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2009-05-10 BACK
Leadership for 21st Century Organizations
Leadership for 21st Century Organizations This article originally appeared in the Texarkana Gazette on May 24, 2009 Dr. Ed Bashaw, Dean, Texas A&M-Texarkana College of Business I recently attended a conference for Business School Deans where I had the privilege of hearing Neville Isdell, former CEO and recently retired Chairman of the Board for Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Company. Rather than reflecting on his 42 year association with Coca-Cola, Mr. Isdell chose to look to the future. In today's column I share some of his thoughts on necessary leadership skills for running the 21st century organization and look to local leaders for examples. According to Isdell, successful organizations in the 21st Century will: Support sustainable communities. The simple United Nations definition of sustainability is, "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs." This makes sense. Most important to this concept, companies must ground their sustainability efforts around their core business processes and their core business partners. Isdell cites Wal-Mart (a Coke core partner) as a good example. Wal-Mart works with Coca-Cola in reaching both companies' sustainability goals. These goals are linked to their core business processes. Three Coca-Cola goals are to be 100% powered by renewable energy, to create zero waste, and to sell products that are good for the environment and that sustain resources. They are closer to meeting these goals. Partner with governments and civil society. Coca-Cola's most important sustainability goal is to be water neutral – meaning that the quantity and quality of water supplies are not compromised as a result of Coke's processes. For obvious reasons, water is important to Coca-Cola and the environment. Because of the relevancy of this issue, Coke establishes partnerships with government (U.S. Agency for International Development) and non-government organizations (World Wildlife Fund) to mutually help each other. Coke is involved because, ultimately, it helps Coke. Be a functioning part of local communities. The local community provides the lifeblood for any business. It supplies the vast majority of the local talent to work for a business and the quality of life that all of the employees can enjoy. Each local community either helps or hinders the growth of the business. If your company is not seen as a net positive for your community, over time, your company will have a difficult time hiring good people, getting the approvals needed for business expansion, and being free of government intervention. Reflect diverse communities. Isdell cites McDonald's as being exemplary in this area. However you would define diversity - whether it be age, gender, race - McDonald's is diverse at every level in the corporation. Crews that run the stores consist of people who move on to be operators, become part of the corporate workforce, and move up the whole career value chain. At each of these levels, diversity allows them to win. It ties them better to markets. They are able to see change early to adjust more rapidly. Be a responsible employer. Organizations do this in numerous ways – from workplace culture, to respecting diversity, all the way to basic workplace safety issues. Ultimately, business leaders must learn that employees who are happy and motivated will be able to translate that into happy customers. Leaders must learn how to adjust to today's and tomorrow's employee to create the work environment that fosters happy and motivated employees. Manage change without disruption. Leaders of successful 21st century organizations must create systems to manage change without disruption. To do so requires leadership that builds a culture that is open and optimistic, but never satisfied. Leaders must attract talented people who fit into long term, strategic succession plans. Successful leaders should ultimately be measured by the systems, strategies, and people they put in place under their watch and their success after the leader has left the organization. Space limits me citing local examples in each category, but I'd like to cite local examples related to the last two categories. In the just under three years I've lived in Texarkana, I've seen several examples of responsible employers. One such clear example is JCM Industries. As I sat eating my lunch prepared by the JCM team and listening to Julie Collins MC their annual celebration of the anniversary of shipping their first product, I marveled at the culture I was seeing and feeling. "These people like what they do and who they work for," I thought as I lunched on barbeque and fixin's. Was this planned? In a word, yes. As CEO Ron Collins states, "The culture of a workplace is the responsibility of top management. It is the culture of a workplace that most influences employee attitude. If an employee feels he is a contributor to the success of the business, treated fairly, is safe and valued, then chances are his attitude will be positive, flexible and productive." Has this worked at JCM? The luncheon I attended celebrated the thirty-second anniversary of shipping the first JCM product! Dr. Larry Sullivan has run two of Texarkana's highest profile organizations – Texarkana, Texas Independent School District and the City of Texarkana, Texas. Of his experiences, Sullivan stated, "I learned very early in my career that the true test of a leader's success came when I was not present or after I had moved on to the next challenge. The legacy of leadership is ultimately judged by those who remain in the system and their success after the leader is no longer present." The current success of TISD and Sullivan protégé James Henry Russell illustrates the importance of putting a team into place that will ultimately replace the leader. As always, please email your comments to me at Edward.Bashaw@tamut.edu. (Dr. Bashaw is the Dean of the College of Business at Texas A&M University-Texarkana)
TOP
Leadership for 21st Century Organizations
Leadership for 21st Century Organizations This article originally appeared in the Texarkana Gazette on May 24, 2009 Dr. Ed Bashaw, Dean, Texas A&M-Texarkana College of Business I recently attended a conference for Business School Deans where I had the privilege of hearing Neville Isdell, former CEO and recently retired Chairman of the Board for Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Company. Rather than reflecting on his 42 year association with Coca-Cola, Mr. Isdell chose to look to the future. In today's column I share some of his thoughts on necessary leadership skills for running the 21st century organization and look to local leaders for examples. According to Isdell, successful organizations in the 21st Century will: Support sustainable communities. The simple United Nations definition of sustainability is, "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs." This makes sense. Most important to this concept, companies must ground their sustainability efforts around their core business processes and their core business partners. Isdell cites Wal-Mart (a Coke core partner) as a good example. Wal-Mart works with Coca-Cola in reaching both companies' sustainability goals. These goals are linked to their core business processes. Three Coca-Cola goals are to be 100% powered by renewable energy, to create zero waste, and to sell products that are good for the environment and that sustain resources. They are closer to meeting these goals. Partner with governments and civil society. Coca-Cola's most important sustainability goal is to be water neutral – meaning that the quantity and quality of water supplies are not compromised as a result of Coke's processes. For obvious reasons, water is important to Coca-Cola and the environment. Because of the relevancy of this issue, Coke establishes partnerships with government (U.S. Agency for International Development) and non-government organizations (World Wildlife Fund) to mutually help each other. Coke is involved because, ultimately, it helps Coke. Be a functioning part of local communities. The local community provides the lifeblood for any business. It supplies the vast majority of the local talent to work for a business and the quality of life that all of the employees can enjoy. Each local community either helps or hinders the growth of the business. If your company is not seen as a net positive for your community, over time, your company will have a difficult time hiring good people, getting the approvals needed for business expansion, and being free of government intervention. Reflect diverse communities. Isdell cites McDonald's as being exemplary in this area. However you would define diversity - whether it be age, gender, race - McDonald's is diverse at every level in the corporation. Crews that run the stores consist of people who move on to be operators, become part of the corporate workforce, and move up the whole career value chain. At each of these levels, diversity allows them to win. It ties them better to markets. They are able to see change early to adjust more rapidly. Be a responsible employer. Organizations do this in numerous ways – from workplace culture, to respecting diversity, all the way to basic workplace safety issues. Ultimately, business leaders must learn that employees who are happy and motivated will be able to translate that into happy customers. Leaders must learn how to adjust to today's and tomorrow's employee to create the work environment that fosters happy and motivated employees. Manage change without disruption. Leaders of successful 21st century organizations must create systems to manage change without disruption. To do so requires leadership that builds a culture that is open and optimistic, but never satisfied. Leaders must attract talented people who fit into long term, strategic succession plans. Successful leaders should ultimately be measured by the systems, strategies, and people they put in place under their watch and their success after the leader has left the organization. Space limits me citing local examples in each category, but I'd like to cite local examples related to the last two categories. In the just under three years I've lived in Texarkana, I've seen several examples of responsible employers. One such clear example is JCM Industries. As I sat eating my lunch prepared by the JCM team and listening to Julie Collins MC their annual celebration of the anniversary of shipping their first product, I marveled at the culture I was seeing and feeling. "These people like what they do and who they work for," I thought as I lunched on barbeque and fixin's. Was this planned? In a word, yes. As CEO Ron Collins states, "The culture of a workplace is the responsibility of top management. It is the culture of a workplace that most influences employee attitude. If an employee feels he is a contributor to the success of the business, treated fairly, is safe and valued, then chances are his attitude will be positive, flexible and productive." Has this worked at JCM? The luncheon I attended celebrated the thirty-second anniversary of shipping the first JCM product! Dr. Larry Sullivan has run two of Texarkana's highest profile organizations – Texarkana, Texas Independent School District and the City of Texarkana, Texas. Of his experiences, Sullivan stated, "I learned very early in my career that the true test of a leader's success came when I was not present or after I had moved on to the next challenge. The legacy of leadership is ultimately judged by those who remain in the system and their success after the leader is no longer present." The current success of TISD and Sullivan protégé James Henry Russell illustrates the importance of putting a team into place that will ultimately replace the leader. As always, please email your comments to me at Edward.Bashaw@tamut.edu. (Dr. Bashaw is the Dean of the College of Business at Texas A&M University-Texarkana)
TOP