The Ex-CxO: why employees will be running your enterprise in five years, and why you should let them

Sara M. Roberts

Twitter: @RobertsGoldenEnterprise 2.0 Boston – June 2011

San Francisco, CA | +1-415-641-5523 | www.robertsgolden.com Engage Employees | Influence Change | Deliver Results

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“There go my people….

I must find out where they are going so I can lead them.”

French politician, Alexandre Ledru-Rollin

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You may make information flow down but can you make knowledge flow up?

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“I am the system’s Kryptonite.”

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Create guardrails for action

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Allow bold discretion

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Ask the experts

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No one sits on the sidelines

Change the organization, change the game…

• We can’t expect employees to share knowledge if they’re incented to “hoard” information & covet subject matter expertise…

• We can’t expect these tools are going to empower if leadership already dismisses what employees think and say, in general…

• We can’t expect employees to give their best ideas if we don’t give them the resources and leeway to see if it can thrive…

• We can’t expect leaders to change if we don’t change too…

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“There go my people….I must find out where they are going so I can lead them.”