Riding The Tiger

I received your book on Friday and have read it twice!  I will be reading it many times more, it’s like a new bible of usefulness in the work that I do.

As to page six, paragraph two “Somehow, something good must come from this catastrophe.” – Something phenomenally important and inspiring has indeed come from an event that I almost wish to have been part of.  Many congratulations to you both, I know too many people who very quickly wish to distance themselves from disaster, however, you have courageously ensured that all the good lessons and experiences are captured here for all time and in a most constructive and humanistic fashion. Genius!

I could almost write a whole book of praise after two reads!

I do hope that the “leaders” of the financial crises buy your book and learn from it.  Some day, when I put together my own book of life experiences in helping people to deliver sustainable change, I’d be grateful for your counsel. Many things in your book clearly articulated thing that I already knew but did not consider so deeply until now.

My very best wishes and look forward to reading of your next adventures.

Regards

Diane McWade
CEO
Evolution Network Limited
http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=7256585&trk=tab_pro

Here is an article we thought would be of interest to you especially in these times when the debate about customer or employee first continues.
Please also read the comments, one of them quoted from our new book, Riding the Tiger
What do you think? Share your thoughts…

 SmartPlanet
For better customer relationships, concentrate first on employees
By Heather Clancy | Jul 23, 2010 |
The first priority of every company should be serving customers, right? Wrong, according to a new book from IT services firm CEO Vineet Nayar, called “Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down.”
This is the management philosophy that HCL uses to run its business, a philosophy it embraced back in 2005. Why should you listen? For one thing, HCL actually grew during the 2008 to 2009 recession, recording revenue expansion of 23.5 percent last year alone.
The issue for Nayar is that managers don’t spend enough time concentrating on empowering and “enthusing” the employees that have the most contact with customers. Here’s his observation from a press release about the book:
“Perhaps the biggest surprise for readers of my book will be that Western-style companies can achieve even greater success by making their approach to business more democratic. Companies with traditional top-down, pyramid-like hierarchies with rigid reporting structures make it very difficult for critical competitive information, garnered on the front lines, to flow uphill to the C-suite, where strategic business decisions have traditionally been made.
This is not to suggest that you should coddle your employees. This is a strategy focused on accountability and results. Those results are transparent to everyone. One example given in the book focuses on the company’s 360-degree performance reviews. If you are asked to provide feedback, you are given the results of that entire review. That applies all the way up to the chief executive himself. The way in which this happens is described in this book excerpt on the BusinessWeek Web site.
HCL believes that this sort of transparency — the transparency you see in social networking communities — will be particularly instrumental in motivating the workforce of tomorrow, Generation Y.
The services firm commissioned a survey among private sector employees to help share the ideas put forth in its CEO’s book. One finding was that 59 percent of the individuals surveyed said that they often see problems that have eluded the notice of their managers.
Close to 90 percent said they would be eager to share their observations for improving the business with their managers — if such behavior was encouraged and rewarded.
But, the problem is that employees today feel undervalued, according to the research. In fact, almost half the respondents said that employees are the least valued group with their company, after customers and top management. What’s more, about 20 percent said that when the present supervisors with a problem, the person promises to address it but never does. Personally, I would expect this last number to be higher and I’m glad that it is not.
The data was gathered during May and June 2010 from approximately 700 employees working for private sector firms with at least 300 employees.
I’m not a manager anymore, but I used to be, and I do know that the biggest motivator for my team was transparency.

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Rebuilding a reputation is a challenging task. If a company has had a good reputation going into a crisis then consumers are more willing to forgive, if not, the payment is dear. Building a conscious culture has been cited as an excellent example of how organizations thrive in good times and survive in bad times.

Looking at BP’s culture, how will they overcome the shame that their employees are now carrying with them? Taking measured steps to communicate with employees, to let them know everything about what is known and unknown is the first step. Beyond that, BP needs to invite their people to be a part of the solution (which is much more than capping the well in the gulf). BP could reap the benefits of maximizing the contributions of their dedicated workforce. If BP takes the right steps to reduce the fears of their people and to engage them in the process of revisiting their culture from the inside-out, then they will reap the benefits of having more than 100,000 brand ambassadors. Their employees and their culture could actually grow stronger as a result of this catastrophe. From their conscious culture, an aware, mobilized workforce could become a part of the story of BP’s turnaround. BP leaders need to “care for the wounded” and that includes their employees. Remember healing always starts from within. These lessons don’t have to be learned in crisis. Organizations can create and sustain a conscious culture that welcomes the positive accidental influences and eliminates the negative.

In contrast, Toyota, in its Lexus model, had to issue a major recall when it introduced the Lexus saloon in the US market. It was expected that their brand would take an enormous hit, yet the efficient manner to recall actually reassured customers, built confidence, and bolstered brand loyalty. Transparency is key here. Organizations that take responsibility and act swiftly and decisively are able to rebuild their reputations faster. While Toyota’s stock plunged, it is again on the rise.

We are proud to announce the scheduled appearance of Riding the Tiger: Leading Through Learning in Turbulent Times co-authors,  Ed Cohen and Priscilla Nelson, on the Fox News Strategy Room this Tuesday at 8 am PST, 11 am EST, 2:00 pm GMT, 8:30 pm IST. The Strategy Room is the web’s most talked about live show providing entertaining discussion of the day’s top stories, plus a variety of hour-long shows on topics like business, health, technology, and entertainment.
Diane Macedo will be hosting Pris and Ed.  She will be discussing their new book. 
Fox News Strategy Room:  http://live.foxnews.com/strategy-room

Alas, sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between truth and lies.

Published in MSNBC on May 17, 2010

In 2005, Ed Cohen left his job at Booz Allen Hamilton. His wife, Priscilla, left her consulting practice to take jobs in India with Satyam Computer Services, a top global IT outsourcing company.

Satyam’s Chairman and founder, Ramalinga Raju, “was the most generous person we had ever encountered,” said Cohen. “He would speak of ethics and integrity at every leadership training meeting.”

It turned out, Raju was actually cooking the company’s books. He was arrested in 2009.

“At the time the allegations came up, I thought it was a joke,” Cohen said.

Cohen, who was the chief learning officer responsible for talent management of Satyam’s 53,000 global workers at the time, said many of the employees, including himself, seemed to go through the stages of grief that people coping with death often face — betrayal, anger, depression, and eventually, acceptance.

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By Adelia Cellini Linecker
Posted 06/02/2010 04:53 PM ET on Investors.com 

It’s hard to see smooth sailing when you’re in the storm of a crisis. But there’s much to learn from riding the waves.

“Learning can be the very thing that stabilizes and carries a company through troubled times,” said Priscilla Nelson, co-author of “Riding the Tiger: Leading Through Learning in Turbulent Times.”

A crisis doesn’t have to be of epic proportions to fuel learning.

“It could be about acquiring another company or losing a key player,” Nelson told IBD.

• Reset priorities. When a crisis hits, it forces you to think about what your company must do to survive and thrive. The leaders should focus on: What must we start doing? What must we stop doing?

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Every week I like to round up five blog posts that I found to be especially good reading over the past week.  Below are five posts I recommend checking out from the week of June 21st – 27th, 2010.  Enjoy!

Gina Trapani, Fast Company: Work Smart: How to Avoid “The Busy Trap” – In our work lives, there is the “perfect world” where we plan out our tasks and projects for the day and complete them one by one in order of importance, and then there is the “real world” where emergencies and interruptions are frequent and can easily derail an otherwise productive day.  Gina refers to this as the “busy trap” and has some thoughts on how you can work smarter and avoid it.

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The last 18 months have spawned a lot of advice on leadership in turbulent times. But this post on a book by former Satyam Computer Services employees holds extra weight because of the depth of Satyam’s difficulties and the leadership lessons it learned while trying to recover.

Founder and chairman Ramalinga Raju’s confession to accounting fraud in 2009 left the business battered, its reputation in tatters and morale among over 50,000 employees decimated.

In their book, “Riding the Tiger – Leading through Learning in Turbulent Times”, authors Priscilla Nelson and Ed Cohen chart how it rebuilt itself deploying a “Lights On” strategy indicative of the business’s desperate need for transparency and integrity.

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In January 2009, founder and chairman of India’s Satyam Computer Services—the “largest publically traded company you’ve never heard of”—Ramalinga Raju confesses to massive accounting fraud and resigns. In a five-page letter to the board, he described the problem saying, “It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten.” In an instant, he left behind him, chaos, distrust, and plummeting moral among his more than 53,000 employees. But Riding the Tiger is not about how the Enron-like tragedy occurred, but how a leading through learning strategy calmed the chaos and helped the company recover and rebuild.

Authors and former Satyam employees Pricilla Nelson (Global Director of People Leadership) and Ed Cohen (Chief Learning Officer) share the take-away lessons learned on the road to recovery and renewal. Step one was what they eventually called the “Lights On” strategy. That is “deciding exactly what must be done to keep the business moving and doing only that which is critical to help the organization stabilize.” They describe 6-steps—beginning with hold everything and build an adaptable stop-stop-continue plan—based on the two pillars of learning and communication.

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published May, 2010 in Leadership Excellence Magazine 

WHEN YOU ENCOUNTER STRONG Turbulence,you should revisit your core values and then adjust, communicate, and reinforce them. For most leaders, today’s turbulence stems from the global recession; but others may be dealing with rapid growth, mergers and acquisitions, reorganization, internal corruption, or other changes.

We invite you to review your core values and decide what to keep, what to change, and what to add, ensuring that each value is clearly articulated and the boundaries of behavior are well defined. We’ve identified core values that are vital for all leaders: 

1. Conviction: Conveys sincerity and confidence in beliefs and decisions; willing to make and stand by decisions.
2. Diversity: Values different perspectives; builds multifaceted, diverse teams; seeks to understand what drives and motivates individuals.
3. Entrepreneurship: Recognizes opportunities and organizes resources to maximize them.
4. Excellence: Strives for excellence, not perfection; recognizes that excellence may vary from country to country, depending on the local context.
5. Fairness: Makes decisions that are fair, consistent, and equitable.
6. Humility: Acts in the knowledge that you are no better or more important than others.
7. Integrity: Demonstrates honesty and makes ethical decisions.
8. Passion: Leads by example; shows high energy and enthusiasm.
9. Perseverance: Shows resolve in moving along the path, with a strong will and the drive to accomplish.
10. A positive attitude: Maintains a positive attitude; represents decisions and policies in a positive manner.

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