It’s all about following through on ideas and plans, former Harvard Business School faculty member Ram Charan told attendees of the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) Annual Conference, held in San Diego in mid-May.
In a keynote address to the show’s attendees, Charan offered examples and lessons learned from his career as a business school faculty member and consultant to some of the world’s leading companies, including General Electric Co. and DuPont.
Charan, currently president of his own consulting firm, Charan Associates Inc., Dallas, says observing successful executives up-close has allowed him to find common traits of success that are practiced not only by the executive themselves, but that are “inculcated with everyone in their companies.”
Foremost among these is the discipline to follow through on assignments and promises made during meetings and conversations. At the end of a phone call or meeting, assignments should be clearly spelled out and participants should “make pledges . . . to follow through,” says Charan. He cited Steve Ballmer and Microsoft Corp. as an organization where this habit is strictly put into place.
Doing this properly leads to the second successful habit of assigning accountability and responsibility throughout an organization, Charan added.
Several management disciplines require tough decisions, the consultant noted, including a “laser sharp” focus on a handful of priorities rather than trying to split time between too many priorities. “If I have 20 priorities, I really have no priorities,” Charan stated.
Additionally, matching the right person with the right job can mean making tough personnel decisions. He remarked that there are “A, B and C” employees, and that while “A” employees must be rewarded, one must also “deal with” the “C” employees.
Real management discipline is also required in the arena of managing costs, said Charan, which is why effective corporate leaders must “master the guts of their business” and understand the critical role of cash flow in the business’s fiscal health.
He cited the late Sam Walton of Wal-Mart and Michael Dell of Dell Corp. as the foremost examples of individuals who have understood how ramping up the “velocity” of inventory turnover can allow companies to flourish on narrower margins.
Former Harvard Business School faculty member Charan joked that neither individual was or is “contaminated” by a masters in business administration (MBA) education.
Southwest Airlines was another textbook example cited by Charan, who noted that the NASCAR “pit crew” approach to preparing planes between flights that was installed by long-time former CEO Herb Kelleher has allowed the airline to get one additional flight per day out of each plane—a huge competitive advantage for the company.
The Southwest example would certainly seem to offer an intriguing model to consider for information destruction companies sending mobile shredding and document collection trucks out on the road every day.
Charan, who was born in India but has been a long-time U.S. resident, ended by saying America’s business future remained bright because of the “melting pot” diversity of its population, its large pool of risk capital, the ambition of its people to achieve more, and the opportunity available to all people that will help ensure that “there will be more Sam Waltons.”