What are the best ways you’ve seen CEOs and business leaders demonstrate innovation?
If I’m talking about CEOs, I think of them as Chief Energy Originators. They’ve got to be the energy source for change, not the brakes on change. Their primary mission is to anticipate the future.
How? By making sure they’re out there making sales calls, talking to customers, understanding the market place and understanding competitors — not by listening to reports. They have to be [on the] front line, out there doing it.
They also do it by asking their managers the all-important questions, such as what do they anticipate the future will be like in five years? And, if that’s where it’s going, what are we doing about it now?
We have a tendency to be like Lucille Ball in the candy factory — fighting today’s issues but not looking out and asking, ‘Where are we going?’
What’s the biggest mistake business leaders make when they’re trying to be innovative?
They assume a straight line. They assume that last year’s results will be what will happen this year. The second mistake is that they believe the problem is people, not systems. They believe that if they just hire a different sales manager, despite the fact that five sales managers have failed, a miracle will occur.
It doesn’t work that way. It’s the system, and they are responsible for the system. If they’re having trouble with sales, maybe their product offering isn’t worth selling. Maybe the marketing message isn’t worth hearing. Maybe it’s not price.
In other words, if you’re not getting the sales you need, yes, there’s a problem. Don’t beat up the workers; take responsibility for it.
The biggest mistake CEOs make is not taking responsibility for their company. They need to ask how the system is wrong and how to change it.
Who should a CEO involve in the idea development stage?
Every one of his direct reports. So if it’s technology related, if it’s legal, if it’s finance, if it’s manufacturing, if it’s sales, those are the people who need be involved. [John] Deming said 94 percent of all problems are management related, meaning they’re related to the system. And the only people that change the system are those in management.
