group Manager (Consumer Insights) at Avery Dennison about the interplay between consumer insights and innovation. Avery Dennison is a recognized industry leader that develops innovative identification and decorative solutions for businesses and consumers worldwide. Every day. Everywhere. They are probably most well-known for making labels.

Here is the text from the interview:

1. What role does the voice of the customer play at Avery Dennison?

In the Office and Consumer Products Division of Avery Dennison, the voice of the consumer plays both a strategic and tactical role. Strategic: It impacts where we decide to innovate – for example we will employ market structure research to help us evaluate opportunities based on how the consumer perceives the marketplace. We will also conduct various attitudinal studies, to understand the product attributes that are critical to maintain and leverage. Tactically, we employ several methodologies to help optimize product development and improvement, advertising, packaging, and merchandising (retail and online). Overall, the voice of the consumer is a key input into most decisions that impact the consumer.

2. How does Avery Dennison gather and utilize consumer insight in its innovation process?

Consumer insight is critical in identifying where we innovate. For example, we execute a consumer immersion process to get to know our target consumer better and understand unmet needs and pain points associated with existing products. As we ideate new product ideas, we often include consumers in the process. Also, as we develop concepts – we often expose them to consumers to gauge initial reaction, and identify areas of optimization – e.g., improving on benefits and features. As products are developed, they must pass specific criteria during home use tests.

3. Is consumer input only utilized at the fuzzy front end of your product development process?

Consumer input occurs at all phases. It plays a key role during the “fuzzy front end” to help us identify where to play, but it also plays a crucial role refining and prioritizing key benefits and features during concept development, and insight plays a key role as we develop products. E.g., products must meet certain hurdles in how they perform, etc.

4. Why are consumer insights important to innovation?

Consumer Insights are critical to understanding where the opportunities exist to innovate in – e.g., identifying white space. Also, insights plays a key role at mitigating risk in launching new products or renovated existing products. They are key in identifying the relevance of new products and also insuring against launching something that does not meet consumers’ expectations.

5. What is the most important culture change for organizations to make in order to support innovation?

Patience and Risk. Innovation takes time to get it right – identifying unmet needs and products that satisfy them take time – time for analysis, product testing, optimization, etc. It also takes time, since most new products will fail – stakeholders should expect several rounds of concept and product testing before launching a successful innovation. It is also important for organizations to embrace risk and accept that most launched products do fail.

6. What are some of the biggest barriers to innovation that you’ve seen in organizations?

Tight timelines and revenue expectations are barriers. Short timelines often restrict the number of consumer check-ins – for example a home use test often takes 4-6 weeks, and management is often anxious to launch products before this critical test. Also – concepts often move into the development phase before they are optimized. Expected revenue is often a barrier too – in many circumstances, I’ve seen an incongruity between marketing budgets and revenue expectations. Putting a new product on the shelf or online does not guarantee meeting sales targets, telling consumers about the product – its benefits, where to find it, etc – is a vital expense.

7. What skills do you believe that managers need to acquire to succeed in an innovation-led organization?

I am biased – a key one would be embracing the voice of the consumer throughout an innovation process. Also, basic marketing knowledge to make the right decisions to develop awareness of new products or innovation on existing products, ensuring innovation is relevant to consumers, and providing an understanding on how to position innovations in the marketplace – e.g., understand the competitive landscape.

8. If you were to change one thing about our educational system to better prepare students to contribute in the innovation workforce of tomorrow, what would it be?

Help students become less risk-averse – teach that mistakes and failures in the marketplace provide a wealth of lessons-learned. HR systems might need to change along with this — for example, one shouldn’t lose their job or standing within an organization if an idea fails in-market."

Braden Kelley is a popular innovation speaker, via innovationexcellence.com

 

Jim Woods is principal and founder of InnoThink Group. An innovation and competitive strategy consultancy engaged to catalyze bottom-line growth. He has worked with government, U.S. Army, MITRE Corporation, Pitney Bowes, Whirlpool, and 3M. Jim’s business experiences, extensive research on competitive strategy and innovation have given him a fresh perspective on improving individual and organizational performance. Jim is a prolific speaker on strategic innovation, creative leadership, uncertainty and competitive strategy. Speak with us for consulting or speaking engagements call 719-266-6703 or click here for more information.