The Moving Cheese

Last Thursday 24th Feb, once again we hosted the CEO Forum in Noida at Hotel Park Plaza. By 5.15 in the evening, the participants started filling in as we geared up for an exciting evening ahead. Mr Saugat Sen, from Cadence who also leads the Education initiative in Noida, delivered the welcome address. He spoke briefly on the various SIGs, that of NRC Noida and the progress made in the last couple of years, since inception. The body was well on its way in creating “islands of sanity,” Mr Sen remarked. Incidentally, this was Curtis Bateman’ s (the speaker) tenth visit to India, so it was really familiar territory for him. Mr Sen then introduced the speaker – the CEO of Spencer Johnson Foundation.

Curtis Bateman has the looks of a film star and a pleasant personality to match. “Good evening, and how are you tonight?” as he thundered in and suddenly the atmosphere became charged as CEOs shed their expected weariness after a long day and perked up to listen to him. Curtis, then went on to introduce the topic – the importance of change and how it can necessarily be a competitive advantage. He also spoke briefly about Spencer Johnson’s other bestseller – The One-minute Manager. “Who moved my cheese,” was a bestselling brand, having sold 27 million copies worldwide, and published in 42 languages. It even sold in countries where they don’t consume cheese, like Japan, he remarked jokingly much to the loud guffaws of the participants. Even today, it sold 20-30000 copies a month and the Spencer Johnson Foundation has worked with the likes of Microsoft, VMWare and large government entities.

Is all about speed. To get the community buy-in, an initiative, which is expected to yield results and lead to greater alignment. Where do we really experience change? New technology that has come in, or a changing business model. If done well, change can lead to greater success. It has been observed that 75% of change initiatives result in failures and more often than not, only partially succeed. Recent studies conducted, indicate, that amongst the CEOs that were fired, a staggering 28% were because of mismanaged change. The gap between expected change and the ability to manage it, has quite simply trebled over the last four years, Curtis said. More likely, technology is at the forefront of change.

• Reduce cost
• Move from good performance to great performance
• Mergers
• Turn around crisis situation

They become disengaged when they go through a change and are not sure about it. Gallup studies indicate that 400 Bn US$ is lost due to productivity.

At entry level, it is 50% of annual salary. Mid-level is 150% followed by 400% at the highest level.

It is based on study that evaluate companies based on their ability to change: Readiness, Innovation, Influence, speed and results.

Negative: Anxiety, Confusion, frustration, fatigue and resistance. The positives are: Sense of focus, enthusiasm, hope and confidence.

• 34 % of change can be classified as very large; 26% is large and only 5% is small. The change that we experience is really quite big!
• 68% of respondents are unsure of their role in a changing environment
• 56% cited lack of stability
• 73% were willing to give in their best
• 60% feel that change will not necessarily make things better
• 50% responded, that they understand why the change was necessitated
• 70% feel that they don’t really need to do anything about it

Communication during such times, is a major differentiator, Mr Naresh Gupta from Adobe added to the discussion.

The story resonates with the IT industry, which is largely about Change Management. IT companies constantly strive to be more agile and provide better services.

5 elements of leading change: Vision, communication, alignment, engagement and accountability. Few people in the organisation really and truly understand why things are changing. Mostly, only information is communicated. That is not effective communication, for which a two-way communication needs to be opened. If your front-line employees get disconnected, it results in dragging down the entire organisation.

• Programs
• Plans
• Procedures
• Practises
• Processes and,
• Projects

• It’s not about change, it’s about what change brings
• Simple is better without being simplistic
• Encountering change does not make you unique, it is your response to change which does
• The market, company, your business will encounter change
• You always have a choice – the Hem & Haw story
• Communication has to be initiated
• Change is not an event – takes time and commitment. If you are a leader – don’t stop

• Take new actions
• Recognise abstracts and
• Have a sensible vision of success

• They are all flexible to change and develop a competitive advantage

We thanked Curtis Bateman for his wonderful presentation as the evening opened for some networking. It was time well spent, we all agreed.