professor nelson phillips professor of strategy and organisational behaviour crafting and...

Professor Nelson Phillips

Professor of Strategy and Organisational Behaviour

Crafting and Communicating a Vision

© Imperial College Business School1

What do really effective leaders do?

Spend 5 mins thinking about what, in your experience, really effective leaders do?

© Imperial College Business School

• 1,093 Patents

• Menlo Park - …‘a small thing every ten days and a big thing every six months’ …

• Edison’s “Muckers”

• Arthur Kennelly stated, “The privilege which I had being with this great man for six years was the greatest inspiration of my life.”


Thomas Edison

• CEO from 1920s – 1950s

• Started as a teacher

• IBM had 400 employees when he took over

• By the 1970s, IBM was widely regarded as the world’s most innovative company

• Famous misquote – “I think there is a world market for about five computers”


Thomas Watson

Founder of Apple, Pixar, Next

• “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?” – Steve Jobs to John Scully

• Innovations include Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad


Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs

People in the company had very mixed feelings about it, everyone had been terrorized by Steve Jobs at some point or another, and so there was a certain relief that the terrorist would be gone. And on the other hand I think there was incredible respect for Steve Jobs by the very same people, and we were all very worried what would happen to this company without the visionary, without the founder, without the charisma.

- Larry Tesler


Mark Zuckerberg

Founder of Facebook

• “It's OK to break things in order to make them better”

• World’s youngest billionaire with a net worth in excess of $10 billion

• Time Magazine 2010 “Person of the Year”


Mark Zuckerberg

Instituted ”hackathons" held every six to eight weeks where participants would have one night to conceive of and complete a project. The company provided music, food, and beer at the hackathons, and many Facebook staff members, including Zuckerberg, attend regularly. “The idea is that you can build something really good in a night”, Zuckerberg said. “And that's part of the personality of Facebook now ... It's definitely very core to my personality.”


What is the role of the leader?


People are not motivated because you tell them to be...


Leader’s role in innovation

• The fundamental goal is aligning actions against the vision

• Real alignment comes from understanding, commitment and trust

• A leader’s job is to set context, communicate effectively and build relationships

• This is done through stories and a series of conversations


“We reason by stories at least as often as with good data.

‘Does it feel right?’ counts for more than ‘Does it add up?’ or

‘Can I prove it?’”

--Tom Peters, In Search for Excellence


Group Activity

I will show you one of the most influential and successful advertisements of all time. Then consider the following questions.

1. What is it about the advertisement that makes it memorable?

2. What is the core message of the advertisement?

3. Would you say that it is effective in getting across the intended message?

Be prepared to present back one to the group if asked.


Making the connections for your team

A compelling vision…

• Is simple• Is memorable• Conveys what is important• Connects with the listeners interests• Stimulates dialogue• Evolves through an iterative process


A “sticky” story

What is it about some stories that make them stick?

• Halloween• Urban Myths• Climate change


What makes a vision stick?

Principle 1 – Simplicity

• Finding the Core of the Idea• If you say three things you don’t say anything at all….• Simple = Core + Compact• Avoid “Feature Creep”!

• E.g., Southwest Air



Principle 2 – Unexpectedness

• Nordstrom• Avoid the obvious



Principle 3 – Concreteness

• “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

Or

• “Something that is valuable and certain is better than something better and uncertain.”



Principle 4 – Credibility

• Authority

• Anti-authority

• Detail (world cup and a dog named Pickles)



Principle 5 - Emotion

• Connect to the concerns of your audience

• Big goals


Telling a good strategy story...

I am going to show you a good example of a leader telling a strategy

story and providing context for his employees and to other stakeholders.

While you are watching think about the following:

1. What was his core message?

2. What did you notice about how he framed his message?

3. What key lessons can we learn?


Making the connections for your team

• Set the Stage – Shape the Context• What is the situation?• Why is it important?

• To you?• To your audience?

• Introduce the drama• What is at risk?• What is the potential gain?• What obstacles need to be overcome?

• Make it personal• What is in it for your target audience?• Why is this an immediate need?

• Reach resolution• Describe the destination

• Where are we going?• What do we need to get there?

• Have your audience be engaged in and inspired by the destination© Imperial College Business School

Elements of a story

Part one:

• Work individually for 15 minutes:• Develop a story for a new member of your team that conveys how

your team fits into the broader picture of achieving your firm’s strategic objectives. • Your story should address:

• Where are you headed? What is critical to your success?• What is the role of innovation?• What obstacles or challenges are you likely to encounter? How will

these be overcome?• What does success look like?

• This story will be the foundation for dialogue; it is not supposed to be “perfect” or “exhaustive”. What do you want to introduce as a basis for an ongoing conversation?

Creating a Compelling Vision

Part Two:

Work in groups of three :

• 5 minutes - Individual (manager) tells story to other two (team members)

• 5 minutes - Two team members:• ask questions and engage with the strategy story• provide feedback on what was clear, what areas need

improvement and other advice to the leader• how “sticky” is the story?

Creating a Compelling Vision

Taking it home

• Engage your team in a dialogue

• Remember the process is iterative

• Refine your story over time

• Keep the Made to Stick principles in mind


professor nelson phillips professor of strategy and organisational behaviour crafting and...

Documents

founder of apple

effective leaders

innovative company famous

big thing

small thing

teacher ibm

world market

john scully innovations