Integrity - the grease of commerce (Think SMEAC for strategy) ALTES Facts & Quotes Portal March 24, 2014 / New York City Excerpts from Leading by Putting Your Followers First, interview with Don Knauss, chief executive of the Clorux Company, by Adam Bryant, Corner Office column, The New York Times Sunday Business, March 23, 2014 • Strategy and Smeac - I learned in the Marine Corps that I really liked strategy. Every operation in the military is based on a five-paragraph order, and the acronym is Smeac - situation, mission, execution, administration, and communication. Its a very logical flow. • Stick to fundamentals. Ive seen leaders fail because they do the reverse, by trying to make things into some intellectual exercise. Whatever business youre in, there are fundamentals, just like blocking and tackling in football. It always comes back to the fundamentals, You cannot let yourself get bored with the fundamentals. • Credibility and trust. If youre going to engage the best and brightest and retain them, theyd better think that you care more about them than you care about yourself. Theyre not about making you look good. Youre about making them successful. If you really believe that and act on that, it gains you credibility and trust. You can not run an organization based on fear for a short time. But trust is a much more powerful, long-term and sustainable way to drive an organization. • People try to do a good. The other thing Ive learned is that youve got to assume the best intent if people, and that theyre really trying to do a good job. Ive seen organization that are based more on fear than trust because senior management really thinks people are trying to get one over on them, that theyre just punching a clock. People really are trying to do a good job, and they want to be proud of where they work. Understanding that helped make me a bit more patient. • Intellectual horsepower. I will take passion over pedigree any day of the week. Second, are they smart? Can they think analytically and strategically? If you dont have the intellectual horsepower, its going to be hard for people to follow you. • Formality and informality. Formality slows things down in companies. Informality speed things up. It is much more powerful to use authority than power. • Integrity. The last thing I look for is the values of the person. Do they tell the truth, but do they also stand up for what they think is right in the company? It starts with integrity, which is really the grease of commerce. You get things done much more quickly when people trust you.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 11:34:42 +0000
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