Hello and welcome to the very first edition of each b r i e okay soon to be bi weekly audio show from harvard business school publish my name is paul mike woman on an executive editor here and all for your help. All right do you have cast today contains three seconds in the first of these i sit down with harvard business refusing to read it or gardener mowers to discuss a most unusual future in the main issue of the magazine special section devoted entirely to the a b. and flew. What in the world is h. b. r. doing writing about her disease state tune and find out. Then we'll turn our attention to that these old management favorite silos as idea cast correspondent angela haven't talked by phone with patrick when she only the author of a new book on breaking down silos and senior management teams. Past year so that's a few of his ideas on how managers could break through organizational territorial some enhance collaboration among executives. Finally you know harvard business review one point segment we take a quick trip inside the mind of the chinese consumer we hope you'll come along for the ride. First up is your organization are really ready for navy and flew panda back. Joining us today is gardener more senior writer of the harvard business review heavy be here part of the first time and it's at four year history harvard business review was dedicated just entire board not sections was single green. The the and flew more specifically as you put it in the sections title you're preparing for and then i. This is a pretty bold move he could have been background on what led to the decision to give so much focus to the alien blue it's hardly a typical subject bridge we are. Well it depends on what lynn you look through them service it looks like a medical or healthcare story but i think that readers that they spend a little time with affection they're gonna realize very quickly that it's really hugely important business story um. And don't find that businesses that are preparing for them and then it or going to be. May have trouble surviving i think but a lot of people don't realize is that you know worst case scenario uh there's a global endemic. There's gonna be huge global of disruption. Of ah economies and businesses in society hospitals are gonna be overwhelmed schools were closed businesses will close it could be quarantine governments me close workers would be losses services. Uhhuh cos and countries are gonna worry about security so businesses i'm going to be thinking about important numbers in indiana going to be thinking about survival. It was already been an enormous amount written on t. v. influence potential for a widespread help right what specifically h. b. r. adding to the public discourse here well the the problem is uh it's just that there's too much information um. We bought the at or need to create a. Oh one stop shop for for business executives and we imagine just we were freezing section imagine to ah chief executive sitting down with his or her exactly team and things um what do we need to know are we prepared um. What should we be doing what shouldn't be doing. So what we wanted to do with create a second the magazines that would not only help executives from here and then it but uh prepared for any type of scene. Oh long term crisis whether it was it and then it where it was uh biological and nuclear terrorism were some other um on into the table type of. Right so we assembled experts in epidemiology and resistant assessment um leadership legally who's communications and other topics to creating section. So what are similar obvious potential ramifications but businesses ought to be preparing for. Um. Well the obvious ones i should point out or or employee s and stuff and uh supply changes russians and and disruptions of um. Uh distribution network but there are lots of less obvious ones um a big one with you you'd be possible impact on organizational culture he's in this people are going to be scared uh when. A collie sneeze is the reaction can be very different win that's potentially lethal and i think that cos needs to be um ready to respond to the the um. Uh the the viewer the that people was there anything. There are a legal issues with people i uh peter saucer who's a uh employment law specialists that uh company called with her angles and who points out there uh in many countries cos or. Uh uh expected to provide a safe workplace and. Sure discovers the com- infected with eating flew in the workplace n each one of the company was negligent. In um in providing ah infection infectious disease prevention measures other company could be oh could be liable beyond ah workers' compensation for that ah another less obvious wanna central. Disappearing for that reason customers um we're runs on products so if you're in uh entertainment transportation customers might disappear but if you were providing uh he made um a master gloves you may find you can't keep up with. Demand in in a final one is is the government response that cos. Um you can think about whether uh. They can rely governments to provide security and and what impact we have government quarantine sit region or even close the borders. I. What are some of the preparedness leaders doing are there you'll be in blue best practices the companies can turns it was we got ready for what movie coming. Well there to wait till it that yes there there were many companies that have their own ah preparedness. Plants under way and you can and and have some best practices. But uh he maybe more useful to look brought me to set it principle that uh cos omnipoint but um there is a nice example of of a company with the this practice and that's uh sun microsystems weaving interviewing the issue with. Doman gallons of the uh the v for human resources there and uh sign is you know it's er er i p infrastructure. Company and so naturally that's where there's francis and preparedness they uh created a um. Uh uh platform call i worked it allows their employees were uh off i didn't have ah access to there virtual desktop from remote so. The uh the the company is um setting that up so that you know worst case pending next. Aiming toward your large number of their employees will be able to work for really offended. Thirty off i the other thing they're doing is making some realizes that. Oh what's good for the customers is good for them and so we're dealing insurance industry they're uh helping the customer set up similar types of of ah programs for lower workers too too function off site. But um probably more useful ah to cos use use to look at the uh center for disease control prevention uh uh business planning check listen we've included of of version of that and the issue. And what the heck was does it easy diagnostic tool that will help companies um. See where they're vulnerabilities far it's not really you isn't very useful enjoying them how to make themselves to protect themselves from the impact of internet but i can show them with his weaknesses are so where is the third thirty five action items and those include um. Uh having creating dave endemic planning response team um how do you assess the impact on society distribution networks and training is larry. Workforce uh do you have infection control practices in place do you have mediation programs those sorts of questions is probably one of the ah move useful tools and he. Go to williamsburg you to work turn to for commentary years milliliters just all of our advance what is going to scissors my computer should we phrase the worst case scenario here. Well that's make the distinction between of the type of you know lateral command and control leadership that that they'll you will in in the queue crisis like uh the attack on the the world trade center um. And it had leadership is the worst work that over the long time you know you've seen crisis any points out there of people are gonna be scrutinized new leaders very. Closely in that type of environment they're going to. Expect smart decisions of course but they're also gonna be season leaders who can come for inspire them and and he plays uh roosevelt and hurtful and their leadership during the second world war um he also says that people are gonna want to see. More collaborative leadership again not the u. level commendable control style and and he site so uh abraham lincoln uh bring trust uh during the civil war where lincoln assembled political rivals uh into a group of uh advisors. And he finally suggest that uh leadership um only be a little more dispersed and the company should consider. Creating co c. e. o. positions are co president positions and use a couple of boston line there of one is that in uh you know you know complex and and all racist you guys are better than one and the other is. Oh should one liter be taking out of the picture the other one can stand are worse thank you very much ignored thank you. If you'd like to learn more about what h. b. r. has to say about the a b. and flew and what cos need to be doing now in preparation for it pick up a copy of the may issue of h. b. r. available at newsstands everywhere and at harvard business online dot com. Oh except angela heroin interviews best selling author patrick once you only on silo busting. Like i found it down today patrick on t. any i clarify love politics and turf wars leadership table about destroying their air turned colleagues into competitors. Well yeah a lot about sign that you guys cos are under increasing pressure to in a day but they're fighting employees particularly those are working other employee yeah that's really don't know how to collaborate actually i. Happening that many people disagree that like the right and you anti company. Well i think what it really comes down to i don't know if they're actively basically i think what it is is a human beings have a natural tendency look out for themselves and unless you give them a very compelling reason why collaboration is better then individual pursuit system. Then they're going to choose individual pursuit so i think they just don't understand the benefits of it well you sound like you believe there's no you try to force people to do that. Well i i i think you're right i just wanna see people to do it. Without giving them an understanding of the benefit seven and giving them a context for working together. Is that is pretty fruitless because they're only going to do it as long as they're being watched i think we have to help people understand why working together it makes a difference why it's definitely going to benefit them and the rest of the team and then turn them looks. I guess it's saying that there is a way to get around the fighting in the battles in the turf wars so what you did the most important thing people need is what i call a rallying cry a fatal clear it purposes. That unites people across different functions. And how to them understand they they really should be rolling in the same direction and it provide a context forget each other feedback and and that pushing each other to do even better so that that the entire team can accomplish that. That cole or a chief a rallying cry. Can you get an example. If you just look at tiresome tires years ago instead of crisis in organizations in crisis almost always happen i rallying cry and in their case it was they had to reestablish credibility in order to survive after some some bad things happen it. Supposedly what they're fast. So you got to think about if you were in that situation your management t- you gotta rally around that reestablishing credibility everybody on that management team regardless of the functional area. Have to take that responsibility on themselves and then they have to decide what do each of us at two in order to reestablish credibility. And we have to join may be responsible for that we have to call each other out when we're not doing what's necessary because we're either gonna swim together we're going to drown together. Okay sound like you had that rallying cry like you ninety dollars how you define the action i can't tell people you did it and you got. That's great question because it's not enough time to have the rallying cry well you'd have to do is a wonderful oh five things that we have to accomplish in order to say that that rallying cries being that. Another one advised on tire status that we have to re establish credibility but that doesn't give people enough specificity. It would have to do this guy was credibility the for instance they'd have to fix their tires and improved p r and set up a lot foods and improve more hours employees since. Work out their relationship with their distributors the problem is and what time of come into play. It exactly fifteen think that they should take on those things based on their functional expertise in other words westchester out to the h r person let's give the legal issues to the lawyer. Let's get sixteen retired engineer when in fact all the members of that team have to be jointly responsible for every aspect of it i need to play a role in helping each other. When he testified responsibility based on individual expertise. They don't give people a contact for working well together and the truth of the matter is we all have a lot to contribute in areas outside of our own expertise so how you hold people speak it up by our so they actually do that. That's the beauty that's the key i could really to find that green at that rallying cry and then it's clarifying p. e. objectives that he did take place in order to ah to achieve it. People hold each other he could have fired because they realize dial in it together so when somebody says something somebody flashing or something struggling. Yeah that's the best interest in include that person up and holding them accountable and helping them out because they know that if everybody doesn't succeed in the whole thing comes down. As long as it here he thinks he's successful because he fixes a tie that the law lawyers successfully she's had a lawsuit. They got a situation where people aren't really working together so you got it create at peer pressure if you will around one single common objectives. So what you did it it your individual unit manager. And you're trying to get another unit to work when you can you're not getting very much cooperation locking everything started when you're not and you've actually yeah you know the best thing that they can do is have very honest conversations about what they have in common and try that pumped up the conversation to the next level. And i don't watch what they have to do is they have to get together and say ok you might be in that division i might be in this one we need to be working together and we're not we gotta go to the next level but i didn't have them break these ties harassing clarify what's really important. What exactly is at the top of an organization happy clarified what really matters most when they're not on the same page at people destroying the organization to fight bloody i'm gonna build a house with one another. How do they continue to fight those bloody on wonderful battles we need to escalate that issue back to the top quit fighting with each other or something we can't possibly resolved. Thank you hey thanks so much for sharing your i guess but that's ok basically habit. To learn more about pat lunch you know these ideas on so i love boston you can order a c d i was harvard business school publishing virtual seven r breaking down so i love that paralyzed performance by searching the term silos at harvard business online dot com. And look for an interview with pat in the july issue of harvard management update. Oh and in our final segment. We take a short john into the mind of the chinese consumer first let's look at the idea in brief. Ever since john ah merge from it's malice cocoon cos around the globe within clamoring to do business in or with china. But too many of them don't understand chinese cos and consumers western executives in particular wrong review china is merely a giant production factory people but you're guaranteed workers. Or the giant monolithic population starving for basic consumer goods. The consequences western cos respond believe badly when they try partner and chinese firms were selling their where's to chinese consumers. How to avoid these risks developing accurate portrait who the chinese people really are and how they're changing so you base strategic decisions on facts not miss. And the fax me surprise you for example contrary to most westerners believes chinese workers want more than just a job in salary they desire recognition for their efforts and opportunities to grow. And chinese consumers wonder do more than just clean their homes and cook their food that you're in the temp allies their tastes and b. c. that's fashionable in a choice of products. By replacing misconceptions with sex your deeper your understanding of what chinese people really want and you develop business strategies successfully meet those demands before your competitors cam. Next we'll look at the i d in practice. To successfully do business dinner with china you need to acquire accurate information about the country's workers and consumers first let's look at workers. The first misconception chinese employees primary games to work hard and get rich the fact self satisfaction that is living a life that suits my own tastes is now the number one motivator for workers and tried as big cities. The left some a new me generation is emerging you'll need new wage our policies practices and people management methods to motivate chinese workers. The second misconception about chinese workers is up there highly dedicated to their employers and engage with their work. The fact sixty eight percent of employees don't approach their work with passion or feel a personal connection to their jobs many feel employers don't sufficiently reward their efforts or provide enough development opportunities. The lessons. To combat the absenteeism and luke warm productivity resulting from disengagement avoid managing chinese workers as if they were interchangeable autumn at times instead do them is complete human beings with individual strengths needs and growth potential. Now let's take a closer look at chinese consumers. The first misconception chinese consumers now have a lot of money to spend. The fact though incomes are rising most chinese consumers remain too poor to purchase what they want. The lessen the market may not offer as much potential it's the size of its population implies avoid making investment commitments until you it's solid evidence the chinese consumers not only want your offerings but also have the resources to buy them. The second misconception about chinese consumers is that all chinese or benefiting equally from the rise and shine is average income. The fact some chinese are faring better than others and the better off among them such as possible what urban dwellers already on what they want including t b as in mobile phones. The lesson to see these opportunities in the more affluent market emphasize repeat and replacement purchases over first time product acquisition look more to word of mouth and company manage communications to garage sales. And or third and final misconception about chinese consumers. That's the biggest markets are for basic household products the fact chinese consumers demand for merely functional products such as vacuum cleaners washing machines and refrigerators has paled compared to a hunger for more stylish offered. And the lesson. Whether you're selling appliances were consumer electronics shore the peace offerings provide as much style appeal as performance reliability. For example by emphasizing fashion over function nokias unit cell phone sales rocket past those of motorola and erickson in china. For a much deeper look into the mind of the chinese consumer to the march two thousand and six harvard business review article inside the mind of the chinese consumer by william the queue and and his colleagues at the gallup organization but you can find at harvard business online dot com. We hope you've enjoyed disposition of the h. b. alright dear cast this is the new venture for us i would love to hear your thoughts and ideas please send them to my attention that's palm like woman at this address idea cast at h. b.. S p dot harvard dot e. d. u.. And for more information on any of the subjects covered in the program today please visit us at harvard business online dot com thank you. Be helpful john it's a concern for on that side oh
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