Why Change? Why Bother?

Let’s face it. Flat was the new growth in 2009. Leaders sought to hold the line on spending, innovation and growth in the most uncertain economy in our modern times. But it can’t last. Wall Street will demand returns and shareholders will want their value.

One of the greatest challenges of achieving growth is realizing you may need to change. Companies don’t change. People do. Employees know the leadership sets the tone for change. They can tell if you are serious about change or not. We believe articulating an inspiring vision is a key element of any successful culture. So is having a culture where trying to news ideas is accepted.

Is your company set up to allow employees to bring forward new ideas without fear? Probably not.

On one end of the spectrum, leaders may be cautious optimists about growth where slow and steady wins the day. This mindset can be good for a slow to no growth market segment. However, in market segments with mid to rapid growth, leaders must instill a culture of growth by instilling a culture that is willing to try new ideas.

Here is what happens can happen when leaders do not dedicate resources to exploring change. We all loved the United States Postal service. Our moms talked to the mail man as though he were our family members. We used to buy and collect stamps, write love letters, send greeting cards and pay our bills once or twice a month, almost in a ritualistic fashion. With the onset of email, on line bill pay, the cost and overhead of the postal worker and the speed of life, Americas have reduced spending on US Postal Service $7B this year. The projections by year 2010 are to reach $238B. The mere fact the United States Postal Service was not looking at the changing consumer; their behavior and needs, was a sure fire was to become obsolete in 5 years.

Why change? Well, if we don’t we die.


The Core Opportunity: People
The most widespread problem in change management is winning hearts and minds throughout the organization on the importance of change. In a survey conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit, they sited three top three barriers to change:

• Igniting the culture ranked (54% of respondents).
• Lack of buy-in from local management (31% of respondents)
• Active, visible sponsorship from the leadership ( 31% of respondents)

In other words, companies are struggling with a very basic people issues; motivating them to abandon old ways of working for something new. Harvard Business School Professor John Kotter states, “In a typical large change program, it is not a matter of sending out the new organization chart or the new budget or the new strategy with a few projects. It is about changing people’s behavior, often a lot of people, and this is not trivial.”

Look, even we are changing. In the years passed we may have mailed a brochure, taken an airplane to give speech or clipped an article from the newspaper on our clients .Today we are sending e-blasts, using web-ex to present documents to large groups of people and going to social media blogs to find out what consumers are really saying.

The world is changing. Are you ready?

We help create a winning culture of sustainable growth through strategic, inspiring stories. Let’s get growing.

Call Airlift at (01) 312.492.7772 to talk about your growth plans.

Lessons from Tiger & Toyota: When defending corporate reputation and brand, speed is critical to success

Businesses and brands build trust with every action they take and or don’t take. This is especially true when they are beneath the microscope of public scrutiny.

Two events have come together this week that give us reason to reconsider conventional methods of public response to reputational crises – the long-awaited apology by golfer Tiger Woods and the begrudging agreement of Toyota Motor’s President Akio Toyoda to come to the U.S. to testify before Congress.

About 90 days ago, the carefully crafted public image of the world’s greatest golfer began to unravel and spiral downward when revelations of marital infidelity began to surface and were confirmed.

We saw thousands of photos of his wife, children, homes, fellow golfers, countless women claiming to have been involved with him, but we never saw or heard from Tiger himself in a timely manner. The world was clamoring to hear directly from him, a trusted and deeply admired world-class athlete. Because we didn’t hear from him immediately, the story kept getting bigger, wilder and with others jumping in to fill in (fabricate) the missing information in the continuing story. All of this resulted in huge public disappointment in their sports hero and the subsequent loss of major sponsorships. More importantly, his reputation lay in tatters.

As it relates to Toyota CEO, Akio Toyoda, until the recent disclosures of deaths caused by accelerating gas pedals and numerous recalls, Toyota was viewed as the global automotive leader whose cars were reliable, dependable and trusted. And yet, in the unfolding global news story, we have learned that months and months went by before Toyota took action. Their lack of urgency in getting the facts or grasping the severity of the situation resulted in fatalities and a reputational fall from grace. Their silence resulted in an epic public relations disaster…one for the case history books. Was the silence worth it? At last count, Toyota’s has a $3B loss on their balance sheets.

Yes, building or maintaining trust is about transparency. However, in today’s 24/7 world, speed of disclosure is as important, if not more important, as transparency. Embattled leaders and companies must not underestimate the power of moving quickly to communicate and have their voice heard. If you don’t start to tell your story, others will speculate and fill in the blanks.
So what should leaders do if an unfortunate event happens to erode your trust bank?

1. Gather the facts quickly and try to buy time by putting a stake in the ground on what you know or don’t know.
2. Tell the media and other stakeholders how long it will take to get the facts, the process and why
3. Admit guilt and give an authentic apology. People are human and we can and do forgive leaders and businesses when sincerity is expressed with a promise of action
4. Talk about impact and repercussions publicly. CBS let David Letterman offer an apology on-air for infidelity with a co-worker. His brand may be bruised, but he is still on- the- air. What does that say to your employees?
5. Reiterate your moral compass and ethical code in an internally as well as externally. Your employees want to know where you stand.

Rebuilding trust is not difficult to do when you do right by your customer, people and shareholders. It takes years to restore reputations. Don’t forget that speed in disclosure and a timely and genuine apology go a long way to help stem the negative impact to your business.


Contact Airlift today about your reputation. We help leaders craft sustainable growth through inspiring stories. arozenich@airliftideas.com or (01) 312.492.7772

Getting Results From Processes, Systems, Procedures. It used to be so simple!

The New Moment Of Truth. This is not the usual definition of where your Brand intersects with the Customer. This is where your company’s activities intersect with your results. You look at your sales, profit, market-share and customer satisfaction scores. Are you looking at how those numbers are achieved?

Each system and process is designed to a particular result depending on how well it is used. In times of high change it is much easier to work on the systems you have rather than create and educate your system on new ones. It’s time for some diagnostic work.

1. Make a simple list of your key metrics. Call out the systems or processes that feed into each metric.

2. Look at your most critical metric first and detail the people who drive the processes. Pull them together and ask a simple question. “What do we have to do differently for this process to generate different results?”

3. Engage your people to find the gap, the missing piece, the wasted effort and they will own the results. And you will get the returns the process is designed to deliver.

4. Take work-out of your processes so you don't pile on more work while you have the right business-driving process.

Larry Bossidy, former CEO of Allied Signal, learned about productivity. “So it was a shock when I got to Allied Signal. I wasn't prepared for the malaise I found. The company had lots bright people, but they weren't effective, and they didn't place a premium on getting things done.” When a company’s systems and processes are working well, stellar business results can be achieved.

At Airlift Ideas, we are experts at diagnosing systems, processes, the results they produce, and the people involved. We help teams achieve greatness through their brand story and improved process efforts.

Contact us to help you today. mbiggins@airliftideas.com

CEO’s: Is there Gender Parity in Your Firm?

The topic of women in leading roles in business has resurfaced in a major way in 2010. This year on of the key topics at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland was gender parity. Women and their role in corporate America are on the minds of global leaders. Today in the UK, pay for women is -22% below their male counterparts. Women in the US are -13% below men for similar jobs and account for only 2% of board posts in the us. If over 50% of today's college graduates are women, why aren't they staying in the work force at the executive levels?



While we are making progress, we need to do more. So what's the problem?



The Insead Global Leadership Center conducted a robust research project to drill down on the issues. Here are some headlines:

• Women have had to make trade -offs of family over jobs

• For this trade off, they loose speed and power on the fast track

• Women hesitate to go out on a limb alone as their prefer to network

• Women are visionary but in a different way

• Women are reluctant to be assertive due to stereotyping

• Women don't put much stock in vision as they do getting things done

All in all, 22,244 observers contributed and evaluated the 10 dimensions of leadership: emotional intelligence, empowering,,, energizing, envisioning, global mindset, organizational design, outside orientation, rewarding and feedback, team building and tenacity.

So what are leaders doing?

Google, Coca-Cola, WPP, Bain Consulting, Nissan responded with the insights that question conventional wisdom and have been successful in their firms.

1. Make Women and women leaders s a strategic imperative
2. Develop a women's leadership council that has a voice to the CEO
3. Listen for understanding
4. Break the rigidity of your rules
5. Set metrics and hold people accountable

While it will be challenging to change the mindset of today's work force, leaders must lay a foundation for the next generation of women to success in your business.

What ideas do you have to begin to make the changes needed to create more gender parity?

Let us know or call 312.492.7772

CEO: Is Flat the new Growth?

Is ‘flat’ the new ‘growth’? Let’s face it, 2009 was a year of holding the line and hiding a bit. The fear of bankruptcy, acquisition or dramatic sales decline may have left many leaders in a state of corporate rigamortis; a stalling of growth. So it’s 2010, a new year and new decade, what can you do to reboot your growth?

There are three growth horizons for leaders. Deciding how much to invest and when is your key challenge. Here are some screens you can use as a way to stage and gauge your growth:

1) Extend and Defend your Core Business
· If you are in a highly competitive market you need to align the organization to defend your core business and ‘stop the bleeding’. If you are looking to extend your core business clearly define who your customer is, what they need and how you can meet those needs. Here we look at growing sales incrementally, 1-3%
2) Build or Acquire Emerging Business
· This growth phase can take significant capital. If executed properly a strategic acquisition can elevate your growth in a way competitors can not match. Insure you have an integration strategy for this acquisition so the cultures can merge with ease. Building a new business is more closely related to innovation growth.
3) Fill Tomorrow’s Pipeline through Innovation
· The best way to decide if you should undertake an innovation effort is to ask yourself, “Are we meeting or exceeding the needs of our customers today?” If the answer is ‘no’, assign someone in your firm to look into emerging trends that can bring you more growth by being a more relevant company.

Developing the right strategic plan and meaningful growth platforms can help you achieve your growth goals successful. Crafting a new brand story can help.

Airlift helps leaders create a sustainable culture of growth through inspiring brand story telling. Contact us to find out how: srosen@airliftideas.com or (1) 312.492.7772.



Source: The Alchemy of Growth

Do your people matter in this economy?

Do your people matter?

You might be thinking, “They are lucky to having a job in this economy!” Think again. Your people matter most. Every day, they show up to work so they can contribute to a greater good-your growth. They seek to deliver a quality product or service; one that should delight your customers with each transaction. They are your chief brand ambassadors. Yes, they matter!

McKinzie and Company outlined some tips for securing great people. The headline that leaders must create a an “extreme” EVP, employee value proposition by delivering a compelling reason why a talented person would want to work for your company.

Clearly, the Gen X and Y work force will make us think differently about how they work. Deloitte has a point of view on the distinct differences between a Boomer work force and Gen X and Y. Boomers put a heavy focus on work as an “anchor to their lives” while Gen Xers are concerned about “work/life navigation” They are willing to do the work, but not as interested as being seen sitting in their cubicle as a Boomer would.

Price Waterhouse conducted a global study stating “recruiting and integrating younger workers was seen as a challenge by 61% of chief executives globally. Less than a third (30%) believed they had a good understanding of their employees' needs and views.
What are you doing to hire, train and inspire your greatest asset, your people?

Let us know at http://www.airliftbrandstorytelling.blogspot.com/

Source: Fast Company, McKinzie and Company, Price Waterhouse

CEO's Are you Achieving Brand Longevity?

We are a world obsessed with staying forever young and living longer. Can the principles of life-longevity be applied to business? Yes, longevity, the length of one’s life or career, can be applied to business. Here are some things to think about:

In a book, “Seven Principles for Living in Balance”, they articulate driving principles of a well-balanced life that can be applied to business.

• Attitude-Change is an opportunity, not a threat (Can do)
• Accountability- Holding an accountable point of view brings our life into control and balance by focusing on where we can get leverage and where we can make a difference.( Results)
• Commitment-A meaningful role to fulfill and hold a strong inner belief in its importance. (Passion)
• Supportive Relationships-We are social creatures who thrive on meaningful, caring, and affirming contact with others. (Teamwork)
• Service-Highly change-resilient people view service as their true mission in life, and hold material wealth and success as secondary to helping others
• Personal Mastery- Personal energy management is that people are able to maintain optimal energy levels throughout the day without dependence (Well-Being)
• Faith -See their lives within a larger perspective and gives them a sense of belonging to a greater whole. (Community)

Is there an example of a brand that really does that? Yes!

Let’s look at Danone.

When you create products that you believe in passionately as a force for good — in this case, generating health and well-being — you too can live to 103 and build a global empire! Founder Daniel Carasso did both. In 1929, Carasso, having studied business and bacteriology, established the Danone brand in France.
Along the way, Carasso remained dedicated to yogurt no matter what happened. He ignored the beginning of the Great Depression because he was too busy trying to find dairy stores for his product in France. Yogurt rose from obscurity and niche markets into the mass consumer mainstream when adding fruit jam to the sour product proved a marketing breakthrough. In 2008, the Danone Groupe had worldwide sales of $20.48 billion.

Carasso lived though a century's worth of turbulence and destructive change, some of it much worse than anything happening today. He persisted when others gave up, reached out to partners to help him implement his vision, remained true to his values, and never lost his passion for yogurt.

Each of the principles of longevity and balance can in fact be applied to business. What principles should you deploy to improve the longevity of your brand? Let us know your thoughts by commenting in our blog.

Source: Bloomberg.com, Seven Principles for Living in Balanceby Joel Levey and Michelle Levey