Bob Rinderle / Business & Beyond

Barbarians At The Gate

Should have read this 20 years ago, but still a powerful story.  

Barbarians At The Gate reinforces my belief that regardless of a company's size, change only happens when the right combination of people - and not always the top people - align to act.  

And that in and of itself doesn't always guarantee that good things will transpire.

Still, it is impossible to overstate the inherent power of informal networks of influential people.

 

Is Your Company Managing For Growth?

"The current economic downturn has... accelerated and intensified the digital migration among both providers and consumers of content," according to the PricewaterhouseCooper Global Entertainment & Media Outlook.  "Companies who grasp the opportunities... in this fast changing marketplace... will be able to take full advantage of the potential and new revenue models as they emerge."

That statement sounds so simple.  Yet companies across a wide range of industries are struggling to evolve to stay relevant.  The recession has forced companies to cut overhead and streamline FTEs, but that is just one side of the economic equation.  Who is managing innovation?  Businesses can't cut their way to growth, so where will future growth come from? 

In the books Disruption and Trading Up, the authors suggest real change can only occur when leaders enter from outside an industry, or are capable of leveraging a new perspective; too often entrenched thinking puts blinders on one's ability to see new possibilities. And certainly executives across many industries including publishing, music, automobiles, retail, advertising, etc., have failed to imagine the future. What steps is your management taking to optimize for innovation and to imagine new opportunities for growth? 

Change Agents: Pete Carroll

In the 11 seasons before Pete Carroll took over the USC football team, the Trojans had a mediocre record of 55-47-3.

Since his debut in 2001, USC is 88-15 with two national championships; three of Carroll’s players are Heisman Trophy winners.

 

With such a stellar record, one would think Carroll’s hiring by USC would have been a slam-dunk.  But after a mediocre tenure (33-31) in the NFL, and nearly two decades removed from coaching at the college level, he was selected only after three other coaches rejected USC’s overtures. 

 

Without Pete Carroll, USC would not be the football powerhouse that it is today.  The school's goal of hiring an established college head coach almost cost them dearly, because USC focused on the wrong performance metrics.  Many legendary college coaches including Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier had disastrous NFL careers.  But by focusing on Carroll’s NFL record, and not properly appreciating his highly valuable intangible skills regarding recruiting, team building, and leadership, USC favored three lesser candidates first.  Fortunately for the Trojans, they lucked into a winner.

Change Agents

Despite case study after case study that reveal the power of disruptive thinking (see Trading Up, disruption, and Judgment for just a few), much of business activity is driven by inertia and staying within the accepted norms of category behavior. 

Organizations that outperform the norm, however, understand the impact that even one individual with a vision can have.  So today I am introducing Change Agents, a recurring feature that will spotlight individuals who have a transformative effect on their companies, organizations, or teams.

In these tough times, business as usual won't cut it.  So if the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, I would argue that now more than ever, identifying a compelling value proposition through disruptive thinking is the best way forward.