When Douglas R. Conant stepped in to run Campbell Soup Co. in 2001, he launched a corporate transformation that entailed making Campbell a place where employees would want to stay. One strategy for employee engagement was a focus on restoring the company’s hometown of 140 years—Camden, N.J.
Google is losing employees to hot startups, while behemoth competitors like Facebook, Amazon and Apple vie for consumers’ time. How is CEO Larry Page pulling Google through its midlife crisis?
If people don’t feel safe bringing bad news to you, then they’ll never want to bring anything but a rosy outlook. “So I had to change how I behaved, and start to thank people for bringing me bad news,” says Joseph Jimenez, who took over as a division president for an underperforming company.
In 2007, CEO Michael Lewis, ILD Corp., knew about social-networking sites but he didn’t participate in any of them. The wake-up call came when an employee googled ILD Corp. and the result was ugly: dozens of customer complaints about charges and billing. Thus began Lewis’ migration from the back pew to the pulpit, where social media is concerned.
At some point within the next decade, leaders of both large and small companies will have to make a strategic bet, perhaps even several. That’s why leaders must have the ability to see the need for a game-changing move and seize the moment. Do you have the fortitude for it?
When Wright L. Lassiter III came on board as CEO of the Alameda County Medical Center, and its flagship, Highland Hospital, it was losing millions of dollars each year. What followed was a turnaround so successful it now serves as a model worth emulating.
For more than 150 years, Bausch & Lomb led eye health innovation. But in recent years, the company began to stagnate. To shake things up, Bausch & Lomb hired Brent Saunders as CEO. Beginning with his first day, Saunders recognized that actions speak volumes. Here’s how he walks the talk:
You can’t force people to change how they feel about their work. What you can do is focus on specific behaviors that solve real problems and deliver real results. Bit by bit, people begin thinking differently. Take the case of Aetna, which achieved one of the most successful turnarounds in U.S. corporate history.
Proclaiming he’s “not a car guy,” Daniel Akerson is the outsider who became CEO of General Motors Co. in 2010. And an outsider’s approach is what’s needed, say many, in running a company scarred by financial trauma and too attached to old ways. Here’s how the veteran of Nextel, MCI and Carlyle Group is turning his newcomer’s perspective into an advantage:
People have one of four communication styles, and if you’d like them to join you in bringing about change, you need to talk in a way they’ll understand. Here’s a gloss on the four styles and how to frame your thoughts when working with them: