The Uncompromising Leader. By: Eisenstat, Russell A., Beer, Michael, Foote, Nathaniel, Fredberg, Tobias, Norrgren, Flemming, Harvard Business Review, 00178012, Jul-Aug2008, Vol. 86, Issue 7/8
Leaders of high-commitment, high-performance organizations refuse to choose between people and profits
CEOs who take the commitment of their employees for granted risk destroying the social fabric of their organizations: While they move in one direction, the rest of the organization stays stuck or, worse, heads the opposite way.
HCHP leaders, however -- through intense, focused, and dogged day-to-day involvement with their people and operations -- manage to hold the center. They almost personally create the link between the people who do the work and the performance they must deliver.
The CEOs we studied did so by combining four strategies.
First, they earned the trust of their organizations through their openness to the unvarnished truth.
Second, they were deeply engaged with their people, and their exchanges were direct and personal; employees in the companies we studied had a particularly close connection with the CEO and were seldom surprised to meet him or her.
Third, having earned legitimacy and trust, these CEOs were able to mobilize their people around a focused agenda.
Finally, while they were all strong individuals, these senior leaders realized that they could succeed only as part of a committed leadership team, and they devoted considerable efforts to building their firm's collective leadership capabilities.
Russell A. Eisenstat (reisenstat@truepoint.com) is a former faculty member at Harvard Business School in Boston. Michael Beer (mbeer@hbs.edu) is a professor of business administration emeritus at Harvard Business School and chairman of the TruePoint Center for High Commitment and High Performance. Nathaniel Foote (nfoote@truepoint.com) is a former partner with McKinsey & Company. Tobias Fredberg (tobias.fredberg@chalmers.se) and Flemming Norrgren (flemming.norrgren@chalmers.se) are on the faculty of the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. Eisenstat, Foote, Fredberg, and Norrgren are all fellows of the TruePoint Center as well as consultants at TruePoint Partners, whose mission is to help leaders build high-commitment, high-performance institutions.
Showing posts with label CEO tasks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CEO tasks. Show all posts
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
HBR Case Study Septermber 2006
Indispensable.
By: Beeson, John, Rowe, John W., Reilly, Edward, Conger, Jay A., Ready, Douglas A., Jordan, Michael,
Harvard Business Review,
September 2006, Vol. 84, Issue 9
HBR CASE STUDY
Edward Bennett is a talented CEO with a lot on his plate. But he's not getting any younger, and his board can't get him engaged in succession planning
By: Beeson, John, Rowe, John W., Reilly, Edward, Conger, Jay A., Ready, Douglas A., Jordan, Michael,
Harvard Business Review,
September 2006, Vol. 84, Issue 9
HBR CASE STUDY
Edward Bennett is a talented CEO with a lot on his plate. But he's not getting any younger, and his board can't get him engaged in succession planning
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
HBR CASE STUDY - CEO Behavior - December 2006
HBR CASE STUDY Four years into the job, a top executive has revitalized his company's financial performance. But his verbal gaffes threaten to ruin staff morale, alienate customers, and drag down the firm's share price. Is it time for him to go?
The CEO Who Couldn't Keep His Foot out of His Mouth.
By: Burrell, Lisa, Heifetz, Ronald A., Biggs, John H., Clarke, Torie, Brown, Roger,
Harvard Business Review,
Dec 2006, Vol. 84, Issue 12
The CEO Who Couldn't Keep His Foot out of His Mouth.
By: Burrell, Lisa, Heifetz, Ronald A., Biggs, John H., Clarke, Torie, Brown, Roger,
Harvard Business Review,
Dec 2006, Vol. 84, Issue 12
CEO Troubles Down the Road
The CEO's 2ND Act.
By: Nadler, David A.,
Harvard Business Review,
Jan 2007, Vol. 85, Issue 1
Facing a familiar problem, the CEO can be expected to do what he was hired to do. Indeed, research presented in "Are Leaders Portable?" by Boris Groysberg, Andrew N. McLean, and Nitin Nohria (HBR May 2006), indicates that leaders succeed when the skills demanded in their new positions directly draw upon the executives' professional backgrounds and experiences. But familiar problems are inevitably succeeded by less familiar ones, for which the specially selected CEO is not quite so qualified. More often than not, the experiences, skills, and temperament that yielded triumph in Act I turn out to be unequal to Act II's difficulties. In fact, the approaches that worked so brilliantly in Act I may be the very opposite of what is needed to bring Act II to a happy resolution.
Leadership style is a function of years of development and experiences, and it is an outgrowth of personality and character. Achieving a dramatic change in leadership style is difficult for anyone, but it's particularly hard for people in their fifth or sixth decade who have been responsible for a long string of successes. Personality and character aside, such people have developed systems for leading, so to speak, that they can't bring themselves to jettison. In fact, when faced with resistance during Act II to their customary modes of acting, some leaders hang on more tightly than ever to the devices that have long kept them afloat.
Recognize that the board has a role to play in mentoring and coaching the CEO. Too often, the board takes a hands-off approach until it becomes apparent that the CEO is faltering.
• When faced with a crisis, recognize that you may need to think about a two-stage succession process. Consider bringing in a CEO specifically to handle the immediate problems. Make clear that once the crisis has been resolved, you may look for another CEO, one who is better suited to dealing with the next round of issues.
David A. Nadler (david.nadler@mercerdelta.com) is the chairman of New York-based Mercer Delta Consulting, a global management consulting firm that specializes in executive leadership, organizational change, and corporate governance.
By: Nadler, David A.,
Harvard Business Review,
Jan 2007, Vol. 85, Issue 1
Facing a familiar problem, the CEO can be expected to do what he was hired to do. Indeed, research presented in "Are Leaders Portable?" by Boris Groysberg, Andrew N. McLean, and Nitin Nohria (HBR May 2006), indicates that leaders succeed when the skills demanded in their new positions directly draw upon the executives' professional backgrounds and experiences. But familiar problems are inevitably succeeded by less familiar ones, for which the specially selected CEO is not quite so qualified. More often than not, the experiences, skills, and temperament that yielded triumph in Act I turn out to be unequal to Act II's difficulties. In fact, the approaches that worked so brilliantly in Act I may be the very opposite of what is needed to bring Act II to a happy resolution.
Leadership style is a function of years of development and experiences, and it is an outgrowth of personality and character. Achieving a dramatic change in leadership style is difficult for anyone, but it's particularly hard for people in their fifth or sixth decade who have been responsible for a long string of successes. Personality and character aside, such people have developed systems for leading, so to speak, that they can't bring themselves to jettison. In fact, when faced with resistance during Act II to their customary modes of acting, some leaders hang on more tightly than ever to the devices that have long kept them afloat.
Recognize that the board has a role to play in mentoring and coaching the CEO. Too often, the board takes a hands-off approach until it becomes apparent that the CEO is faltering.
• When faced with a crisis, recognize that you may need to think about a two-stage succession process. Consider bringing in a CEO specifically to handle the immediate problems. Make clear that once the crisis has been resolved, you may look for another CEO, one who is better suited to dealing with the next round of issues.
David A. Nadler (david.nadler@mercerdelta.com) is the chairman of New York-based Mercer Delta Consulting, a global management consulting firm that specializes in executive leadership, organizational change, and corporate governance.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
New Deal Top Management for Strategic Agility
The NEW DEAL at the Top. By: Doz, Yves L., Kosonen, Mikko, Harvard Business Review, 00178012, Jun2007, Vol. 85, Issue 6
THE OLD DEAL
Individual responsibility for unit performance
Independent units pursue separate business strategies
Financial measurements and controls; delegation of strategic choices
Functional and unit-specific expertise
Results-oriented: emphasis on outcome control
THE NEW DEAL
Collective responsibility for corporate performance
Interdependent unit heads integrate corporate strategy and value creation
Transparent measurements demonstrating how interdependencies improve performance; substantive strategic dialogue by the top team
Overlapping experience and responsibility
Values-oriented: emphasis on normative control (promoting internalized rules for behavior)
Yves L. Doz (yves.doz@insead.edu) is the Timken Chaired Professor of Global Technology and Innovation at Insead, in Fontainebleau, France, and a visiting professor at the Helsinki School of Economics. Mikko Kosonen (mikko.kosonen@nokia.com) is a special adviser to the top management at Nokia, in Espoo, Finland. He was formerly Nokia's senior vice president for corporate strategy and information management. Doz and Kosonen are the authors of Fast Strategy (coming in October from Wharton School Publishing), from which this article is adapted.
THE OLD DEAL
Individual responsibility for unit performance
Independent units pursue separate business strategies
Financial measurements and controls; delegation of strategic choices
Functional and unit-specific expertise
Results-oriented: emphasis on outcome control
THE NEW DEAL
Collective responsibility for corporate performance
Interdependent unit heads integrate corporate strategy and value creation
Transparent measurements demonstrating how interdependencies improve performance; substantive strategic dialogue by the top team
Overlapping experience and responsibility
Values-oriented: emphasis on normative control (promoting internalized rules for behavior)
Yves L. Doz (yves.doz@insead.edu) is the Timken Chaired Professor of Global Technology and Innovation at Insead, in Fontainebleau, France, and a visiting professor at the Helsinki School of Economics. Mikko Kosonen (mikko.kosonen@nokia.com) is a special adviser to the top management at Nokia, in Espoo, Finland. He was formerly Nokia's senior vice president for corporate strategy and information management. Doz and Kosonen are the authors of Fast Strategy (coming in October from Wharton School Publishing), from which this article is adapted.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
BUILD THE FUTURE - BUILD THE PRESENT
Look to Your Front Line for the Future.
By: Lévy, Maurice,
Harvard Business Review,
JulY/AugUST 2007, Vol. 85, Issue 7/8
BUILDING THE FUTURE is really about building the present. Yes, you must be able to see where you want to go, but you will never get there if you spend too much time only looking toward it. Instead, the decisions you make and the people you work with today are what will get you to where you need to be -- never lose touch with them. And to build the present, a business leader must be careful to stay close to the front line -- the people who deal with your customers and markets.
MAURICE LÉVY is the chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe, the world's fourth largest advertising group, based in Paris.
By: Lévy, Maurice,
Harvard Business Review,
JulY/AugUST 2007, Vol. 85, Issue 7/8
BUILDING THE FUTURE is really about building the present. Yes, you must be able to see where you want to go, but you will never get there if you spend too much time only looking toward it. Instead, the decisions you make and the people you work with today are what will get you to where you need to be -- never lose touch with them. And to build the present, a business leader must be careful to stay close to the front line -- the people who deal with your customers and markets.
MAURICE LÉVY is the chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe, the world's fourth largest advertising group, based in Paris.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Insider CEO is more successful
Solve the Succession Crisis by Growing Inside-Outside Leaders.
By: Bower, Joseph L.,
Harvard Business Review,
Nov 2007, Vol. 85, Issue 11
In my analysis of 1,800 successions, for instance, I found that company performance was significantly better when insiders succeeded to the job of CEO. Other researchers, including Jim Collins in Good to Great, have come to similar conclusions working from different data sets.
My research suggests that as a rule the best leaders are, therefore, people from inside the company who have somehow maintained enough detachment from the local traditions, ideology, and shibboleths to maintain the objectivity of an outsider.
Joseph L. Bower (jbower@hbs.edu) is the Donald Kirk David Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School in Boston. He is the author of The CEO Within: Why Inside Outsiders Are the Key to Succession Planning (Harvard Business School Press, 2007).
By: Bower, Joseph L.,
Harvard Business Review,
Nov 2007, Vol. 85, Issue 11
In my analysis of 1,800 successions, for instance, I found that company performance was significantly better when insiders succeeded to the job of CEO. Other researchers, including Jim Collins in Good to Great, have come to similar conclusions working from different data sets.
My research suggests that as a rule the best leaders are, therefore, people from inside the company who have somehow maintained enough detachment from the local traditions, ideology, and shibboleths to maintain the objectivity of an outsider.
Joseph L. Bower (jbower@hbs.edu) is the Donald Kirk David Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School in Boston. He is the author of The CEO Within: Why Inside Outsiders Are the Key to Succession Planning (Harvard Business School Press, 2007).
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
DIAGNOSING THE COMPANY AS A NEW CEO
THE NEW LEADER'S GUIDE TO DIAGNOSING THE BUSINESS.
By: Gottfredson, Mark, Schaubert, Steve, Saenz, Hernan,
Harvard Business Review,
February 2008, Vol. 86, Issue 2
Within a few months at most, incoming CEOs and general managers must identify ways to boost profitability, increase market share, overtake competitors - whatever the key tasks may be. But they can't map out specific objectives and initiatives until they know where they are starting from. Every organization, after all, has its distinctive strengths and weaknesses and faces a unique combination of threats and opportunities. Accurately assessing all these is the only way to determine what goals are reasonable and where a management team should focus its performance-improvement efforts.
Diagnosis Template for new CEOS
Analyze Costs and Prices
--Construct cost and price experience curves.
--Determine costs relative to competitors'
--Assess the profitability of your product lines.
Evaluate Your Competitive Position
--Compare your returns and market share with those of your rivals.
--Measure your market size and trends.
--Assess your firm's capabilities
Understand Your Industry's Profit Pool
--Study customer needs and behavior by segment
--Track customer retention and loyalty
--Anticipate profit-pool shifts
Simplify, Simplify
--Gauge the complexity of your products or services
--Assess the complexity of your organization
--Determine where you can simplify processes
By: Gottfredson, Mark, Schaubert, Steve, Saenz, Hernan,
Harvard Business Review,
February 2008, Vol. 86, Issue 2
Within a few months at most, incoming CEOs and general managers must identify ways to boost profitability, increase market share, overtake competitors - whatever the key tasks may be. But they can't map out specific objectives and initiatives until they know where they are starting from. Every organization, after all, has its distinctive strengths and weaknesses and faces a unique combination of threats and opportunities. Accurately assessing all these is the only way to determine what goals are reasonable and where a management team should focus its performance-improvement efforts.
Diagnosis Template for new CEOS
Analyze Costs and Prices
--Construct cost and price experience curves.
--Determine costs relative to competitors'
--Assess the profitability of your product lines.
Evaluate Your Competitive Position
--Compare your returns and market share with those of your rivals.
--Measure your market size and trends.
--Assess your firm's capabilities
Understand Your Industry's Profit Pool
--Study customer needs and behavior by segment
--Track customer retention and loyalty
--Anticipate profit-pool shifts
Simplify, Simplify
--Gauge the complexity of your products or services
--Assess the complexity of your organization
--Determine where you can simplify processes
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)