With my new iPad in hand, I signed up for some workshops at the Apple Store to get familiar with the powerful gizmo.  The first session was great and opened up some new capabilities. 

The second focussed on making presentations with the Keynote product.  I marvelled at the knowledge and straightforward teaching style of our young instructor – so adept at manoeuvring around both the hardware and the software.  He was able to work with 4 people at once and each of us had different levels of experience with presentation software.  At the end of the hour, we said our thank you’s and were on our way. 

As I was leaving the young man said in a quiet voice, “How did I do? It was my first time doing that session.”  From his expertise, comfortable style and confidence fielding a host of questions, one would never had known it was his first time!  However, the big Aha(!) for me was that even as we are wowed by the techno talents of the millenials, human nature hasn’t changed.  He wanted informal feedback on his “performance”.

Note 1 to self:  Intergenerational learning is powerful—take advantage in both directions.

Note 2 to self:  Go beyond “thank you” and include specific feedback – if nothing else it’s a good conversation starter.

Teri Brown

Two companies run by their founders for the last 30 years recently had to replace their CEO’s. Both were forced to make these changes in response to a death and a dramatic decline in shareholder value. In comparing how each of these companies handled the succession planning at the very top of the business we can learn some valuable lessons.

RIM

Faced with rapidly declining share price, lower market share, aggressive competition and shareholder demands both Lazaridis and Balsillie stepped aside in January of 2012 and put their handpicked replacement Thorsten Heins in charge of turning around the fortunes of one of the biggest technology companies in Canada. (In 2007 RIM had a larger market cap than RBC.) This left many business analysts scratching their heads and trying to figure out just who was Thorsten Heins. Hired by RIM in 2007 from Siemens, Heins had three short senior operating positions in RIM’s handheld, product engineering and sales / business development divisions before being appointed as CEO.

Apple

Knowing that their founder had serious health problems, it was clear to everyone, even my son who is a shareholder, that Tim Cook would eventually take over the company when Steve Jobs stepped down from his role as CEO. So to no one’s surprize when Mr. Jobs passed away in 2011, Mr. Cook seamlessly transitioned into the role as CEO of Apple. Hired by Apple in 1998 Mr. Cook is credited with restructuring Apple’s approach to manufacturing and was promoted to the position of COO in 2007. He also was given the CEO position during Mr. Jobs’ medical leaves during the first decade of this century.

Key Learning’s

Mr. Cook had nine years with the company to make significant contributions to the business success before being promoted to COO in 2007. He also had a chance to step into the role as CEO for brief periods before taking on the role on a full time basis.  Mr. Cook’s transition to the top position was accepted both by Apple personnel and the industry analysts that watch the company, and had limited to no effect on the Top Leaders within the organization or the company’s share price.

Succession planning requires organizations to identify their top talent early in their careers and give those individuals the assignments and projects that, when delivered, will make them promotable when the opportunity arises. I bet you that the Board at Apple already is working on who will succeed Mr. Cook and RIM will begin the search for their next CEO if Thorsten cannot execute the turnaround that is required. Who do you think did the best job of planning to succeed in the future?

Mike Dick

Would governments be as despised by their citizens if they actually helped their citizens and tried to meet or exceed their expectations? Instead of continually cutting services (and while I certainly don’t mind eliminating the gravy) it may be more appropriate and required to find ways to increase the revenue and improve the cash flow. We are starting to see cities and municipalities who are running out of cash declaring bankruptcy. You just can’t keep running on debt -- you need to increase the cash flow to meet the required expenses.

How do you get business growth in today’s turbulent times?  With any successful organization it starts with engaged employees who strive each and every day to meet or exceed their clients / customer expectations. These employees create a positive environment for the customers creating a clientele that is more likely to return and purchase more services or product. These same engaged employees will work to meet all corporate objectives and deliver improved results because they clearly understand what is expected of them and the benefits of delivering superior results. 

Procter and Gamble, West Jet, Apple all get it. Success is delivered through their employees and plenty of leadership time is focused on empowering these employees to improve results and create a positive consumer experience generating ever increasing cash flow.  What are your thoughts on the importance of employees with respect to business growth?

 Let me know at @mdick54

Mike Dick

How do you get business growth in today’s turbulent times?  Is the business world capable of managing the tide of social change that is beginning to take hold of the global agenda?

Many governments are losing control and several countries in Europe and the Middle East are in turmoil as they struggle to meet the demands of a more engaged population that are not accepting the status quo or reluctant to make the necessary changes required to offset the collapse of their respective economies.

Even within North America “Occupy Wall Street” is starting to show the large distrust that exists between the vocal representatives of the 99% and big corporations. Given this growing unrest what should business, organizations and yes even governments do to make sure they survive and change to deal with the social and vocal upheaval that is taking place throughout the world.

I firmly believe that for any organization to succeed it boils down to three fundamental areas of focus that leaders must ensure are embedded in their organizational culture. Cash flow management, employee engagement and client/customer satisfaction. West Jet gets it -- Air Canada doesn’t.  Apple gets it -- RIM doesn’t. Where would you start within your organization?

Let me know at @mdick54

Mike Dick