WHOSE VALUE?

Jack Welch was wrong.

But at least he admitted it.

The notion of shareholder value, espoused by this former CEO/chairman, was first ponied up in the early 20^th century by two accountants, expressing that corporate books should be prepared from the perspective of corporate proprietors.  Milton Friedman furthered that idea in 1970, with his epic New York Times magazine headline:  “The social responsibility of a business is to increase its profits.”

The rest is, simply, old news.  Now many businesses are struggling to balance short- with long-termism, to weigh market demands with younger employees who no longer work solely for money but also for meaning and social value.  That change will take some time.

But why not begin to introduce, in concert with Cornell Law professor Lynn Stout, the concept that shareholders are contractors?  As are debtholders, suppliers, and employees.  In her viewpoint, the only special considerations to shareholders are during times of takeovers and bankruptcies.  In other events?  Take a card, please, and call us in the a.m.

Seriously, the employee value strategy is one we’d embrace, 150 percent.  Answer these questions:  With little or zero motivated employees, how likely are positive returns?  Given limited business understanding (and a tenuous link to the bottom line), could associates truly contribute to the best interests of any corporation?  As possible individual investors, do company workers also belong to the “shareholder value” class?

In these days, there are a number of companies who still slavishly follow the “owner is king” philosophy.  But not for long.

THINK. THANK. THUNK.

Almost every client and colleague, no matter the size of the company or type of department, agrees on their biggest talent issue:  The lack of critical thinking among young professionals.

Statistics, of course, back them up:  When Harris Interactive last year polled employers and about-to-enter-the-workforce employees about the state of preparedness of grads, the disconnect was drastic.  Nearly 70 percent of millennials said they were ready to work, while fewer than half of employers concurred.

The next obvious question (and its add-ons):  How do you teach critical thinking – and how can you identify and measure it?

No easy answers:  Recruiters rely on take-home exercises and behavioral interviewing to assess a candidate’s capabilities.  So, too, managers might opt for a series of conversations about process and open-mindedness, two attributes so important to making good decisions.  Or simply by learning on the job, with practicums and examples pulled from everyday challenges.

Another option from our across-the-ocean counterparts:  U.K. students can select “resolution of dilemmas” and “critical reasoning” courses.

All well and good.  Yet it still leaves many of us needing to train staff on thoughtful and reasoned considerations, the art of good decision making. 

What’s your solution?  Hand out books?  Walk through workshops?  Assign case histories?  Or announce, as did U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, that “you know it when you see it.”

THE TYRANNY OF MESSAGING

At one point or another in our careers, we learn the importance of “messaging.”

“It’s the foundation of everything we do,” proclaim senior communicators.  “We need to ensure that we’re consistent and accurate in our statements,” insist agency brethren.  “And it’s the best way to spell out our uniqueness and differentiate us from the competition,” underscore marketers.

Sometimes the cry for re-messaging starts because of one specific event, say, an executive’s speech or a major presentation.  Other times, it’s the re-thinking of what to say about a company and its products/services, prompted by a merger, acquisition, reorg, new C-suite, and similar changes.  Or:  It’s simply time for a refresh.

Then … wordsmithing and architecting begins.  Reviewers, many of them, weigh in.  And go through many rounds until, voila!  Messaging is complete.

Not quite yet.  To us, the application of messaging often gets lost after the crafting’s done.  It’s all too easy to plonk down the messages in the middle of a blog or speech or Town Hall.   Recycle it, in other words.

But ask yourself first:  Does it ring true?  Is the leader’s quote plucked almost verbatim from the platform?   Could you imagine someone reading (or talking like) this?   Can you readily pick out key messages … simply from the exact words used and not the meaning?  How powerful, in short, is the conversation? 

One last question:  Does messaging control us – or do we control it?

BY OSMOSIS?

It’s an all-too-common plaint we’ve heard among colleagues:  Got anyone who thinks strategically?

More to the point, it’s not an easy skill set to teach.  Though we know it’s highly valued, not only by our peers but also by the universe at large:  97 percent  of senior execs surveyed last year by a market research firm agree it’s the most important attribute for organizational success. 

Sure, MBA schools list strategy courses – and claim they produce these futuristic thinkers.  There are strategic officers and strategy firms galore.  But, where in our business – of communications, design, and branding – are these practitioners?

Let’s start with the learning, agreeing that (for the purpose of this blog) thinkers can be made, and not born. 

There’s the immersive approach, where information on every facet of the corporation – customers, market, industry, suppliers, et al. – is shared to provide in-depth understanding and a wider range of information. 

Then there’s the Jack Welch approach, pairing up a known mature thinker with one who’s fairly new to the business.

Or there’s the reward point of view, ensuring that those who think strategically (and their products) are recognized.

All of those paths might prove successful.  Yet there’s another idea that has us applauding:  Surround yourself with those who look at the world differently, while questioning your own opinions.  It’s only by exposing ourselves to out-of-the-way ideas that we’ll design the actions that give our enterprises sustainable competitive advantage.  Armed with a good knowledge of the business as well as a world perspective, professionals can reframe and challenge current mindsets with a good strategy or two.

Or, in simple terms, diversity makes the strategy go ‘round.