Make culture personal
It’s easy to say you have an entrepreneurial spirit in your
company. It’s much harder to actually live it.
At Shire, Emmens keeps his company’s entrepreneurial spirit
alive by introducing actual entrepreneurs into his company,
then driving his creativity-first culture down to the level of
each individual.
When Shire makes an acquisition, a major factor in whether
Emmens’ leadership lets the acquired company operate with
high level of autonomy is whether there is a strong entrepreneurial presence within the leaders of the acquired unit.
The stronger and more relevant the ideas and products that are
coming from a business unit, the more freedom Emmens gives its
leaders.
Emmens says it’s all about one word: passion.
“We like to have those people stay on and have their passion
continue to influence the business,” he says. “We basically
license the drugs but keep that company separate and doing its
thing because you don’t want to lose the knowledge and creativity those people have.
“Then, later, when they need help in terms of capital and
resources, we can provide that. But having the flexibility to keep
the passion of the entrepreneurs that started each of these companies is important to us.”
By keeping your company’s creative impetus close to the ground
level, you can keep your company closer to your customers.
Reading the pulse of the market will allow you to better meet your
customers’ needs. Emmens says any business needs to give the
people closest to your customers freedom to operate and meet
their needs. Only when your customers’ needs aren’t being met
should you intervene.
“Going back to the example of my book, it’s about not being in
touch and not responding to external environmental changes,” he
says.
“It’s like the idea that you built the cheapest and best buggy whip
when there are no more horse buggies. It’s the idea that you have
to stay close to the customer and really understand the challenges
of the industry and what you have to overcome in order to be successful. Many businesses are at risk for thinking that they are the
reason for the market existing. They’re not. Businesses have to follow the needs of the marketplace. You can’t become totally commoditized and falling asleep at the wheel.”
Emmens says taking a personalized approach to creativity and
culture has been an uncommon concept throughout much of the
history of business. If you’re not used to putting the future of your
company in the hands of people other than yourself and your direct
reports, it can take you out of your comfort zone. But the long-term
survival of your business could depend on it.
“If you look at the history of companies that have failed, there is
an element of that (lack of an entrepreneurial spirit) in a lot of
them. They stifled creativity and refused to take risks, and as
a result, they killed off the entrepreneurial spirit in their people.”