Do you think that this expanded view on what value
creation is for the customer and the sustainability agenda,
do you think that's going to deepen the execution trap,
so to speak,
i.e.
make it more difficult,
or do you think it's actually a help to
overcome the gap between strategy and execution?
The minute you think of it as execution,
you are
playing
command and control,
thinking about yourself before the people who work for you.
That's flat out the problem.
Here's my strategy,
I would like you to execute it,
because you clearly don't have the brains
to be a strategist like me and make all the important decisions.
You'll do this drab execution and just get on with it,
right?
Who wants to actually,
if I'm that way, who wants to work for me?
Crappy people who actually aren't interested
in being thoughtful and making decisions.
So I make sure I surround myself with people
who aren't very good
at anything.
Instead,
what I want to say is, hey,
I think for the corporation,
let's say I'm the CEO,
I think for the corporation,
we've got to accomplish the following sustainability goals.
I have no idea,
I have no idea,
I have no idea,
Christian, how you're going to do that in your business.
I don't.
I literally don't.
Why?
Because you know your business better than I do.
And so what you need to come up with is a clever strategy
for doing that.
And I need all the cleverness you have
put at this.
And you've got to come back to me
and tell me if
my strategy is crazy.
Because there's nothing you can do to be consistent with my strategy.
If you're really talented,
you'll want to work for me.
Because I'm not treating you like crap by saying,
I am the strategist,
you execute.
I'm treating you
essentially as an equal.
And I never, ever, ever, ever, ever called it
implementing or executing my strategy.
Because I didn't feel like insulting
my great people.
And that's just an insult.
And I don't know why.
The world seems to think that insulting your
people is how you get an organization to work well.
And what's that transmission loss that happens between the CEO setting
the frame and then giving the freedom down to the organization?
And then what we often see is a lack of understanding.
Once you get down in the organization,
a lack of feeling of empowerment.
What's the secret sauce in actually making it work?
Genuineness.
Right?
And thoroughness.
Right?
So it's my job, in my view,
if I'm the CEO,
and
the two of you run the two businesses,
it's my job to say,
here's why I want to do the things I want to do.
Here are the choices you need to make in your business.
I don't know the answer.
I just know that you need to make some choices
that are consistent with mine.
I'll help you if you want.
Come talk to me anytime you want about your choice making.
But you'll need to report back to me
that you've made a set of choices.
And you'll have to do the same things.
And you'll have to do the same thing. That's my job.
That's my core job.
And so there's not going to be transmission
kind of error if I take that as my core job.
Sometimes on the other side of the companies that have just set
their strategy but have a culture where it's quite hierarchical,
we can see that
they look up for permission.
So how,
what are the steps,
the few first steps that you need to take if you are the
latter company to move a bit closer to create a culture where
people can
really take their own choices?
Ban the word execution,
ban the word implementation,
right?
And spend quality time on what I call choice chartering.
It would be,
you know,
kind of,
here's my strategy,
right?
Here's what I'm trying to accomplish
for that to succeed.
Here's what you need to accomplish.
Here's the outputs you need to produce.
And I am open
to any way that you get that.
And the cleverer you are,
the happier I'm going to be.
That will free up,
empower in kind of magical ways very quickly.