How Higher Ambition CEO Leadership Makes a Difference
Leading with Higher Ambition positioned our member organizations to weather the challenges of the past two years better than their peers. Trust, leadership practice, and a commitment to purpose, people, and performance is built deeply into the systems and culture of these organizations.
Our member community came together on March 31st to talk about the role of Higher Ambition CEO leadership in building organizations that will thrive in this environment.
As Higher Ambition Leadership Alliance Board Chair Doug Conant said kicking off the event, “This is the way successful leaders have led during the crisis. They didn’t change what they do, they doubled down.”
HIGHER AMBITION LEADERSHIP TODAY
During the virtual event, CEOs and executives got an early look at the findings from our recent interviews with more than 50 CEOs on the "how" of Higher Ambition Leadership in today’s context.
“In those interviews, we heard incredible stories of resilience and adaptation,” said Higher Ambition Leadership Alliance CEO, Jeannie Diefenderfer. “Uncertainty and tremendous stresses on our business systems are not going away. So, what are the lessons we can look to for the road ahead?”
3 WAYS HIGHER AMBITION CEOS AND COMPANIES STAND OUT
Here are three common themes that emerged in our study of Higher Ambition CEOs and highlights from stories and comments shared during our community event.
#1 High trust with stakeholders fuels innovation and agility.
Gina Perini, CEO of Somos, Inc., talked about building stakeholder trust in a highly competitive industry.
“At a time when building trust is paramount, it’s fundamental that we understand the challenges that our customers and the industry are facing. We encourage our team to show up with open minds and curiosity so that we can better innovate and deliver more creative, modern solutions.”
“The whole way in which you work — it’s so different when you put trust at the forefront.”
— Gina Perini
#2 Culture is the high stakes value driver… or destroyer.
Alex Gorsky, Chairman, Johnson & Johnson, spoke to the power of a clear, actionable purpose across the organization.
”Just a few years ago, as we approached the 75th anniversary of Our Credo—the statement of our purpose as a company that General Robert Wood Johnson first drafted in 1943—we went out and asked more than 3000 employees, ‘Is this still relevant, or should we change it? How can we make it just as impactful for the next 75 years?’ And we took in a wide array of recommendations, ranging from “start over, let's completely redo the thing” to ‘don't you dare touch it.’
“We did end up making some revisions—and one of the most important to me was adding the specific concept of diversity and inclusion when we're talking about our employees. Unveiling the updates was probably one of my proudest days as CEO because these aren’t just words to us. I still begin and end every meeting with Our Credo because it's the centerpiece of everything that we do.”
“More than anything else, people watch not just what a CEO talks about, they watch what they do.”
—Alex Gorsky
Louis Shapiro, President, and CEO, HSS, shared how purpose and culture translated to outstanding commitment and performance through the pandemic.
“We state our purpose as helping people get back to what they need and love to do better than any place in the world. Very, very clear and straightforward. This purpose is fueled by our seven values. We live by working hard to make sure that our actions speak louder than our words and we build these values into the DNA of our enterprise. We do this in part through our leadership philosophy of leadership by all. Everyone is a leader, regardless of your role.
“Instead of making us weaker, what we've experienced through Covid made us stronger. That's because of us being purpose-driven and the strength of our culture going into Covid.”
“Culture as strategy has really been the wind at our backs during these difficult times.”
—Louis Shapiro
#3 Higher Ambition CEOs show up authentic, open, and vulnerable
Tom Polen, Chairman, CEO, and President, BD, commented on the impact of sharing more personal stories with the team and building in opportunities for listening.
”It's about taking the time to listen and creating the mechanisms that allow people to understand that we want you to speak up, that you need you to speak up. And when you speak up, you're going to be heard and your ideas are going to contribute to advancing the strategy and goals of the company.
“Part of helping to ensure clear strategy and goals that support hyper alignment across the organization is that I write a white paper every year. It reflects on the progress that we've made against our strategy, any changes in the environment, and lays out the next goals we have to achieve. We circulate this paper as a leadership team and people mark it up, edit it, and come back with questions. It gives people time to absorb the information, formulate their own thinking and responses, and then it allows for a robust conversation where everyone has the opportunity to share and ask questions — being intentional.”
"Listening closely to our teams builds trust and helps us get to better outcomes faster. We have built in forums and mechanisms that encourage people to ask questions and get ideas on the table."
—Tom Polen
LOOKING AHEAD
Stanley Bergman, Chairman and CEO, Henry Schein, Inc., spoke to the value of this community in these challenging times.
“Creating shared value as a long-term driver of long-term success is what I’ve been talking about for decades. This Higher Ambition community is more important than ever. Covid-19, the economic crisis, the national discussion on racism, the climate crisis, and now tragically, a humanitarian crisis that none of us would have expected 77 years after World War II is unfolding in front of our eyes.
“In this context, all these daunting global challenges and dealing with all our constituents, we need to give a lot of thought about how we go forward to meet this moment for our teams and all of our stakeholders. A key requirement is trust.”
“The past two years have made it very clear that the business of business is no longer only business.”
—Stanley Bergman
Want to continue the conversation and engage with other Higher Ambition leaders? Our community will gather in person for the Higher Ambition CEO Summit September 29-30, 2022, at the Louis V. Gerstner Jr. Center for Learning in Armonk, NY. Learn more here