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Last week I attended an Executive Sustainability Summit hosted by Xerox , Waste Management (WM), and Arizona State University . The short conference brought together public and private sector managers working on environmental and social issues. Xerox asked me to attend and give my thoughts on what I heard and saw*. What really struck me is that both Xerox and Waste Management are doing something mostly unheard of: they're working with customers to help them use less of their traditional product or service. The plenary panel during the Summit included execs from both companies proudly talking about these fast-growing, service-oriented parts of their businesses. And what's really important is that these are not just niche product lines, but fundamental shifts in what these companies do. In some sense, this shift is not optional, as both companies are in the throes of fundamental transformations of their industries. Xerox has been navigating the shift to digit...

On November 10, 2010, Cisco's stock price dropped 16%, erasing roughly $20 billion of market value in a matter of hours. Had something catastrophic happened? No. In fact, this stock market bellwether had just beat earnings estimates by 6%. The problem? They reported $0.42 for the quarter, just barely clearing the consensus estimates of $0.40. Those who follow the market are familiar with the earnings game: deliver an unexpected stellar quarter, and a stock can gain hundreds of millions, if not billions, of market value. But match, or barely beat expectations, and the market yawns, or worse, dumps the stock, as it did with Cisco. Those of us who are in the market understand and play by these rules. But how many of us are guilty of falling into the same "what have you done for me lately?" mentality with our employees? When what our colleagues and employees do every day becomes no more than a benchmark to beat (e.g. the $0.42 of earnings that Cisco di...

  Most execs (52%) don’t feel their company’s strategy will lead to success; two out of three respondents admit that their company’s capabilities don’t fully support their strategy; only one in five (21%) are fully confident they have a right to win; and the majority (64%) agree that their company has too many conflicting priorities. NEW YORK CITY (January 18, 2011) — The majority of executives in all industries indicate that their companies lack “coherence”: They struggle with setting a clear and differentiating strategy, ensuring that day-to-day decisions are in line with their strategy and allocating resources in a way that supports the strategy, according to a Booz & Company survey of more than 1,800 executives. The research also shows that companies with more “coherence” — where executives claim that strategy, capabilities and product offerings are in synch — perform better. “The survey results tell us that deciding on priorities is a huge i...

Few teams function as well as they could. But the stakes get higher with senior-executive teams: dysfunctional ones can slow down, derail, or even paralyze a whole company. In our work with top teams at more than 100 leading multinational companies,1  including surveys with 600 senior executives at 30 of them, we’ve identified three crucial priorities for constructing and managing effective top teams. Getting these priorities right can help drive better business outcomes in areas ranging from customer satisfaction to worker productivity and many more as well. 1. Get the right people on the team . . . and the wrong ones off Determining the membership of a top team is the CEO’s responsibility—and frequently the most powerful lever to shape a team’s performance. Many CEOs regret not employing this lever early enough or thoroughly enough. Still others neglect it entirely, assuming instead that factors such as titles, pay grades, or an executive’s position on the org chart are enough ...

It was said of Abbot Agatho that for three years he carried a stone in his mouth until he learned to be silent. I was thinking about that story by Thomas Merton during a recent board meeting. The CEO and CFO were marching through their 112-slide presentation. Recent market updates, a technical deconstruction of various trends, then product frameworks — all in quick succession. One board member sighed deeply. Another glanced surreptitiously down at the BlackBerry in his lap, perhaps thinking no one would notice. Some of the other people at the table were staring out the window at the grey day. It was not a highly engaged moment — but it was an all-too familiar one. Is this a case of PowerPoint burnout or BlackBerry addiction? Or was there something more meaningful happening? Were they, I wondered, placing an imaginary stone (or two or three) in their mouths? What if this scene was not a demonstration of apathy but the application of wisdom? Early on in our careers, we might speak u...

Whether they are holding a door open or introducing you to a potential client, everyone offers favors at different times in life. But, asking someone for a big favor can be daunting. Next time you need someone's help, follow these three steps. 1. Set the stage. Be explicit about the nature of your request. The phrase, "I have a favor to ask," implies a contract in which you will someday try to return the favor. 2. Explain the reason. People like to know why they are being asked to do something. Saying "Can you cover that meeting for me?" is far less effective than "Can you cover that meeting for me because I have another meeting I can't miss?" 3. Give an out. No one feels good about being forced to do something. Offer an escape route by saying. "If you can't, I understand," or "I know you're busy." Source: HBR

In the half-century since Peter Drucker coined the term “knowledge workers,” their share of the workforce has steadily grown—and so has the range of technology tools aimed at boosting their productivity. Yet there’s little evidence that massive spending on personal computing, productivity software, knowledge-management systems, and much else has moved the needle. What’s more, a wide variety of recent research has begun suggesting that always-on, multitasking work environments are so distracting that they are sapping productivity. After researching the productivity of knowledge workers for years, I’ve concluded that organizations need a radically different approach. Yes, technology is a vital enabler of communication, of collaboration, and of access to rising volumes of information. But least-common-denominator approaches involving more technology for all have reached a point of diminishing returns. It’s time for companies to develop a strategy for knowledge work—one that...

Managers who want to recognize employees for good work have many tools at their disposal. One of the more traditional ways to reward a top performer is to give her a promotion or raise or both. But how can you know whether someone is truly ready for the next challenge or deserving of that bump up in pay? HR policies and company culture often dictate when and how people move up in a company. However, managers in most companies have a good deal of input into the decision, and in some cases they are the ultimate decision makers. Whether you have this authority or not, promotions and raises need to be part of an ongoing discussion with employees about their performance. What the Experts Say "Many times a manager feels responsible for finding their people their next step in the organization," says Herminia Ibarra, the Cora Chaired Professor of Leadership and Learning and Faculty Director of the INSEAD Leadership Initiative. It's critical that managers make these decisions a...