Management 2.0
Labnotes
Insights, ideas and inspiration from MLab
Issue 10 | December 2008
Theory Y meets
Generation Y
Julian Birkinshaw and Stuart
Crainer look at a Microsoft team
that is changing the way it works
by incorporating the interests of
its young employees to increase
creativity and productivity.
In this issue
Bankers’ bulimia
8
Gary Hamel uncovers the all-too human frailties
behind the global financial meltdown.
Gore inspiring
10
====
Think of the most innovative high-tech
companies. What comes to mind? Most
people start with Google Inc. and then
perhaps Apple Inc. After that, it’s less
obvious. Microsoft Corp. is usually overlooked
After Windows Vista shipped in 2007, Smith
took over the Windows Security Test Team
effort. As part of his preparation, he met
W.L.Gore and Associates defies managerial
convention and is spectacularly successful.
CEO, Terri Kelly, explains business the Gore way.
in these discussions. Conventional wisdom
Play hard, work hard
master of carefully orchestrated software
“As I was doing these meetings, I began to
development projects such as Windows and
realise the depth of talent in this group. Over
Microsoft Office rather than a developer of
a third of the team had a master’s degree or
creative and innovative working practices.
higher, which is very unusual. And from the
12
Spending time on social networking sites may
be something companies eventually encourage.
Julian Birkinshaw examines innovations in the
way we socialise…and work.
No half measures
14
of the previous century and now the
Think again. Ross Smith, an 18-year veteran
of Microsoft and now director of the Windows
Security Test Team, is working to show that
Whole Foods Market combines profits
with principles. CEO, John Mackey, explains
how and why.
Out and about with MLab
views the software colossus as the innovator
innovative management techniques are
alive and well inside the world’s best-known
15
Forthcoming and thought provoking,
the latest MLab events.
technology company.
all 85 people.
annual employee survey, I knew people were
feeling underutilised. The nature of our work
is unusual – it is intense and painstaking, but
it ebbs and flows, which means sometimes
there’s spare capacity in terms of brainpower,
and even effort. And of course, if you’ve
got your doctorate from Carnegie Mellon
Smith leads an 85-person test team in the
University and you’re running some manual
company’s Windows division. The team
tests to verify a piece of code, it’s logical you
works to ensure the quality of Windows
would feel underutilised. So it got me thinking
security-related features. It may not sound
about what we could offer these people in
sexy, but it is high-pressure, high-status
terms of figuring out how to apply that talent?”
work within Microsoft. Marc McDonald, the
The team is filled with people routinely
very first Microsoft employee, is part of the
team. Others have chosen to join the team
after successful development manager
jobs elsewhere. Expectations are high as
hundreds of millions of people trust – and
The David and Elaine Potter
Charitable Foundation
individually with everyone on the team –
demand – that features work correctly and
Windows is trustworthy.
labelled “Generation Y.” This time the
broad brushstroke label actually applies.
As a Millennial on the team puts it,
“Despite everybody talking about how
Microsoft is an old company, there’s still a
lot of young people being hired, and a lot
www.managementlab.org
2 | Labnotes
Theory Y meets Generation Y continued...
them are being hired because they want
“He genuinely cares about people, and in
written in terms of innovation, risk-taking,
to be there. They are sharp and tend to do
a very unique way. There’s a lot of humour.
experimentation and managing failure, but
many things on top of their normal duties – a
He’s, really down to earth, and a lot of fun to
we’re very focused on a set of predictable
lot of the time this is what you have to do to
work with,” says Lori Ada Kilty, programme
deliverables. There’s an emphasis on
get noticed.” The testing team members live
manager, one of Smith’s closest colleagues.
predictability, stability and reliability
online, love competition, devour technology
Starting points
and that’s at odds with what you read
avid readers – particularly of books such
In early 2007, Robert Musson, a developer
We thought that if we could encourage
as Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink and James
on the team, stumbled on a paper by
managers to work to build trust on their
Surowiecki’s The Wisdom of Crowds.
John Helliwell and Haifang Huang at
teams, then that might lead to more
the University of British Columbia that
satisfaction, more innovation, employee
examined the relationship between trust,
growth and so on.”
in any form and, perhaps surprisingly, are
Add in the fact that Generation Y learns
differently and embraces social networking
tools, and the challenge to conventional
pay and job satisfaction.
about trusting, innovative environments.
People are more likely to have fun at work if
management becomes clear. As one of the
Musson reflected: “Trust in management is,
they trust each other. With that realisation,
Windows Security Team says, “Generation Y
by far, the biggest component to consider.
the team thought it had something tangible
wants to work on cool, cutting-edge projects,
Say you get a new boss and your trust in
it could pursue.
and Generation Y wants to be recognised
management goes up a bit at your job
for its work by peers, family and friends.”
(say, up one point on a 10-point scale).
Improving trust
And if such projects aren’t provided in the
That’s like getting a 36 per cent pay raise,
Trust, of course, is a large and abstract
workplace, many will choose to find them in
Helliwell and Huang calculate.”
issue – but one that lies at the heart of
online communities and work on them – for
The team began to think about how trust
free – in their spare time.
worked in the Microsoft environment and
As Smith got to know his new team and
noticed a mismatch between the general
started to understand what made them
theories and the situation of his team.
tick, he saw an opportunity to do things
“When it comes to trust, there’s a lot
differently. “We wondered if we could bring
that extra effort inside Microsoft’s walls and
share our human and corporate resources
to encourage some of that innovation to
happen right here. We wanted to create an
environment where the team could have
more freedom with the ‘how’ rather than be
relentlessly preoccupied with the ‘what.’”
The challenge, in other words, was how to
apply Theory Y to Generation Y. Theory Y
says humans are intrinsically motivated to
do a good job, and if the right conditions
can be created, employees will give their
discretionary time for free. Theory Y
behaviour came naturally to Smith. Two
decades at Microsoft had given him a good
intuitive feel for how to get the best out of
people. And he attracted a loyal following.
working life and working relationships. “It’s
like freedom and air,” Smith says. “You
know when you don’t have it, but it’s really
hard to measure it and to know when you
do have it.”
Labnotes | 3
Add in the fact that Generation Y learns differently and
embraces social networking tools, and the challenge to
conventional management becomes clear.
‘Free Pizza’ - Ross (with pizza) and the team prepare for a meeting
The first step, therefore, was to brainstorm
the program. They can range from people
to identify the behaviours affecting trust that
presenting their ideas to brainstorming,
people saw in their day-to-day work. As this
but really, the main goal is to keep the
progressed, the team created some games
programme alive and build relationships
and experiments with voting to try to prioritise
around the team. The structure is really flat
the lengthening list and to learn more about
– everybody’s ideas get equal billing, and
what could be done to increase trust.
everybody’s comments are valid. We try
At http://www.defectprevention.org/trust,
readers can view one of the games the
Microsoft team used to develop its trust
model. Users are asked, “Which trust factor
to make sure that there’s no hierarchy in
the room. It gives people a forum to share
their ideas and to share the projects they’re
working on.”
is more important to you?” and then given
One conversation led to another. Some
a series of two-option responses such as
Web-based tools for sharing information
“Don’t skirt real issues” and “Don’t bury
about project status, submitting calls for help
your head in the sand.” Users can select
and promoting new ideas were introduced.
from as many pairs as they like, then
“The hope is that people will vote with their
view the compiled results from all
feet for good ideas,” Smith says. “There’s no
who participated.
community rating system or voting for each
The result was a better-ordered list of trust
factors. The trouble with this approach
was that it was situational – the ordered list
might apply to me, but it might not apply to
you, or, it might apply to me on Tuesdays
but not on Fridays. More research led to
idea. Ideas are like children – everyone loves
their own. And we wanted the programme
to support that. If you see an idea you like,
you can just talk to the person who’s listed on
the site. This gave people another platform
for promoting their ideas.” By now, the
team has had a couple thousand slices of
says the computer, ‘and that quite definitely
the creation of a playbook for people to
pizza, devouring topics such as debugging
reference and use. Things like “be more
techniques, improving customer feedback,
transparent” or “demonstrate integrity”
identity theft, how to think creatively through
were highlighted. The challenge was to link
problems, and new products from other
these notions to tangible activity. Members
teams around Microsoft.
of the team then worked to write up a
is the answer. I think the problem, to be quite
honest with you, is that you’ve never actually
known what the question is.’”
The number 42 helped to capture the
quirkiness of the team’s approach and the
paragraph on each trust behaviour. This
Giving it a name: 42Projects
information was then opened up as a wiki
The spirit of learning, trust and respect for
It also tapped into the Generation Y spirit.
to generate community participation and
new ways of working was coming alive in the
During 2007 and 2008, the programme
build understanding. Around 40 per cent
Windows Security Test Team, but it needed
grew organically, and tentative steps led to
of the Windows Security Test Team actively
a name. They needed a brand to represent
a profound cultural shift within the team.
contributed to this process.
the changes that were happening. They
As Jonathan Ng, a recent computer science
settled on 42Projects. For the uninitiated,
graduate and software development engineer
Pizza with everything
broad objectives of the programme itself.
the number 42 is the answer to the life,
in Test observes, “The best thing about
To keep the dialogue open, the team started
universe and everything in Douglas Adams’
42Projects is the fact that you can just
a weekly “free pizza” meeting in the autumn
cult classic The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the
jump right in and define your own role.
of 2007. It proved to be a powerful forum.
Galaxy. In the book, it takes the Deep
Self-role definition in the context of a work
As Smith explains, “These meetings started
Thought computer more than 7 million years
career isn’t really something that happened
with trust and have evolved along with
to figure this out – “‘I checked it thoroughly,’
until recently.”
Inventing tomorrow’s best practices today
4 | Labnotes
Theory Y meets Generation Y continued...
What’s more, it appealed to senior
members as well. McDonald was
Microsoft’s first employee, a friend of Bill
Gates in high school and a key member
of the Windows Security Test Team. As he
describes, “42Projects tries to recapture
the feeling and passion you have at a small
start-up or at the beginning of an industry
by breaking down the stratification of a
large organisation.” The team also has a
dozen senior Microsoft employees on the
team with more than 10 years at the firm.
The programme appeals to them as much
as it does their Generation Y colleagues.
42New – Engaging with
Generation Y
They bring a fresh perspective and the
the event. We’ve tried to take this a step
Another important step forward was to
information flow is in both directions.”
further. Using games is a powerful method
capture raw feedback from new employees.
The 42New programme, as it became
known, targeted employees with less than
two years’ experience to share their ideas in
a separate forum. As Kilty explained. “We
hire really intelligent people and when they
first start, they are left to figure things out on
their own. Many feel we don’t necessarily
take the time to hear what they have to say
One of the members is Sowmya Dayanand,
software development engineer in Test:
to influence changes in organisational
behaviour, though it requires care in the
“42New is an opportunity to ask questions
design and use.”
and not be judged. Nothing is out of
Ben Sawyer, co-founder of the Serious
bounds. Often things make more sense
Games Initiative, a Washington, D.C.-based
when you understand the history and the
start-up, concurs. “While everyone in the
vision in informal discussions without fancy
enterprise is chasing games for training, the
jargon and PowerPoint presentations.”
real promise for games is in changing how
because they don’t have a lot of experience.
The output from this group goes directly to
enterprises work, think and administrate,
So we started a group called 42New. It’s a
Smith: “It’s been a terrific place to identify
which will have much more dramatic
forum where there are no managers, and
some obvious areas of improvement – for
changes on productivity through games than
new hires can get their voices heard. They
new hires and for everyone”
the odd training efficiency. I sincerely believe
get together, get their ideas out and talk
Playing games
that, and few people spend more time
about things that are bothering them or
things that they would like to see.
Trust, of course, is a large
and abstract issue – but
one that lies at the heart
of working life and working
relationships.
Games, and the spirit of gaming, are
fundamental to Generation Y. The
thinking about serious games than I do.”
As an example of a productivity game in
importance of game playing as a means of
software development, team members might
learning was not lost on the team. Smith
be encouraged to try a security feature
explains: “When a product needs a bit of a
and describe their experience or look for
push toward a certain behaviour, building
problems in other areas. Because this is
a productivity game around it can help.
not part of their regular job, they typically
A common approach in the past was for the
will not make the time to volunteer to do
Windows Security Test Team to host a ‘bug
this, despite its effectiveness at eradicating
bash’ for an evening and give a prize to the
defects. But, if a game is built around
person who found the most bugs during
the activity, and each “player” is awarded
Labnotes | 5
“The real promise for games is in changing how enterprises work, think
and administrate, which will have much more dramatic changes on
productivity through games than the odd training initiative.”
points, or there is a leader board on display
The team had a visit from Mike Armour,
used that technology before, as well as
with the latest standings, then volunteerism
author of Trust-Centered Leadership,
potential ‘customers’ for their end result,”
and participation skyrockets. Games built
and recently hosted a discussion with
Smith says.
around a goal like this have resulted in a
Adrian Gostick, one of the authors of
400 per cent improvement in participation
The Levity Effect.
levels for some activities.
Trust, too, is constantly evolving. “We’re
giving people the latitude to go off and
“When we heard from Mark Hanson
do their own thing. We trust them to do
The Windows Security Test Team looked for
at Microsoft [Windows] Security [Test
their regular jobs and to experiment,
ways to build the principles of gaming into
Team] about the 42Books programme,
innovate and have fun. We’re developing
its work. For example, one team member
our first thought was, ‘Hey. Bill Gates
a level of trust where there’s no required
had a desire to learn a new development
wants to buy 42 million copies of our new
accountability that you need to log your
technology and built a prototype of a
book, The Levity Effect,’ Gostick recalls.
time or provide an example of what you
customer feedback game. He was able to
“’Unfortunately, it really was 42 copies.
did during that day when you worked from
connect with another employee who was
But after speaking with Mark, we realised
home,” Hanson says.
developing an idea to use native language
that Microsoft [Windows] Security [Test
speakers to help verify international
Team] was a real find. The leaders of the
versions of Windows. The two collaborated
team had actually read the book and were
and built a game system where people can
working hard applying the techniques to
play games to validate localised text strings.
enhance camaraderie, communication and
“Our culture is competitive. People by
creativity in the Windows Security [Test
nature love to compete and play games
Team] environment. We joined one of their
and want to see themselves at the top
pizza-book-chat meetings via the phone
Spreading the word
of the leader board,” says Mark Hanson,
and answered questions, laughed a lot and
explained more about our research. This
Success has not come easy for the team.
test manager.
Reading material
Even before Smith took the helm, one of
the sources of inspirations for the team was
the written word. Defying the Generation
Y stereotype, a big portion of the team is
composed of voracious readers. One book in
their eye-opening library was Gary Hamel’s
The Future of Management. “It felt like
he’d been sitting in our meetings,” Smith
said. The team started a book group called
42Books, which encourages reading and
discussion on various texts, and blew their
As ideas are implemented and gain
popularity, the team works with other
“incubation” efforts across the company to
find more permanent homes for projects,
or individuals may continue to plug along at
their own pace.
is one group that proves the findings of the
million-person research study in The Levity
Effect – it really does pay to lighten up.”
Dramatic change doesn’t normally bubble
up from the bottom. But there is now solid
evidence that the change programme
kicked off by Smith in early 2007 is
paying dividends.
All of this is linked to an evolving process
of change. “We have had a few cases
where someone has an interest in learning
something and instead of going home and
working on it, they have brought it inside.
Whether it’s a book, an idea, a project,
a course – doing it here exposes
them to more resources,
people who’ve done that,
book budget, mostly centred on books about
innovation, leadership and trust.
“You can learn a lot and stay current by
just attending a book review,” observes one
Generation Y team member. “If you like
what the book is about, then you can
go read it.”
Inventing tomorrow’s best practices today
6 | Labnotes
Theory Y meets Generation Y continued...
“Our focus is on making the employee experience on our
team the greatest that we can make it and from that comes
innovation, productivity, and employee satisfaction.”
Employee retention rates within the team
are higher than they have ever been – an
important factor in a specialist activity
such as testing. Productivity numbers are
improving as skill levels rise and people
become more knowledgeable about each
other’s areas of expertise. Engagement and
cross-team contributions are rising.
What’s next for Smith’s cultural revolution?
How can the engagement he has created in
his division be leveraged and scaled across
other parts of Microsoft?
Word is starting to get out. In September,
Smith was given the chance to post his
views on the Microsoft internal blog site,
which is open to Microsoft’s 60,000
Avatars - 42Projects ‘online’
employees around the world. With only
one open slot every week or two, this was
a big deal. His post focused on the spirit
Jan Nelson, programme manager for the
hold dear – building trust, experimenting
of 42Projects: “It was basically, think back
Windows International and Management
with new ideas in management and group
to the day you started at Microsoft and the
Excellence Leadership Team, describes
dynamics, trying out new innovation
energy you had, the feeling that you were
his reaction: “What I find most valuable
concepts, and a little bit of rule breaking.”
there to change the world. I asked, ‘Do you
about the idea of a 42Projects community
still feel that way today?’ And then I touched
is the potential for anyone, irrespective of
on some of the themes of 42Projects: trust
hierarchy, to be creative, create new tools,
and empowerment, those things. That these
products, work on team dynamics, whatever.
things can start with anybody. You don’t
42Projects is an effort to provide an open
need an executive to say, ‘OK, let’s all start to
framework where it is OK to try stuff out
trust each other.’ You can actually take steps
and publish what worked and what did not
Friends@42projects.org by going to http://
yourself. If you improve how you manage
without fear of performance assessment.
www.42projects.org/4.html.
work, the profit potential is unlimited.” The
In a meritocracy, this is a fresh and rare
Julian Birkinshaw (jbirkinshaw@london.
blog got a lot of responses from people
across Microsoft, most of whom added their
opportunity that needs closer examination
and support.”
Interest in the work of the team continues
to spread across Microsoft, and it has
established a Friends of 42Projects email alias for people to stay connected
with its progress. Readers can join
edu) is Professor of Strategic and
International Management at London
names (the usual format is anonymous). So
Mike Tholfsen, a test manager in the Office
Business School and co-founder of MLab.
people were willing to put their name out
Division adds, “Finding 42Projects was
Stuart Crainer (scrainer@london.edu) is
there along with their comments.
like walking into a haven of all the things I
editor of Business Strategy Review.
Resources:
John Beck and Mitchell Wade, Got Game: How the Gamer Generation is Reshaping Business Forever, Harvard Business
School Press, 2004 | Malcolm Gladwell, Blink – Penguin, 2006 | “Productivity Games – Using Games to Improve
Quality,” – Ross Smith’s post on Google’s Testing Blog (http://googletesting.blogspot.com/2008/06/productivity-gamesusing-games-to.html) | James Surowiecki, The Wisdom of Crowds – Anchor, 2005 | Gostick and Christopher, The
Levity Effect, John Wiley, 2008 | McDonald, Musson, Smith, The Practical Guide to Defect Prevention (http://www.
defectprevention.org) | http://42Projects.org | David Edery and Ethan Mollick, Changing the Game: How Video Games
are Transforming the Future of Business, FT Press, October 2008 | Economist, “Playing for profit”, August 26, 2008
Labnotes | 7
Lessons: How others can
learn from Microsoft
Use games to get the work done
The use of games in the business world is long established. Game
playing is a key ingredient of Generation Y. By using games – often
comparatively simple ones – the Microsoft team has tapped into
the culture of its own employees and provided a motivational level
of competition and enjoyment to sometimes mundane tasks. Even
a $100 meal card as a prize for a game can concentrate minds in
a different way. This is where Theory Y meets Generation Y.
The journey is the destination
Change does not come from the top
Trust is an important business and personal issue. By involving
Smith is not a senior executive at Microsoft, but he has kick-
people in thinking about trust, the Microsoft team ignited debate
started significant cultural change among his team of 85. He
and heightened consciousness about individual behaviour. At the
didn’t ask for permission. “The feeling is that this will snowball.
same time, the team has not identified a prescriptive list of the
People take a step to improve one thing, and they see that one
characteristics of change. Change and values are rarely black
improvement make a difference or save them time, and they
and white. Indeed, exploring the gray areas are where the real
follow up with a bit more, and it just continues to grow. This is an
fascination – and innovation – lies.
ongoing experiment in the practical application of management
Volunteers rule
innovation techniques. We are learning – humble and receptive to
Change may require leadership, but it is a very different brand
feedback as we go. It is a grassroots, organic movement.”
of leadership to that conventionally used by most corporations.
Robin Moeur, a retired Microsoft director who’s acting as a
At Microsoft, the 42Projects consortium has an opt-in culture.
consultant to the team, provides the context: “It’s important to
According to Smith, “One of our guiding premises is that we’re
remember that rather than this being any sort of manifestation of
learning, we’re experimenting, we’re humble, we’re open to
what would be regarded as a conventional approach to change
feedback – and this is all opt in. We didn’t send a big memo
inside an organisation, which suggests by definition that it’s top-
out that says, ‘OK, everybody start trusting each other.’ So it’s
down, this is from Ross, his peer group and entire team taking
been very important to retain that theme throughout. We have
the initiative. It is not the consequence of the CEO or executive
the rigor of the product development cycle, so it’s very important
leadership team issuing a mandate or direction. Can it scale
that people feel they can choose how frequently or how much or
beyond 85? Can it be cloned? Can other groups be given some
how little they want to contribute because it varies week by week,
guidance and some of our key learning? We believe that it could
person by person.”
be. It’s very organic. It has common denominators in it that people
In fact, participation is high – the majority of the team participates
in some form every month.
are looking for almost regardless of their level in the company,
their time at the company or the kind of work that they’re doing.
People do want to know that trust exists. They do want to know
A cultural revolution is as much in the minds
as the actions of employees
that they can achieve great things and that they’re going to be
The changes discussed are not founded on actions, but rather
Ross Smith believes that the experiment is a continuing work in
they are based on encouraging people to think – and to think
progress. “We’re still experimenting. We’re still learning. Every
differently. People are constantly thinking about how to do things
day we’re learning what works and what doesn’t. Our focus is on
better or about the deficiencies in the way things are done now.
making the employee experience on our team the greatest we
This promotes active thinking about how to improve and create
can make it, and from that comes innovation, productivity and
forums for people to voice their thoughts. No idea comes fully
employee satisfaction. Management becomes easier because
baked, so an atmosphere that supports gestation is critical to
people are motivated. It works at every level. We’ve got great,
getting the ideas out of people’s heads and implemented.
talented people. Now we just get out of the way and build the
supported in doing so.”
environment in which they can deliver on their potential.”
Inventing tomorrow’s best practices today
8 | Labnotes
Bankers’ bulimia
Gary Hamel uncovers the all-too human
frailties behind the global financial
meltdown of 2008.
The implosion of America’s investment
banking industry is the final act in a morality
play that has put every human vice on lurid
display. We now know that America had
a financial system of the bankers, by the
bankers, and for the bankers: consumers,
shareholders and regulators be damned.
The whole tawdry episode has besmirched
capitalism’s good name.
Somehow, the leaders of Bear Stearns,
Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae, Freddie
Mac and AIG, along with their kowtowing
subordinates, managed to precipitate the
worst financial crisis in 80 years. Still worse,
they stuffed hundreds of millions of dollars
Complexity. The new financial instruments
encouraged many borrowers to take on
cooked up by the banks were mind-
loans they could never pay off. The lesson
America’s economy.
bendingly which made it hard to value
for bankers: any financial instrument that
So here we are with a financial system
those securities, and difficult for the ratings
is built atop lies and misrepresentations will
agencies to decipher the real risks.
be flimsy at is core.
Leverage. The biggest buyers of mortgage-
Hubris. The Wall Street rocket scientists
backed securities, investment banks and
who where charged with packaging
hedge funds, borrowed heavily to bulk up
subprime offal into marketable securities
their portfolios. Many seem to have forgot
dramatically over-estimated their ability
that leverage is always a double-edged
to parse and partition risk. Of their own
body blow to America’s already battered
sword, and sooner or later cuts both ways.
genius, they couldn’t distinguish between
international prestige.
Illiquidity. Because of their complexity and
How the hell did this happen?
novelty, there was no real secondary market
Thus far, commentators have focused
go south, it was hard for cash-strapped
into their pockets while they were busy
dynamiting the financial undergirding of
in cardiac arrest; a huge swathe of the
banking system that has been effectively
nationalised, taxpayers on the hook for a
trillion dollar-plus bail-out, a record number
of bank failures, the specter of new and
draconian financial regulations, and another
mostly on the technical factors that
triggered the disaster. These include:
Easy money. Dirt-cheap money
encouraged US consumers to gorge on
debt, dramatically increasing the risk of
widespread mortgage defaults.
Securitisation. By bundling mortgages into
“collateralised debt obligations” and selling
those CDOs to third parties, banks were
able to move dodgy loans off their books.
The result: a serious decline in lending
standards as banks competed their way to
the bottom, providing mortgage financing to
just about anyone with a pulse.
for many CDOs, so when things started to
institutions to reduce their exposures.
While all these factors helped to precipitate
the subprime crisis, there were darker
forces at work as well – dangerous human
foibles that fuelled the runaway train of risky
lending and financial conjuring.
sophistication and sophistry. Now, to their
sorrow, they have learned that distributing
risk is not the same thing as eliminating it,
particularly when that risk is compounded
by nose-bleed leverage.
Myopia. In creating and pricing all those
brave, new “structured products,” Wall
Street’s whiz kids relied on complicated
financial models to estimate potential risks.
Yet because the models were based on
recent trend data, covering a timeframe
More specifically, the crisis was the
when asset values were ratcheting ever
inevitable product of…
higher, they failed to anticipate the
Deceit. It seems that a good many
possibility of a major slump in asset prices.
mortgage bankers conspired with firsttime borrowers in overstating incomes and
understating debts. In addition, deceptive
sales tactics and a lack of disclosure
Another lesson: just because you can’t
remember the last hundred-year storm
doesn’t mean another one isn’t headed
your way.
Labnotes | 9
Greed. The lure of multi-million dollar
decade or so, short-sighted bankers scarf
bonuses turned sober suited bankers
down a heaping plateful of suspect debt – be
into frenzied speculators who happily
it developing country loans, Russian bonds,
undermined abandoned common sense in
or mortgage-backed securities – and then
the pursuit of Midas-size annual pay-outs.
later regurgitate those assets when economic
As in so many bubbles past, greed once
fundamentals reassert themselves. This
again proved to be a tireless cheerleader
time, the bankers have thrown up all over the
of human folly.
American economy.
Denial. By early 2002 or so, it should
We can hope, though, that the current crisis
have been obvious that the post-2000 run
will bring leaders to the fore who have the
up in house prices was anomalous and
virtues we have always sought in those who
unsustainable – obvious to anyone, that is,
manage our nation’s financial institutions:
who wasn’t in a state of avarice-induced
honesty, humility, prudence, foresight, and
denial. (See the chart below.) As is so often
a keen sense of stewardship. It is these
the case with denial, the real problem wasn’t
qualities, more than any amount of regulation
that the future was unpredictable, but that
or recapitalisation that will rebuild the
it was unpalatable. Unwilling to face facts,
foundations of America’s financial system.
Alchemy doesn’t work. What was true for
In the meantime, though it may be wise
Isaac Newton all those centuries ago, is true
to add a stipulation to whatever bailout
today, you can’t turn dross (crappy loans, in
plan Washington’s wrangling bureaucrats
this case) into gold (triple A-rated securities),
manage to concoct. Specifically, all the
no matter how clever you are.
Bankers seem particularly susceptible to
bankers who receive public money must
these human weaknesses, and the result has
agree to have the following eternal truths
been regular bouts of binge-and-purge. Every
tattooed on their foreheads:
Things that can’t go on forever
usually don’t. If an extrapolated trend
everyone financially vested in the housing
boom chose to ignore the inevitable – proving
once again that you can’t have a bubble
without a thousand do-it-yourself lobotomies.
produces ludicrous results (like million-dollar
starter homes), it will soon reverse itself – so
S&P/Case-Shiller Index of US House Prices (January 2000 prices are indexed to 100)
don’t keep betting it won’t.
Risks are returns are (always) correlated.
Maybe there’s someone out there who can
produce a positive alpha year after year, but
it probably isn’t you, or anyone you know.
Stupidity is contagious. Reflect for a
moment on the mad obsession you and
your colleagues had with leverage and
complexity, and then face up to the fact
that you’re as vulnerable to silly fads as
Japanese schoolgirls.
This may not cure bankers’ bulimia,
but it’s a start.
Gary Hamel is the author of The Future of
Management and co-founder of MLab. This
article first appeared in the
Wall Street Journal.
Inventing tomorrow’s best practices today
10 | Labnotes
Gore inspiring
W.L.Gore and Associates defies managerial convention and is spectacularly successful.
At MLab’s Half Moon Bay conference earlier this year, its CEO, Terri Kelly, talked
exclusively to Simon Caulkin for LabNotes.
To most managers, the only place
management convention. When Gore took
an organisation with no bosses, no
shape in Bill and Vieve Gore’s basement
hierarchy and no predetermined lines of
in 1958, it was on the explicit premise that
communication could be successful is
most big-company management hindered
in your dreams. Where’s the discipline?
rather than helped the real work (think of
How does anything get done? Who’s in
Peter sighing, ‘So much of management
charge? Yet despite disobeying some of
consists of making it difficult for people
management’s fundamental laws of gravity,
to work’). Greatly influenced by Douglas
W.L. Gore and Associates is anything but
McGregor’s The Human Side of Enterprise,
flaky – a global $2.4bn manufacturing firm
the Gores wanted to build a company
that’s a world leader in markets ranging
based on commitment and trust that would
from weatherproof fabrics to medical
energise engineers and scientists to do
implants, bicycle cables and guitar strings.
what they like doing best – innovating to fill
You might expect it to be a good place to
real human needs with products that work.
work (an ever-present on the Fortune list),
but perhaps not that it would never have
recorded a loss in its 50-year history.
The proof of the pudding is the health of
the company today, that just keeps on
innovating. While there was much talk at
For current Gore CEO Terri Kelly (one of
Half Moon Bay about blowing up the CEO’s
the few who does have a title), of course,
office (and some CEOs with it), if Kelly is
the success is not despite but because
definitely not in the firing line it is because
of the company’s refusal to kowtow to
there’s not much of the usual stuff to blow
up. For one thing, Gore really does practice
distributed leadership. No one is appointed
a ‘leader’ at Gore; leaders emerge when
associates and peers judge them as such.
‘You’re only a leader if people follow you,’ is
her succinct line on it. When the previous
CEO retired, somewhat to her surprise Kelly
emerged as leader-in-chief in a similar
way. For another, there is a strong tradition
of rebellion against anything smacking of
process, standardisation or rulebook. For
both these reasons, she sees her role as
one of stewardship rather than control
– nurturing Gore’s unique culture and spirit
to meet the challenges of success and
scale as well as changing times.
Like Hollender, engineer Kelly (yet
another who is happy not to have had a
formal business education) is clear that
Gore’s private status has been important
Terri Kelly
Gore CEO
in protecting its ability to pursue the
long-term interests of all stakeholders
Labnotes | 11
It may look like chaos, but, says Kelly, it’s
held together by a few simple principles
and beliefs that have proved their
enduring worth.
in defiance of the management and
accounting textbooks. For example, while
as a manufacturer Gore obviously has
to be competitive, it doesn’t pursue low
cost by offshoring, and in fact shows
striking disregard for economies of scale
in general. One of leadership’s most
important responsibilities, says Kelly
quoting Bill Gore, ‘is to figure out how
to divide so that you can multiply, and
that’s counterintuitive’. When units get to
around 200 – 250 people, with very few
exceptions, they are divided up. These
small plants are usually organised in
clusters, with 15 or so sites close enough
together to generate knowledge synergies
individual potential, fierce emphasis on
a unique contribution, not by seniority but
but still small and separate enough to
product integrity, and the cultivation of an
by their impact – which can come in a
preserve the precious identity. Of course,
environment where creativity can flourish,
number of different ways, so that, say an
says Kelly, for an accountant that creates
all underpinned by the fundamental
outstandingly effective engineer could be
a raft of extra; but for the company as a
belief that people can be trusted to do
paid more than many leaders.
whole the cost is more than offset by the
the right thing. Associates commit to
direct ownership, entrepreneurial spirit and
fairness, encourage others, make and
connectedness with both customers and
keep commitments, and consult in cases
products that the clusters foster.
where Gore’s reputation is at stake. Not
Just as distinctive is the internal structure.
Having seen how in most companies formal
hierarchical structures form a rigid screen
over a network of informal relationships
where things actually get done, Bill
Gore resolved to get rid of the screen.
So Gore thinks of itself as a ‘lattice’ of
Despite the lack of formal hierarchy, or
perhaps because of it, Kelly spends a
huge amount of time on leadership issues.
Leadership is critical to preserve and build
surprisingly, outside hires, who are taken
on for broad work areas rather than specific
jobs, are apt to react to these conditions
on the ethos that has inspired Gore’s first
half century – and, as at Google, it has to
scale to cope with an anticipated doubling
with bemusement. Where do they start?
in size in the next few years. ‘A lot of very
They are guided through the crucial first
months by a sponsor (to repeat, not boss)
who helps them first to understand the
talented leaders have this tendency to want
things to be structured and controlled and
available opportunities and team objectives
defined in a nice, neat package, when
and then to commit to projects that
that’s not really the reality,’ says Kelly. We
match up with their skills and aspirations.
have to spot and reward leaders who are
Personal fulfilment and contribution to the
comfortable in this ambiguous, chaotic and
company go together. All associates are
non-controlling environment. It’s tough…
stockholders, and there is a profit share
because they really have to start rethinking
based on whole enterprise performance,
how they get things done. Some just can’t
but individual reward, right up to that of
function without saying, I want you to do
the CEO, depends on ranking by peers.
that, have it on my desk by two… They have
It may look like chaos, but, says Kelly, it’s
Says Kelly: ‘This creates a very different
to have the cultural orientation. If power’s
held together by a few simple principles
dynamic of folks that really understand the
important, if ego’s important, if being the
and beliefs that have proved their
importance of team, understand the values,
centre of decision-making is important, it’s
enduring worth: the maximisation of
that rise to the top because they’re making
not the right company for you.’
interconnected individual nodes rather than
a hierarchy. There are no management
layers, no organisation chart, and no
one has a boss. Instead, associates are
encouraged to communicate directly and
are accountable to peers in self-organising
teams that crystallise around opportunities
and leaders who emerge to drive them.
Inventing tomorrow’s best practices today
12 | Labnotes
Play hard, work hard
Spending time on social networking sites may be something companies eventually encourage.
Julian Birkinshaw examines innovations in the way we socialise…and work.
Do you use Facebook at work? Chances
hard” has been the mantra of Silicon Valley
So why does the pie grow? Here are three
are, you’re not allowed to. According to
start ups for years; Douglas MacGregor
plausible arguments.
some studies, as many as two-thirds of UK
wrote about this phenomenon in the
companies have banned employees from
1950s; and William Lever and George
on-line social networking during the working
Cadbury understood it more than a century
day. It is seen as a time-wasting activity, a
ago. But it takes on new meaning in today’s
breeder of gossip, and a security concern.
workplace. Not only are the media for
This type of knee-jerk reaction is
understandable, because it happens
every time new technology enters the
workplace. But it is also dead wrong.
Consider the findings of another study
of 1000 employees*. More than half the
respondents said they were less likely to
leave a company that encouraged them
social interaction changing, we also have
a new generation of employees – the socalled Generation Y or Millenials – with new
demands and expectations about what they
can expect from a job.
Pies for Ys
Think about what we really mean by work
First, by condoning play at work, you are
changing the psychological contract with
your employees. The message is: I trust you
to do the right thing, and I will evaluate you
on your outputs, not on your inputs. Your
employees will appreciate the space you
give them, and will likely repay your trust
with more creative and more thoughtful
outputs. This is the essence of Douglas
McGregor’s Theory Y: a management style
build on the assumption that people want
to do a good job at work.
hard, play hard. If your employees take a
Second, the more your employees engage
“social networking” slice out of their work
in social networking at work, the more the
day, does that mean the “value added
boundary between work and home blurs.
work” slice becomes smaller? Or does
Some people like to keep the two worlds
it help to grow the size of the pie? The
separate, and usually the more creative or
research quoted earlier suggests that the
playful part of their personality is hidden
In other words, there is an important
pie grows. If people are allowed to do social
at work, only coming out at night or at the
correlation between commitment to a job
things at work, they are likely to engage
weekend. Other people, often working in
and social interaction. Now, this is not a
more fully, and for longer, than those who
start-ups or for themselves, are happy to
stunning new insight – “work hard, play
are not.
interweave their home and work lives. They
to socialise. And those respondents who
declared a high commitment to their
employers were significantly more likely to
spend time on social activities than those
who were scouting around for another job.
bring their whole selves to work, and they
put in the effort that is needed to get the
job done. Ultimately it’s a similar outcome
to the first point, but the mechanism is
different – in the first case, behaviour
is shaped by the personal relationship
between the manager and the employee,
in the second case behaviour is shaped
by the physical and social surroundings
in the workplace.
Third, the emergence of a new
technology typically has far-reaching and
unpredictable consequences. No-one
guessed that paging technology, originally
invented to alert doctors to emergencies,
would spawn an entirely new form of social
interaction, text-messaging. The value of
new technologies emerges over time as
users experiment with them and link them
Labnotes | 13
with other technologies. Social networking
may look like a look like an enjoyable waste
of time today, but the chances are it will
lead to new applications and inspire new
and productive ways of working in the nottoo-distant future.
Putting a U in work
I doubt it is possible to disentangle these
three arguments in any practical sense,
but collectively they point to the need for
a more enlightened point of view on social
networking sites – and to some interesting
changes in the nature of workplace
interactions in the years ahead.
One company that has taken the potential
of social networking very seriously is You at
Work, a 70-person start-up based in Canary
Wharf, London, that sells flexible benefits
services to large client companies like
Nestlé, GSK, and Xerox. You at
Work’s business is all about encouraging
staff in client firms to make conscious
choices about the benefits they receive –
be it childcare vouchers, dental cover,
or vocational training schemes. And
“Engagement is not something that
control. But the prejudices and suspicions
employers do to employees; rather, what
about gossiping and time-wasting are still
employers can do is create an environment
there. How can they persuade clients
within which employees can freely engage
to change their attitudes towards social
with each other. The employer can then
networking and get full value out of the
benefit because the employees are doing
Meet at Work product?
it within Nestlé or Coca-Cola. At the end of
the day they say ‘It’s a great place to work
because this is where my colleagues and
social associates are’.”
Bruce Rayner’s approach is pragmatic.
“We have concluded that the sports/social
application is the easiest point of entry –
it is not threatening, and it is an obvious
because the system is entirely on-line, the
This vision has led Bruce and his team to
need in most companies.” You at Work has
company has a real interest in figuring out
develop a new offering, Meet at Work™,
already adopted this application internally,
how to make computer-based systems more
which incorporates their employee benefits
and now it is being offered to client
interactive and more valuable in
platform as well as Web 2.0 facilities that
companies. For example, a major high
the workplace.
enable member interaction and participation.
street bank is interested in using it to
The software allows users to form online
run five social societies.
social groups, and to interact through instant
But for Bruce this is just the start. Once
messaging and discussion forums. They can
companies get their heads around
form professional networks to enable best
encouraging employees to use Meet at
practice sharing and personal development.
Work, the sky is the limit in terms of the
And there are features that allow members
applications that can be developed: “We
to review products and services and to trade
think that once employers realise the
with one another.
benefits of encouraging online communities
In the words of CEO, Bruce Rayner, “We
realise individuals are spending enormous
amounts of their discretionary time forming
social and professional networks online
using Web 2.0 technologies such as
Facebook and You-tube. And we thought,
perhaps there is a way to harness some
of that energy to increase employee
they will be less fearful of trying out more
engagement? We believe employees are
So here’s the rub. Meet at Work potentially
looking for ways to create an identity, and
solves one of the problems companies
a sense of belonging in the new work
globally are grappling with. It provides Web
Julian Birkinshaw (jbirkinshaw@london.edu)
environment that they find themselves in.
2.0 capabilities through a system they can
is co-founder of MLab.
adventurous applications.”
Inventing tomorrow’s best practices today
14 | Labnotes
No half measures
Whole Foods Market combines profits with principles.
CEO, John Mackey, speaking at MLab’s Future of
Management conference, explains how and why.
“Possibly the most important message
primary mission”. Business, he reasons, is
health, supporting sustainable farming
I want to deliver is the importance for
a voluntary activity in which stakeholders
and improving animal welfare. Among
business to discover its deeper purpose.”
co-operate to create value. No stakeholder
stakeholders, says Mackey, “It’s simple. We
So began John Mackey, CEO of Whole
can be coerced to give of their best against
put customers first because no customers,
Foods Market (WFM), in his presentation to
their will – and that includes shareholders
no business.” Having said that, team
MLab’s Half Moon Bay conference earlier
who legally control the business. So “the
members have to be empowered because
this year. WFM is a retailing phenomenon
best way to maximise long-term shareholder
unless they are motivated and in charge,
– but at the other end of the spectrum from
value is by managing the interdependent
they won’t make customers happy either.
a Wal-Mart, a purveyor of organic, natural
system [so] that all the stakeholders are
As with all highly successful firms, it’s the
food that is animated not by devotion to
linked together… This is the best strategy
people who make the difference, and the
to create the most value for customers, the
company’s people practices are distinctive
most value for your team members and
to match.
shareholder value but (Mackey is not afraid
to say it) by the good, the true, the beautiful
and the heroic. And although like everyone
else it is suffering in the downturn, over the
last few years the $7.9 billion firm has been
the fastest growing, most profitable food
retailer in America by percentage of sales.
the most value for the communities, but it
is definitely the best strategy to maximise
shareholder value as well”.
Legacy light
Mackey neither went to business school
For Mackey, there is absolutely no
nor graduated from university. As he told
contradiction between shareholder value
the conference, this meant that when he
and a purpose that explicitly includes and
set up WFM with his girlfriend in Austin,
transcends it – making the world a better
Texas, in 1978 he had no idea how he
place. He argues that like happiness,
was supposed to do it. “I had no legacy
profits are best not pursued directly but
to overcome,” he says. “It also meant we
are a by-product of other things – higher
had to reinvent the wheel.” Sometimes,
purpose, service to customers, developing
employees and improving the wellbeing
of the community. High profits have to be
part of the mission because that’s what
enables the business to fulfill the higher
purpose, “but I don’t think it can be the
as in this case, not knowing the rules
results in a better wheel. While WFM’s
purpose and values have evolved over
time as times change and new generations
of employees bring their own distinctive
passions and preoccupations, the central
principles remain constant – the “holistic
interdependence” of all stakeholders (the
corporation as a system), and managing
according to a set of core values.
“We really do treat people as ends in
themselves, not means to an end,” says
Mackey. “We pioneered self-managing
teams 25 years ago, and it’s not just
words… they really are empowered to do
their own hiring” – including leaders. This
is important – there is a conscious rejection
of command-and-control management,
and a philosophy that open information
generates trust and shared purpose.
Salary information is open to all. There is
a salary cap, which has gone up over time
in an attempt to stop the poaching of top
executives by others – but the highestpaid executive at WFM takes home just 19
times the pay of the average team member
compared to a multiple of more than 400 at
the largest US firms.
Sharing gains
“Most organisations are too concerned with
external equity – what their CEO is paid
relative to other CEOs. That’s the scam…
Those core values embrace highest
We’re more concerned about the internal
product quality, customer delight, team
equity within the organisation than we are
member happiness and excellence,
creating wealth through profits
with the external.” In practice this translates
into a gainsharing philosophy and stock
and growth, care for community
options for everyone. Mackey is proud that
and environment and win-win
93 per cent of all WFM options issued have
partnerships with suppliers.
Product quality is an essential
element in improving
gone to non-executives. WFM has been
among the top 100 US businesses to work
for 11 years in a row.
Labnotes | 15
Out and about
with MLab
Originally, WFM values said nothing about
suppliers – now, however, a commitment
Future MLab events
to their success is an explicit part of the
philosophy. “Suppliers and vendors are
partners, and they need to flourish. Our
business today would not be successful without
our suppliers being successful along with us,
so Whole Foods has a different philosophy than
say Wal-Mart.” This commitment has taken
on a new dimension with the “Whole Trade
Guarantee”, a commitment on price, quality,
sustainability and fair labour practices with a
goal to sell 50 per cent of products sourced in
the developing world. WFM donates 1 per cent
of sales from Whole Trade Products to its World
Planet Foundation, which establishes microcredit programmes in countries where it trades
and embodies a care for community that goes
beyond CSR.
Engaged Innovation:
Strategies for Enhancing
Employee Participation in
the Innovation Process
Innovation in the Workplace:
How Web 2.0 and
Generation Y are changing
the way management work
is done
Workshop and Symposium,
December 9th 2008 – MLab at
London Business School
How do you create an open and
Conference, January 28th 2009,
2.30pm-6pm – MLab at London
Business School
responsive environment for idea
Generation Y employees are demanding
development? How do you build an
new ways of working. At the same time,
innovation team to select and develop
Web 2.0 is enabling the development
promising ideas? What is the role of
of new tools and applications that are
electronic and on-line tools in enhancing
making such change possible. What
the quality and quantity of ideas? What
impact will Web 2.0 and Generation Y
are the limitations and risks in using such
have on innovation in the workplace?
“What Whole Foods does when we talk about
tools? How do you retain the engagement
conscious capitalism is not the same thing as
of employees in your innovation process?
CSR,” says Mackey. “I see CSR as basically
This half-day conference will explore the
emerging innovation agenda. Speakers
These fundamental – and practical
will include CEOs and senior executives
– questions will form the agenda for a
from companies with highly innovative
one-day workshop and seminar at London
management models, and from thought
Business School.
leaders who are exploring the potential
and have responsibility to those communities,
The day will be held in two parts. The
of these trends for a radically different
not infinite responsibility but some, and that,
first, by invitation only, will be restricted to
by being public about it, you will inspire
a maximum of 20 experienced innovation
your customers, your team members,
managers. This will be followed by an
your investors.”
open symposium with speakers.
The effect of the Whole Planet Foundation has
Both events will be hosted by Professor
been “revolutionary” at WFM, “one of the most
Julian Birkinshaw of MLab and London
important things we’ve done for morale ever
Business School.
grafting on to an old business paradigm, this
idea that you ought to give something back.
A more revolutionary way to think about it is to
see the community as one of your stakeholders
in our history”, says Mackey. He warns more
workplace of the future.
If you would like to know
more about these MLab
events please contact:
Rosie Robertson
(rrobertson@london.edu) or
Julian Birkinshaw
(jbirkinshaw@london.edu)
traditionally-minded managers that the next
generation of employees are “fanatical” about
greenness and sustainability – “way ahead of
the CEO” – and woe betide those companies,
even Fortune 100 members, that can’t tap into
such higher purpose. “Those that can’t,” he
predicts, “are going to fail, ultimately, because
this is a competitive advantage” – perhaps the
competitive advantage – “in the 21st century.”
Find out more about MLab’s
upcoming events.
Visit the website for regular updates at:
www.managementlab.org
Inventing tomorrow’s best practices today
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connection
How to become engaged with MLab
MLab is unique. It brings together some
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As well as action research with participating
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Julian Birkinshaw.
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Hamel’s blog at http://discussionleader.
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hbsp.com/hamel.
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You can join the discussion with Gary on key topics of management
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On-line website as follows:
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http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/
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http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/
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