Be-> Do-> Say, the required “order” of transformation and impact!

In today’s world of instant/immediate messaging and communication, this essay’s topic may seem odd, old fashioned or out of step.  We are absolutely bombarded by images and messages, being “pushed out” across a wide range of mediums and platforms.  In truth I am not only a witness to this phenomenon, I am clearly a participant; this essay being the 152^nd that I have posted on this blog since 2009 and now with over 40k page views and readers literally all over the globe, I am a clear perpetrator of this communications/messaging onslaught. 

It’s in this context that I want to reinforce today’s topic.  Recently I have had two consulting projects with two large clients across very different industries, both deeply struggling with moments of change and transformation.  In each situation, I have been working with very talented senior executives faced by very challenging circumstances and obstacles.  In both situations over the past few weeks, I have gone up to a whiteboard/flipchart and wrote out an old lesson from my past….

”Be-> Do-> Say.”

It was over ten years ago, in a very difficult moment of change and transformation at The Coca- Cola Company that I learned this important lesson.  The company had been through a number of senior executive changes/”transitions’ and a series of organizational restructurings and headcount reductions/layoffs.  The business was a mess, the culture was a wreck, and things needed to change.  It was in a senior executive work session, lead by the newly announced CEO Neville Isdell, where I learned this important lesson/concept:  “Be-> Do-> Say!” 

Rather than starting with some communication plan or statements of beliefs/mission/principles/etc. the concept was to “begin” with what we wanted/needed to “be.”  As leaders, we needed to drive growth and innovation across the company and rebuild a broken culture and organization.  The first step was to try to personally “embody” those requirements, not to “talk” about them.  Once clear “what” you were trying to “be,” then you needed to insure that your actions and your team’s actions, (or in other words your “do’s,”) were aligned to what you were trying to “be.”  Then and only then could you start talking about it, in other words the order of the “Be-> Do-> Say” model is the central idea in this story!

For me, two recent consulting engagements have reminded me about this concept from different vectors.  In one situation, I have been working with a wonderful leadership team in a very large, successful global organization.  They are grappling with major issues on how to impact their specific industry and are deeply challenged by the legacy beliefs and practices of a number of their industry partners.  In a recent conversation about this issue and the needs for their industry associates to change, I nudged around this idea of “Be->Do-> Say” and asked them to focus on their own organization.  Before we ask/demand other’s to change, what must we do first to “be” the change we expect in the industry and what actions should we take/ what must we “do” to bring that essence to life.  Only when we are clear and active about our own “Be-> Do” step, can we then go out to the industry and “say” what our expectations are for change and transformation!  While the work is underway with an industry communication moment fast approaching in September, this “reordering” of the approach has been compelling and hopefully productive.

In a second assignment, I am working with a client in a very different industry and situation.   For the past 2-3 years this client has clearly communicated in all of their strategic and annual plans that “Quality and Customer Service” is their first priority.  This has been shared and reinforced all the way from board presentations to meetings with entry-level associates across the organization.  It was beyond alarming to learn that not only have they not lived up to those words/communication platforms, I was being brought in to help in the context of a major breakdown in both areas.  Far from being the “first” priority, it seems that in the reality of the “Be->Do-> Say” dynamic, quality and customer service fell well down on the list of actually executed priorities.  My focus has not been on any new communication plans or presentation decks, but on clarifying the actual implications (the actual work requirements) of this stated commitment to industry leading quality and customer service.  The actual actions across this client over the next few months will determine in this situation if any progress will be achieved.

Once again this very simple headline, “Be-> Do-> Say,” is so much easier to describe than to “pull-off” in real life.  It’s not easy to slow the communication “machinery” down, regardless of the organization or situation at hand.  Remember that the order is central to this idea and work hard to focus on the commitments and actions of you and your team BEFORE you spend any time or resources “talking” about them! 

Calculate your “R.O.W." (Return on Work) to maximize impact!

Over the 30+ years of my career, I have had the chance to be part of, and at times lead, some significant projects.  Ranging from the launch of Breyers Light Ice Cream early in my career, to the launch of Coke Zero now more than ten years ago, and more recently the North American expansion of the Bolthouse Farms line of Juices and smoothies, I have had the chance to be part of a number of initiatives that now account for well over $1 billion in annual retail sales.  While the absolute scale is not that important, I have had the chance to learn some vital lessons on the concept of  “R.O.W.” (Return on Work.)

The “R.O.W.” Model:  this concept links directly to the financial concept of “R.O.I.”

ROI is usually expressed as a percentage and is typically used for personal financial decisions, to compare a company's profitability or to compare the efficiency of different investments. The return on investment formula is: ROI = (Net Profit / Cost of Investment) x 100.

In the same vein, I have realized that the MOST precious resource for a business leader is time, or more specifically how she/he CHOOSES to use her/his time.  Over the years I started realizing that the impact of my work, or in other words the “Return On my Work” varied greatly across projects/initiatives.  It dawned on me years ago, and it continues as a work in progress today, that if I could deploy my time to the highest “returning” projects/assignments, I could work on improving my impact in the role assigned.

The “KMX/Coke Zero case”:  While this idea/concept of “R.O.W.” had been “kicking around” in the back of my head for a number of years, it came into clear focus a little more that ten years ago.  I had a senior sales/marketing role at Coke at the time; we were launching a number of new products into the market.  Two of new products from that period that I worked on personally were the now defunct energy drink, “KMX”, and the hugely successful diet soft drink, “Coke Zero.”  It was eye-opening to realize that while it took almost the same amount of time for me and my team to develop and implement the launches of these two projects, the “return” on the work varied greatly.  I remember specifically trying to calculate the number of hours it took us to “sell-in” both items into Walmart.  While not exact, I remember that it took about about 25% more time to “sell-in” “Coke Zero” than it did for the team to “sell-in” “KMX.”  The size and scale of “Coke Zero” was so big, that while it took 25% more time, the “return” on the work was 12.5 TIMES bigger….. a huge “R.O.W.” difference!

Don’t let your calendar be King/Queen:  This idea of being intentional on your personal deployment, and hopefully that of your team as well is powerful if and only if YOU take control of your personal deployment.  Too often I have seen talented leaders fall prey to their own calendar being filled up by others and other people’s meetings/priorities/projects.  You are in control of YOU, and I encourage you strongly to take action against that idea!  Even today as I lead my consulting business, I take time out weekly (if not more often) and “work the calendar” with my trusted work partner and friend Cathy.  We typically work 30-45 days out, looking at upcoming client meetings and travel needs always with an eye to maximize the impact or “R.O.W.” over that period of time. 

Remember the lesson of “Important and Urgent”:  I refer back often to an early essay on this blog titled “Tyranny of the Urgent…5% for #2.” http://fylegacy.blogspot.com/2010/11/tyranny-of-urgent-5-for-2.html

Its one of the most read essays (top 5 out of the 151 I have posted as of today) and it centers on the point of balancing The “Important” and “Urgent” priorities on your plate.  Be careful not to let the “urgent” issues take over your life!  Be careful with technology that over emphasizes the most “urgent” issues/priorities and work to insure that you are taking a balanced view of your landscape allowing you to focus on the issues at hand that are both “Important” and “Urgent.”  Only with the balanced view will you have a chance to improve your “R.O.W.” over time!

Try to apply the “R.O.W.” lens to your work landscape today.  Ask yourself whether you are really spending your time on the issues/projects/initiatives with the highest “return.”  While I think it’s always a work in progress, strive to improve the impact/”return” of your work over time!

Net Revenue Growth… the lifeblood of a thriving business

In a conversation earlier today with a long-term friend and colleague, we talked about the growth challenges of his business and the need for growth over the next few years.  While our focus was on the “net income” line of his company’s p&l, I blurted out (as I am known to do) that “net revenue growth is the lifeblood of a thriving business.”  Not only is that true related to my friends company / industry, it happens to be deeply true in EVERY business I have had the chance to work on over the past 30+ years!  Whether on Kleenex tissue, Breyers Ice Cream, Coca-Cola, Bolthouse Farms or across the varied businesses that I am consulting on today, the importance of healthy top-line growth has been a central and common theme across my career.

This idea of the importance and power of “growth” spans business and culture.  A great quote from our history sums it up well: 

"Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning. "

Benjamin Franklin

While Franklin was not talking specifically about today’s corporate reality, this truth that there is no “success” or “achievement” without “growth and progress” is deeply true from my experience and important to remember.  If the ultimate indicator of a business’s health is “demand” as I have written in a previous essay (“Demand Drives Price”), then to have a thriving enterprise one needs to have a thriving revenue line on your p&l.

While so simple to discuss and comment on, this dynamic is no small feat across business realities.  I have worked in businesses without a thriving topline and you end up looking to cost reduction plans, “doing more with less” and organization restructurings to achieve quarterly and annual profit targets.  While effective in the short run, a business runs out of “cost centric” actions over time and ultimately does not thrive and succeed without solid revenue growth.

On the opposite dimension, I have recently worked in a high growth business environment, which also had its challenges.  In that situation, we have a tough time “keeping up” with the growth opportunities and more importantly “fulfilling” the growing demand of the business.  It was an eye-opener a few years ago to realize that our business had “outgrown” the actual number of warehouse doors of our primary production facility and that during the peak demand weeks between Thanksgiving and Superbowl, we didn't have enough “doors” to handle all the trucks picking up customer’s orders.  Yes, our demand growth was strong but if we couldn't “handle” the growth, then it would have been nothing more that temporary phenomenon!  (We did work our way to “handle the growth”, fodder for a future essay!!)

This idea of finding the right balance between a no growth environment (where you’re trying to “save your way to success”), and a high growth environment (where you can’t keep-up with the demand that you have created) is key to a business “thriving” over time.  Work hard to find that right balance year after year but never lose sight of the “G” word.  It’s all about “growth” and in my experience a healthy balanced growth of the revenue (demand) over time!

A quick comment on the use of the word “Net” in this essay’s title:  Recently I have worked with a number of consulting clients who are driving the heck out of their “Gross Revenue” line of their p&l with very little translating to the “Net Revenue” line.  They use discounts and allowances (“D&A”) to drive short-term growth which is OK if it translates to “Net Revenue Growth” over time.  I like to focus on the “Net Revenue” line of a business’s p&l and track it as THE key variable over time.

“My Country tis of Thee”; tears in a crowd

This past weekend I had the treat to see a live performance/broadcast of “A Prairie Home Companion” with Garrison Keillor at the historic Fox Theater in midtown Atlanta.  Garrison had announced his retirement plans earlier this year, and last Saturday’s show was part of his “farewell tour” across the country.  While the show was outstanding and will be a lasting memory for me and many others from years to come, it’s actually something that occurred BEFORE the radio broadcast that I want to focus on in this essay.

It was 15 minutes before “air time,’ around 7:45pm last Saturday night that Garrison came out on stage accompanied by thunderous applause.  Very quickly, he started to sing, accompanied by his stage band and encouraged the audience to join in, a sort of big group “sing-along.”  It was a sold out show at the Fox Theater last Saturday, so the audience would have been almost 5000 strong!  He lead us in singing the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” America the Beautiful,” The Doxology,” along with a number of other songs/hymns and the singing was fantastic!  Being part of a huge crowd, all singing together memorable songs/hymns from our communal past was stirring to say the least.  It was when we started singing  “My Country tis of Thee” that I was overcome with emotion.

That simple patriotic song, that I hadn’t “sung” since elementary school 40 + years ago, hit a deep nerve.  As the crowd all sang together the familiar opening lyric, “My Country tis of Thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.” I was filled with emotions and when we hit the closing lines of  “from every mountain side, let freedom ring.” I literally burst into tears.  Here I was still 10 minutes before the show had actually “started”, and I was totally blown away.  I was literally overwhelmed with so many images and feelings, all triggered by this simple song!

I was struck by the unity/community of the audience and how I was part of a bigger whole, all singing the familiar lines together.  In this time of an election season filled with vitriol, hate and divisiveness, we were all singing/hoping/believing in the possibility of our county being a “sweet land of liberty.”  I felt so deeply that I/we needed to look to the future not consumed by what IS wrong/unjust in our country (and there is a lot for sure,) but focused on the possibilities that lie ahead for our country, our community, our America.

When we sang those last lines “from every mountain side, let freedom ring," all I could think of was Dr. Martin Luther King jr. and his famous “I have a dream speech” where he references those same words.  It was not lost on me that I was literally sitting in the theater, which had segregated seating at the time, where the movie “Gone with the Wind” had its debut many decades ago.  While we have come so far as a country, we have a long way yet to go on the path of justice and fairness for all and our work as a community/country is far from done!

Dr. King pushed all of us in his Noble Prize acceptance speech when he said that,

“ I refuse to accept the idea that the “isness” of man’s present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal “oughtness” that forever confronts him.” 

 We are clearly surrounded by a very tough “isness” in our country today.  Economic inequality on the rise, racial injustice in every community, fear and discrimination of immigrants on the increase, bitter and divisive political dialogue, and the list certainly goes on.  Sitting in my seat last Saturday night, eyes filled with tears, I was inspired to remember the “oughtness” of our country and the unfinished work ahead.  We are actually “in it together.”  We are all part of this unfinished “project” called the United States of America.  We all have the ability to be stirred/reminded by wide range of influences, maybe even an old patriotic hymn, about our potential as a country.  And finally we ALL need to work together in our communities/country, focused on the “oughtness” of a day when freedom can and will "ring" from every mountainside!

D/P/A: a model for Marketplace Differentiation

In today’s crowded and confused market of changing purchase/consumption habits, with a wildly changing media/messaging landscape, the importance of brand differentiation has never been more important!  I have written recently about the outmoded concept of “Brand Loyalty” (http://fylegacy.blogspot.com/2014/11/brand-loyalty-dangerous-and-outmoded.html) and in that dynamic, the need to regularly (possibly daily) refresh your businesses/brand’s “Marketplace Differentiation” is required for survival and success.

In a recent client discussion, we dove into this exact topic.  This company is a young, emerging/disruptive organic food company driving great growth across retail.  Even though they are only a few years old, there are now even “younger” emerging competitors working to take their market-share and consumers.  Rather than grumble and complain about that reality (imitation is a form of flattery), I worked them through the “D/P/A” model to see if it might help.

D: “Distinctive”.  Early on in my career, I had the chance to play a number of roles within the marketing organization at The Coca Cola Company.  At that time, Sergio Zyman was CMO, a larger than life marketing thought leader across the company, and someone who was not shy about sharing his ideas/beliefs.  I remember a meeting where he asked a group of young marketers to identify our competition.  Immediately, voices called out Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Tropicana, Starbucks, to name just a few.  In a fast and furious response of “NO!!”  he said that the primary competitor/opponent of our marketing work at Coke was “sameness.”  He pushed us to see that in a sea of marketing and branding ideas/messages, it was terrifically easy to get lost in the clutter of mediocre, easily forgettable “sameness.”  Our job was to work ceaselessly to find “distinctive” insights/concepts/messages/images to break through that clutter and create a “distinctive” spot in the landscape.

P: “Preferred.” Here is where we need to keep two concepts in mind.  When I say, “preferred”, I mean that we need to be “preferred” vs. competitive alternatives by the “core user” and the “primary shopper/purchaser” for our business/brand.  These are two different constituencies often with very different considerations. 

I will take a personal example of my family’s usage of Bolthouse Farms juices and smoothies.  My wife and I are the primary shoppers for our family, often sharing the duties on a busy weekend.  We weekly buy multiple Bolthouse Farms juices/smoothies for the entire family.  My daughter loves the strawberry banana smoothie and drinks it every morning as part of her morning routine. While she has tried other brands, she loves the Bolthouse Farms version, clearly “preferred” by the “core user.”  When our local Publix grocer store discontinued the Bolthouse Farms Strawberry Banana in the 32 oz. size, only having the single serve size available in that flavor, we had “shopper preference” issues.  The primary competitors all had a 32 oz. option in that flavor, just not Bolthouse Farms.  We now had “shopper” value issues, since the larger bottle was a better price/oz. offering. 

I share this story not to illuminate the juice dynamics in my family, but to illustrate the important balancing act of insuring “preference” vs. competition for both key constituencies.

A: Advantaged.  This final element pushes us to look at then entire “value chain” for a brand/business, looking deeply at the “demand chain” and the “supply chain” components, to insure that we have a brand/business and a business model that is “advantaged” vs. competition. 

I recently met with some folks working to compete in the highly competitive bottled water category.  Having spent 18 years at Coke, and being part of the launch of Dasani water, I know a few things about this business.  While the Coke system has some amazing advantages on the “demand chain” side of things (amazing bottler DSD network, focused and prioritized marketing efforts/investments, unparalleled revenue management/pricing capabilities to name a few), the Nestle waters company/system has tremendous “supply chain” advantages that allow them to be the case cost leader in bottled water.  Knowing this it was clear that this bottled water competitor was NOT “advantaged” in either the “demand chain” or the “supply chain” side of the category.  Having limited competitive advantage in ANY competitive marketplace is an early and dangerous warning sign!

Hopefully this “D/P/A” model will be helpful to you.  Use it regularly, push yourself to refresh your thinking and marketplace understanding constantly, and drive growth and success through clear/strong marketplace differentiation and insuring that your brand/business is “Distinctive, Preferred & Advantaged”!