I was lucky enough to be in the audience recently when A.G. Lafley, Procter & Gamble's CEO, gave a lovely talk to a small group of executives. We've talked here about Level 5 leaders -- he qualifies, If anyone does. He is perhaps the most modest and selfless CEO of a Fortune 500 firm I have encountered. I know A.G. slightly, as in 2000, when he first stepped in as CEO, I spent a few hours with his top team talking about The Knowing-Doing Gap.
One of the premises of that book is that a key to turning knowledge into action is that -- although executives who talk about many ideas and complex ideas will be viewed as smarter -- wiser and more effective executives pick just a few simple messages and repeat them over and over again until people throughout the organization internals them and use them to guide action. Constantly changing messages lead to the "flavor of the month problem" where people don't act on the current message because they have learned that, if they wait a few months (or days) the message will change (managers in such organizations become very skilled at talking as if they acting on the flavor of the month, but not actually doing the thing that senior executives are pushing at the moment.) And making things overly complicated may make the senior executives seem smart and feel smart , but if a message is too complicated understand, it is also means that the implications for action are impossible to understand as well.
Expressing a simple message and repeating it over and over again is especially important when an organization is large, as it isn't possible for A.G. to have a meeting with all 130,000 or so people in one room. A.G.'s motto is that the principles used to run the firm need to be "Sesame Street Simple." I love that because it is so different than the kind of message you hear from management theorists or from CEOs who are obsessed with how smart they are -- and how dumb everyone else is in compassion.
Here is a U.S. News and World Report article that describes A.G.'s style in more detail. For this post, here is the key paragraph:
Repeat after me. If that sounds simplistic, Lafley is the first to admit that it is. Yet in a company where more than half the employees don't speak English as their first language, he says his Sesame Street- simple slogans, repeated over and over, keep everyone trained on what's important. Human beings "don't want to stay focused," he says. "So my job is to get them to focus their creativity around the focus; focus their productivity around the focus; focus their efficiency or effectiveness around the focus."
As I compare A.G.'s approach to what is happening in financial meltdown, it strikes me that the crisis (and the apparent cure too) is brought to us by people who -- at times -- did such complicated things that no one, including themselves, understood what they were doing and what the implications might be. I am sure that some very smart economists or finance people believe that they understand all this, and I guess we have to trust some of them now to get us out of this despite their history of greed and arrogance. But this crisis has further convinced me that I prefer Sesame Street Simple to Wall Street Convoluted every time.
Bob,
AG Lafley's approach reminds me of something Richard Feynmen once said (I think).
If someone makes something sound complicated, either they don't understand it or they don't want you to understand it.
From mortgage contracts to CDS contracts to the bailout, all of it was hastily written so that only the writers understand it.
Things that make you go hummmmm.
Andy
Posted by: Andrew Meyer | September 29, 2008 at 09:01 PM
Great post. This reminds me of one of the great influencers of all time, Gandhi. His ability to mobilize hundreds of millions of illiterate Indians to throw off the chains of a superpower is legendary. Sesame Street was before his time, but credible, selfless leading by example and simple messages seem timeless.
Posted by: Matt Barney | September 28, 2008 at 04:31 PM
I don't think it's any coincidence that A. G. is an ex-Marine.
Posted by: Chris Yeh | September 28, 2008 at 07:08 AM
Couldn't agree more. If your customers or employees don't understand the logic behind the vision, it could mean one of several things: (1) the logic isn't there; (2) you, as a leader, hasn't got it; (3) they, as employees or customers, haven't got it. Compare the vision of Jonathan Schwartz, CEO Sun Microsystems, with, for example, Steve Jobs. Jobs doesn't talk that much, he delivers, while Jonathan Schwartz could do a lot better. It's just too complicated, listening to Jonathan.
Posted by: Jan | September 26, 2008 at 01:32 AM
Great post, Bob. It triggered the realization that all the great leaders I've come in contact with, in the Marines, in police work and in business, go for simple concepts repeated often. It's surprising how rarely this is mentioned in discussions of leadership.
I've suggested to people in my programs that if they have an idea for their organization or team they should test it on an intelligent 15 year old. If you can do that, the idea has a shot.
Then look for stories and examples that illustrate your idea. Use them when you have the opportunity. But take every opportunity to share your message.
You also inspired me to check the bookshelf. Sure enough, one book that stresses this kind of communication is John Kotter's seminal work, The General Managers.
Posted by: Wally Bock | September 25, 2008 at 02:22 PM
That reminds me of a story I read about Ulysses Grant (anecdotal):
He kept a captain on staff who was rather slow. He vetted all orders though him, the reason being if this captain could understand them, the soldiers in the field would be able to.
True or not, I like the concept.
Posted by: Greg | September 25, 2008 at 01:19 PM