What's Holding You Back? E-Book

Robert J. Herbold

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 336

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

"Leadership is not for everyone. It requires bold, gutsy individuals. If you accept that premise, you will find his [Bob Herbold's] book rewarding reading." --Harvey Schachter, The Globe and Mail Quit hiding from tough decisions and learn to confront them head-on Why do managers at all levels sacrifice corporate success by shying away from making the tough decisions? What's Holding You Back? reveals exactly why managers often hesitate to confront difficult issues-whether it's the absence of a perfect solution, the knowledge that no decision will please everyone, etc.-and, most importantly, how they can overcome these common managerial obstacles to maximize their company's success. What's Holding You Back? elucidates the ten core principles of confident leadership, outlining proven tactics by which managers can confront their inner wimp and highlight their inner courage. * Features dynamic real-world examples from Apple, Microsoft, Porsche, IBM, Merck, Canon, Sony, Whirlpool, IDEO, Tesco, P&G, Target, 3M, and more * Pinpoints the corporate failures that can result from hesitant or self-conscious organizations, and what managers can do to avoid them * Clearly delineates how managers can cultivate and deliver accountable and decisive leadership, even during the toughest dilemmas What's Holding You Back? proves that practicing gutsy leadership is the key to operational and innovative excellence in the workplace

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Praise

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Big Issue

Fiat: A Near-Death Experience

The Resulting Financial Catastrophe

The Overall Assessment

Fiat: At Last … a Gutsy Leader

The Impact

Why Managers Don't Make Tough Decisions

Chapter 2: Principle I: Devise a Demanding Game Plan to Confront Reality

A Clear Vision with Impact

Aggressive Strategies to Achieve Your Vision

Carefully Selected Actionable Measures

Chapter 3: Principle II: Staff for Success

Perform Rigorous Performance Assessments

Move Weak Performers Out Quickly

Use Employee Surveys to Spot Weak Performance

Chapter 4: Principle III: Clean Up the Sloppiness

Minimal Systems and Processes

Single-Person Accountability

Minimum Layers and Maximum Spans

Chapter 5: Principle IV: Institutionalize Tight-Fisted Cost Control

Take a Tough, Visible Stand on Cost

Fix or Kill Obvious Cost Blunders

Be Global

Chapter 6: Principle V: Insist on Functional Excellence

Courageous, Disciplined Leaders

Distributed but Centralized Operations

Focus on the Vital Few

Chapter 7: Principle VI: Create a Culture of Innovation

The Core Value: Avoid Commodity Hell

Creativity and Six Sigma Don't Mix

Reward Fresh Thinking

Chapter 8: Principle VII: Demand Accountability and Decisiveness; Avoid Consensus

Set Clear Accountability, Goals, and Measures for Innovation

Be Decisive—Kill Marginal Projects Quickly

Chapter 9: Principle VIII: Exploit Inflection Points

Staff with Experienced, Customer-Focused Leaders

Be First

Chapter 10: Principle IX: Value Ideas from Anywhere

Visit and Observe Your Customers

Don't Just Focus on Your R&D Staff

Beware of Joint Ventures and Partnerships

Chapter 11: Principle X: Shake Up the Organization

Insert Fresh Talent

Reorganize to Win

Create Intense Marketplace Focus

Conclusion

Notes

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Index

Praise for The Fiefdom Syndrome

“Turf wars and bureaucracy can undermine even the strongest corporate strategies. Drawing on lessons learned throughout his distinguished career, Bob describes innovative and practical ways to tackle this pervasive problem—and beat The Fiefdom Syndrome.”

—Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect, Microsoft Corporation

“Bob Herbold's book identifies the causes, symptoms, and cures of one of the great diseases (scourges) that insidiously destroy large corporations in America (i.e., fiefdoms and bureaucracy).”

—Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO, Bank One Corporation

“I've seen Bob successfully tackle business challenges both at Procter & Gamble and at Microsoft. In The Fiefdom Syndrome, he identifies a critical business problem in the corporate world that very few have been able to solve—until now. This should be required reading across corporate America.”

—James I. Cash Jr., James E. Robison Professor of Business Administration, Harvard University Graduate School of Business

“A vitally important business book. As Bob Herbold, longtime COO of Microsoft, makes clear, the battles over territory and turf stem from basic human behavior. Uncontrolled, they can be incredibly destructive, yet they are inherent in every organization. In The Fiefdom Syndrome, Herbold shows how fiefdoms can hamstring a company's operations, and how to break through them. I strongly urge people of all organizations, large and small, profit and non‐profit, to read this book.”

—John Chambers, president and CEO, Cisco Systems

“Fiefdoms are the enemy of collaboration and external focus. They turn organizations inward and distract companies from customer needs and competitive realities. Bob Herbold gets to the heart of why fiefdoms exist and what leaders can do to overcome them. This is an important book for any leader who is responsible for sustained business growth.”

—A. G. Lafley, chairman, chief executive, and president, the Procter & Gamble Company

“The foundation of a successful organization is a team focused on common goals. With its thorough analysis and practical insights, this book will help you recognize, eliminate, and prevent the cancer of individual agendas.”

—Michael Dell, chairman, Dell Inc.

“The Fiefdom Syndrome is a must‐read for any executive who faces the pervasive and crippling challenge of turf battles. All institutions need a clear, unified mission, and Bob Herbold's new book will help managers achieve it.”

—Hank Paulson, chairman & CEO, the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

“The Fiefdom Syndrome tackles a pervasive and seldom‐discussed problem—namely, why organizations tend to become slow‐footed, fragmented, and mediocre. Herbold provides valuable insights into cutting through the fiefdom syndrome, allowing you and your team to make the most of your talents, improve your organization, and avoid stalled careers.”

—John Doerr, partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

“Bob Herbold takes on the bureaucracy and turf battles that can undercut any company's agility—the kind of problems Sam Walton fought his whole life to overcome. I strongly recommend it.”

—Rob Walton, chairman of the board, Walmart Stores, Inc.

“I have seen many organizations with strategy or profitability problems where the core issues blocking their progress are the types of fiefdom‐like behaviors Bob describes. The reader will highly value the powerful, useful learnings in this book, told via great ‘war stories’ by a very experienced practitioner. I strongly recommend The Fiefdom Syndrome.”

—Adrian Slywotzky, author, Value Migration, The Profit Zone, and The Art of Profitability

“Fiefdoms, turf wars, and bureaucracy are often related to getting out of balance on centralization or decentralization. Bob Herbold provides valuable insights on how to achieve the proper balance and how to recognize and then avoid the pitfalls of decentralization that goes too far, i.e. fiefdoms.”

—Dick Kovacevich, chairman and CEO, Wells Fargo & Company

“In this day and age, turf battles and bureaucracy are practically synonymous. As one who has seen these battles up close, both in public sector and private sector, I was intrigued by The Fiefdom Syndrome. Bob not only analyzes the causes; he offers compelling suggestions on how to overcome them. Whether you are in business, government, education, or the non‐profits, I urge you to read this book, and more importantly take its advice and put it to good use.”

—Jack Kemp

Praise for Seduced By Success

“Seldom do you find a book with as many powerful, useful reminders that help you face up to reality and deal with problems. It becomes very clear why so many organizations fall behind and lose their way. I strongly urge you to read it.”

—Grant L. Kelley, principal & CEO, Colony Capital Asia

“This book rings painfully true. Bob Herbold demonstrates with clinical precision that a company's precipitate fall from grace can frequently be traced back to its time of greatest achievement. Before you get too depressed, however, take heart—he also gives you all the tools you need to avoid that ignominious fate. Anyone interested in sustained success should study it closely.”

—Martin Sorrell, chief executive officer, WPP Group PLC

“Bob Herbold gets to the heart of why successful organizations and individuals often go into a tailspin, and how this can be avoided. His thorough reviews of specific companies we all know make this a very useful book, and I highly recommend it.”

—Indra K. Nooyi, president & CEO, PepsiCo, Inc.

“Seduced by Success is a great book and should be compulsory reading for all managers. It's very instructive to read the detailed case studies showing how some successful companies lose their way, while others remain successful. Through these rich examples Bob Herbold shows how to sustain success.”

—Koh Boon Hwee, chairman, DBS Group Holdings/DBS Bank, Asia

Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Herbold. All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Herbold, Robert J.

What's holding you back? : ten bold steps that define gutsy leaders / Robert J. Herbold.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-470-63901-6 (cloth); ISBN 978-0-470-93406-7 (ebk);

ISBN 978-0-470-93407-4 (ebk); ISBN 978-0-470-93408-1 (ebk)

1. Decision making. 2. Leadership. I. Title.

HD30.23.H48 2011

658.4'092–dc22

2010043004

To Patricia

Introduction

Effective leaders must be bold enough and brave enough to make tough choices. Sounds simple enough. Yet chances are that you have experienced a situation where, as a manager of a group (or department, division, or whole company), you know what you have to do, but you also know that these steps will be unpopular, or that the change is so significant or the idea so new and against the grain that many people will think you are doing the wrong thing. And, you reflect, you might be wrong—perhaps horrendously, embarrassingly so. People might lose their jobs. Your boss might not be happy. And so on.

A lot of managers face these tough issues and waffle, becoming paralyzed with indecision. They delay, analyze further, make massive compromises, ignore the whole thing, or employ any other tactic to avoid dealing with the tough situation. This lack of courage, this total inaction action, is what destroys companies.

Take, for instance, General Motors, which filed for bankruptcy on June 1, 2009. The world seemed shocked that a long-standing symbol of American commerce and manufacturing could fall so far, but the primary issues driving the company down were nothing new—in fact, they had been in place for more than twenty-five years. As far back as 1983, GM faced huge manufacturing inefficiencies when compared to the competition.1 The Japanese had a cost advantage of approximately $1,500 to $2,000 over GM for a subcompact car.2 In 2008, Toyota had a cost advantage over GM that was almost $1,400 per car.3 In twenty-five years, nothing had really changed.

GM's problems over the twenty-five-year period were not just related to cost. Even in 1986, GM's shortcomings in manufacturing and design were widely known, and for the most part the company's cars were unexciting and very much alike.4 This remained true for the next two decades. In early 2009, just one out of forty-two cars in Consumer Report's “Best in Class” new car ratings was a GM car.5 In contrast, various Toyota models won eighteen of the forty-two ratings.6 The era of GM's distinctive designs of the 1970s had long passed. GM's design issues had been obvious—and accepted—for years.

How was it that the talented managers of this global giant could stare at these problems for over a generation and do nothing about them? What was holding them back?

The company's core problem was lack of consistent, courageous leadership. When an organization faces a major challenge that threatens its competitiveness—and its very existence—the leaders must do something and do it fast to get them out of that mess, yet GM did nothing. Courage has been totally absent in the GM management ranks for decades.

The financial crisis of late 2008 and 2009 has put even more pressure on managers to face up to tough decisions and make them. As demand for products and services dropped on a global scale, those companies with courageous leadership, who kept their organizations lean, agile, and innovative, survived a whole lot better than those plagued by slow-moving, bureaucratic organizations.

Courageous management has real impact. Gutsy leaders are constantly making sure that their organization has a simple, understandable, clear game plan for the future. In addition, headcount is kept as low as possible, and processes are constantly simplified and standardized in order to minimize distractions.

Just as important, strong, courageous leaders create a culture that is curious, even paranoid about the future, to keep people always looking for new ways to help the company grow and improve. They make sure that decision making is crisp and accountability is clear. They constantly look for important new trends in consumer behavior and technology that they can use to their advantage. Once important change is planned, they reconfigure the organization to implement that change quickly and effectively.

Not only does this kind of results-oriented leadership keep the business fresh and alive, but when you face a crisis like the one the world saw in 2008 and 2009, the organization is far more agile and prepared to make the changes needed not only to survive but to win.

Tragically, during the financial crisis, we saw numerous companies in a variety of industries that struggled mightily while their competitors took bold, swift action to cope. For example, in the automobile business, Ford distinguished itself during this very tough period, as did Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan Chase in the financial services sector. These three companies spotted the risks early and took very decisive actions. Those that suffered most just weren't used to constantly seeking out new plans to increase their effectiveness in changing environments. They typically left personnel in their current jobs way too long, which caused them to become stale and protective of current practices. They allowed excess headcount to exist. This consistently leads to organizational complexity, fragmented processes, and bloated costs.

Management that doesn't confront problems and make the necessary tough decisions to change typically ends up with a culture focused on pride in the past and the protection of old procedures. More often than not this leads to consensus decision making, in which no one thoroughly investigates an issue because he or she is not personally accountable for the results of the decision. Organizations with this kind of management usually get run over by new trends and new technology. They become insular and compartmentalized and incapable of initiating the kind of change required to meet major challenges, such as the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009.

The core issue we tackle in this book is the importance of hard-charging, gutsy leadership. It's tough to stay lean and agile as an organization. It's tough to constantly innovate and execute new, bright ideas that will increase the satisfaction and loyalty of your customers. But it can be done and you can do it. This book will show you how.

Chapter 1

The Big Issue

Managers Lacking Courage to Make Tough Decisions

Many managers shy away from the tough decisions. Yet managers become leaders only when they lead, which means tackling the hard decisions head-on. In this chapter, we will explore the characteristics of tough decisions, the key reasons why many managers wimp out, and most important, the disastrous implications of such behavior. The rest of the book will provide you with ten useful principles you can use to avoid such problems.

To gain insight into just how important this topic is, let's take a look at a company that was brought close to the brink of bankruptcy because of weak leadership. Then, miraculously, a really strong, gutsy leader emerged, saved the franchise, and put it back into a leading position in its industry on a global scale.

Fiat: A Near-Death Experience

Founded in Turin, Italy, in 1899, Fiat emerged in the twentieth century as Italy's largest and most prestigious company. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Fiat accounted for more than 50 percent market share in Italy's auto business. In fact, this company was so revered in Italy that whoever took on the role of the CEO was considered “a kind of mythical personage, somewhere between Pope and Prime Minister.”