time to time, I will work with a company that has a new CEO or has merged with a competitor, and the need for a new and fresh vision is apparent. All too often the leadership team charged with making the change happen smoothly overlooks the need to consider different leadership approaches, cultures, and the differences in the style and pace of each business. Mergers are much more complex than the financial and cost savings synergies might suggest.
Synergizing systems and markets look good on paper but when cultures collide and leadership styles are incompatible—and a go-go business ties up with a slower, more formal structured one—careful planning is required to avoid catastrophe. The most profound vision in the world can be thwarted by insecurity—interpersonal conflict and hardened attitudes that form an underground resistance movement. Cleaning up the people issues is of paramount importance.
Stabilizing leadership styles and creating a unity of command are the keys to the fulfillment of a vision. Systems and structural change are quicker to implement through people-centered change. You can fire everyone and start fresh. You can achieve anything if you have enough money and time, and you are prepared to endure the wrath of shareholders. I would rather plan carefully, communicate effectively, and get people working with me to make the change —it’s less expensive and much more effective.
4. Is the vision aligned with the values and goals of the organization?
Albert Einstein believed that human beings, to realize their potential, must have clear standards of right and wrong. The most important human endeavor, said Einstein, is striving for morality in our actions.
Morality, said the famous scientist, is what gives beauty and dignity to life. Following our animal instincts is not enough. Without high standards of right and wrong, men cannot live together in peace and friendship.
A business that maintains its integrity—its ethical core—maintains its customers, staff, and profitability. Individual executives and teams should make every effort to work and live in integrity. Integrity, by definition, means an adherence to a code of moral and ethical values—the quality and state of being completely aligned; to be one, to be whole, not separate. Making a prudent choice to connect and be one with a higher path means that our thoughts, values, attitudes, needs, and beliefs must be one with our behavior; to be authentic and trustworthy. This is a tough call. Living in integrity is difficult to even comprehend for those who believe that the means justify the end.
Choosing alignment and integrating core values in business means making a conscious choice to be transparent; that company policies, procedures, systems, culture, communications, and structure are all congruent and reflected in daily behavior and actions. Integration builds an interlinking, internal strength that will stand the test of time.
That means that all the core values we choose, we live. That we are a product of our own voice, not a game player or a manipulator. It takes inner strength from the senior executive team to stay with what’s right and strength to keep to their word. It means honoring commitments. It is the strength to stay away from being deceitful, cheating, stealing, betraying, and speaking with a “forked tongue.” It is having an inner resolve that is based on respect and honor for ourselves, others, and the way business should be conducted.
In the final analysis, we are judged on the lasting differences we leave behind. To make a positive difference that echoes down through time clearly takes a higher path of doing business.
5. Does the vision allow for an ever-growing and changing world?
In 1960, 50% of the work force was involved in manufacturing—making things. By the year 2000, only 15% were involved in making things and 66% were in the service sector. Does your business allow for these kinds of changes? Since 1983, U.S. commerce and industry has added more than 100 million computers. Mobile phone subscribers jumped from zero in 1983 to 200 million in 2006. Technology is radically changing the speed and direction of work flow and communication. The housing boom and bust, the credit crunch, the price of oil—all play a major role in running a successful business. The vision must remain dynamic and flexible to survive changing world realities.
6. Does the vision take all the organization’s potential for accomplishment into account?
This is a complex question but can be simplified by asking your group: “What would success look like in five to ten years taking all of our potential for accomplishment into account?” A free-flowing and creative debate should form the foundation for this question—allowing “out-of-the-box-thinking.” Thoughts and ideas should be listed and revisited, and no area should be excluded. You will be surprised at the hidden desires and subconscious underpinnings that reveal themselves. Following are examples of how well this question works.
Some years ago I conducted a strategic planning retreat for Amylin Biotech Corporation, then headed up by Ted Green and Dr. Tim Rink, who both supported the visionary focus of this question. Interestingly, one of the outcomes from this question, and the lively debate around it, was that the senior executive team—for the first time—reached a meeting of minds that the true vision for Amylin was to become a fully fledged pharmaceutical company, and not a boutique biotech company. This resulted in the renaming of the company to Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and, in turn, clarified its vision: core values and goals.
Amylin Pharmaceuticals has gone on to become one of San Diego’s best places to work and their current mission is as follows:
“Amylin Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company committed to improving lives through the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative medicines.”
I worked with several companies in the building industry who made significant changes by asking this question. Like Amylin, they reaped enormous benefits in leadership focus, levels of quality, and customer satisfaction, thus reducing costs and increasing revenues. It is common knowledge that the building industry worldwide has undergone enormous transformation. In California, the SB800 Bill (arbitration bill) ratified in the State Assembly in 2003 required homebuilders to improve the quality of their product and services to homebuyers.
When I consulted with these companies and went through the vision guideline questions, it was soon discovered that many internal changes were needed to be in compliance with the SB800 Bill. Because of this, I guided several companies through the process of building customer-driven cultures, which meant that we needed to align systems and processes, and focus all staff on a shared destiny.
The first step was conducting several Synergy Team Power Retreats to lay the foundation for change. All staff members from sales, accounting, construction, customer service, land acquisition, planning and engineering, and the entire senior executive team attended the retreats. To demonstrate commitment to the shared destiny, the senior executive team attended more than one retreat. This formed a foundation of solid communication, willing attitudes, and a productive, transparent work environment— shifting mentality and creating a critical mass of ownership to the shared destiny.
Simultaneously, we conducted a series of strategic planning workshops that went through an initial education step and then a series of workshops that included interactive group dynamic exercises resulting in building a vision statement, a clear set of values, and broader generic goals (e.g., improving quality, customer service, and teamwork). Once each executive
