Month: March 2019

Charlie Scharf, Chairman & CEO, BNY Mellon

Post author By David Novak
Post date 03/26/2019

[bctt tweet=”“People need to see that you’re willing to make mistakes, that you’re willing to expose mistakes that you’ve made.””]

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This great resource will help you along the way, during or after you listen to the podcast. Not only will you get to know our guest, you will be asked tough questions to really spearhead your journey to becoming a better leader!

Charles W. Scharf was appointed Chief Executive Officer and a Director of BNY Mellon in July 2017 and became Chairman of the Board of Directors effective January 1, 2018.
Charlie was most recently Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Visa Inc. from October 2012 through December 2016, where he was recognized for transforming the firm into a technology-driven digital commerce company.
Before joining Visa, Charlie was a managing director of One Equity Partners, the private investment arm of JPMorgan Chase & Co. Previously, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Retail Financial Services, one of JP Morgan Chase’s six lines of business, from 2004 to 2011, and as Chief Executive Officer of the retail division of Bank One Corp. from 2002 to 2004.
Charlie also served as CFO of Bank One Corp. from 2000 to 2002, CFO of the Global Corporate and Investment Bank division at Citigroup from 1999 to 2000, and CFO of Salomon Smith Barney and its predecessor company from 1995 to 1999.
Charlie is on the Board of Directors of Microsoft Corporation. He is also a member of the Business Council, on the Board of Trustees for Johns Hopkins University and is Chairman of the New York City Ballet. Charlie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Johns Hopkins University and an MBA degree from New York University.

Shareable Insights

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From Podcast Action Journal

Being good at business is all about stepping back and looking at an issue from different vantage points.
One of the greatest skills you can have as a leader is being able to come into work and think differently about something than how you thought about it yesterday. This means rethinking why decisions were made and whether they are still valid today.
(9:41-12:23)

In your opinion, what does it mean to look at issues from different vantage points?
Are there in current processes in your organization that might need to be thought about from a different vantage point?

When you become a leader, you have different responsibilities. Everyone is looking at you. They want to know how you feel about issues; they’re looking to see whether you’re in a good mood or a bad mood; whether you’re paying attention in the meeting; how you respond to certain questions.
That’s an enormous sense of responsibility that you carry. And it carries not just through the organization, but through the external community, including clients, shareholders, and potential employees. So, you always have to make sure that you’re sending the right message.
(29:41-33:10)

In what other ways do leaders affect an organization?
As a leader, how much importance do you place on sending the right message?

Four Seats You Have To Fill on a Winning Team

Post author By David Novak Leadership
Post date 03/26/2019

How do you build a winning team?

Have you noticed how great leaders always praise the people who helped them succeed? How did these leaders build a winning team, and what makes a team great?

Goals can’t be met when teams are disjointed, or lack the skills needed to get the job done. Simply put, a talented team who works well together wins.

A winning team needs four kinds of people:

Promoter
A promoter has plenty of drive. Their strength lies in growing others’ ideas and contributing to their team. They are passionate and energetic.

Supporter
The supporter is the backbone of the team. They are givers who seek to help their team members. They thrive on recognition and value respect.

Controller
The controller is the “doer” of the team. Controllers are decisive, confident, and focused. They get the job done.

Analytic
Analytics are the problem-solvers. They are goal-oriented, detailed, and logical. Their disciplined and systematic approach ensures great results.

Does your team meet all of these categories? If not, you might need to think about rounding out your team’s skill sets. Why is this important? Say you have a team full of ideas-people but no implementers, how would anything get done? An imbalanced team can’t win.

Once you’ve built a winning team, the next step is to lead them according to their strengths. Are you the kind of leader people want to follow? Find out by taking our FREE online leadership assessment.

Blog Lead Others Lead Yourself

3 Powerful Questions to Drive Results

Post author By David Novak Leadership
Post date 03/19/2019

The best leaders are always building know how. They seek to learn from every situation so they can improve and drive more consistent results. But they may not ask all the right questions to maximize their learning from each situation.
Former PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Andy Pearson taught a powerful follow through technique using these three simple questions:

What? | So What? | Now What?

He brought this technique to Yum! Brands and they used it to evaluate every promotion and new product launch to ensure they captured all of the learnings from each event. Here’s how it works.

What?

The purpose of answering this question is to simply capture what happened. If you launched a new product, it would include a summary of all the facts, figures and results. You also want to include a description of the product, how it was promoted, the key functional learnings from operations, training, and marketing and how it performed from a consumer and financial perspective.
Too often organizations and teams simply report the “what,” then move on to the next activity without really stopping to assess the key learnings and implications of their actions. In 2004, KFC launched an unsuccessful product called Oven Roasted Strips. The project team brought in the typical post promotion analysis that answered all of the “what” questions. But the brand president, Gregg Dedrick, wanted more answers. He wanted to know the “So what?”

So What?

Asking “so what” adds additional insight to the evaluation. It is meant to get to the heart of the issue and clarify why the facts, figures and results matter to you or the organization. It is a way of asking what the consequences or implications of the actions that you took are, not simply whether it was successful or not.
In the Oven Roasted Strips analysis, it was clear that consumers wanted the brand to offer non-fried options, but there were many steps missed in the development process that led to an inferior and poorly executed product. Such performance was costly and unstainable. This discovery naturally led to the next question. “Now what?”

Now What?

Asking “now what” is a call to action. What are you going to do differently as a result of your experience? How are you going to apply what you learned?
Asking “now what” in the Oven Roasted Strips case led to a more robust development and testing process that ensured every new product was optimized before going to market. Adding this process dramatically increased the success rate of future promotions and product launches.
If you want to build your know how and get the most learning out of every activity that you undertake, then challenge yourself and your team with these three powerful questions. What? So What? Now What?
If this leadership insight was helpful to you, invite others to join you by sharing this blog. You can find more great tips and leadership resources at DavidNovakLeadership.com.

Tags drive, improve, now what, resources, results, so what

Podcast

Greg Creed, CEO of Yum! Brands

Post author By David Novak
Post date 03/14/2019

[bctt tweet=”“The skills that you’ve got won’t always make you successful in the next job.””]

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Greg Creed is Chief Executive Officer of Yum! Brands, one of the world’s largest restaurant companies with more than 45,000 restaurants in over 140 countries and territories with 1.5 million associates. Its restaurant brands – KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell – are global leaders of the chicken, pizza and Mexican-style food categories.
Under Creed’s leadership, Yum! Brands successfully completed the separation of Yum! China as an independent and powerful growth company. Creed has more than 40 years of extensive experience in marketing and operations with leading packaged goods and restaurant brands. He is responsible for leading the Company’s overarching strategies, structure, people development and culture that will drive sales and profitability at all of its businesses worldwide.
Creed has held various roles with the Company including President and CEO of Taco Bell and Chief Operating Officer for Yum! Brands. He also spent seven years in leadership positions in the Company’s successful Australia business, including Chief Marketing Officer for KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell Australia. Before joining the Company, Creed spent 17 years at Unilever in various leadership roles in Sydney, London and New York.
Creed is Chairman of the Yum! Brands Foundation and serves on the Board of Directors of the Whirlpool Corporation. He is also a member of The Business Council and the American Society of Corporate Executives (ASCE). He previously served on the Board of IGT (2010-2015) and the UCLA Board of Visitors (2012-2016). He earned a business degree from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia, was named the 2014 QUT Alumnus of the Year and currently serves as President of the QUT Foundation.

Shareable Insights

[bctt tweet=”“We tend to be very courageous when things are going bad and then we tend to play it safe when things are going good… How do we be courageous even when things are going good?””]

From Podcast Action Journal

As a leader, it crucial that you understand your customers, and that your team members deliver a great customer experience.
The customer experience will never exceed the team member experience. If you don’t look after your team members, how can you expect them to deliver a superior customer experience?
(18:59-21:04)

How can you ensure your team members feel supported?
Are there other ingredients necessary to create a great customer experience?

It’s important for leaders to create a culture of inclusiveness. Everyone should feel included regardless of color, race, creed, religion, belief, or sexual orientation. Greg feels it’s his role to create a culture where everyone can be their true selves and where everyone has a voice. Diversity is the way to reach the next level of culture and talent.
(41:29-43:06)

Does your organization have a culture of inclusiveness?
How does diversity add value to an organization or team?

Blog Lead Others Lead Yourself

Two Ways To Maintain a Positive Culture When The Chips Are Down

Post author By David Novak Leadership
Post date 03/12/2019
1 Comment on Two Ways To Maintain a Positive Culture When The Chips Are Down

Imagine the worst has happened. The credibility of your business is on the line. Social media is slamming your organization and you’ve lost goodwill with your customers. Morale is down. People are murmuring negative comments at every team meeting. You’re even wondering if maybe the time has come to call it quits.

Okay, so this example is pretty extreme, but you probably know what it feels like when the chips are down.

When times are hard, maintaining a positive culture can be difficult. How can leaders defy being dragged into negativity?

The answer is simple: you must let your cultural values guide you through the tough times.

People will feel more confident when your values are a main factor in the decision-making, especially when the situation looks bleak. For example, when Yum! was being formed, the executive team hired someone who ended up not being a good fit for their culture. The team had to decide between letting that person go, which would lead to a dive in stocks, or keeping him, and consequently communicating to their staff that culture wasn’t as important as they had claimed.

The executive team at Yum! chose culture, and it turned out to be one of the best decisions they ever made.

Another way you can maintain positive culture is to recognize people who are already doing the things you want to see more of. What are they doing right? Be specific. By recognizing those who bring value to your organization, you encourage others to do the same, and in effect, you promote your goals among the team in a positive way.

Want more great leadership tips? Check out our leadership course, which gives in-depth advice on culture, recognition, and how to become a better leader.