|
Editor in Chief:
Joan Caruso
Writer:
Catherine Carlozzi
Designer:
Camille Regis
If you have questions or
comments on this
month's issue, send your
feedback to: joan.caruso@ayers.com
|  |
|
|
Ayers Leadership Series
Maintaining Company Values During Stressful Times
Nearly 200 senior executives and other invited guests gathered at Manhattan’s Union League Club on September 9 to hear William Weldon talk about how, during times like these, Johnson & Johnson maintains the values that keep it on the top ten lists of the world’s most respected companies. This was a return appearance for the Johnson & Johnson Chairman and CEO, who spoke at Ayers’ inaugural leadership breakfast seminar in June 2004.
Weldon, who has spent his entire career at Johnson & Johnson, became chairman in 2002 – only the sixth in 123 years. He worked his way up through the ranks, as did all his predecessors, exemplifying the company’s commitment to leadership development. His presentation centered on Johnson & Johnson’s:
Credo: responsibility to the company’s 1) customers, 2) employees, 3) communities, and 4) shareholders. Developed 65 years ago by then chairman Robert Wood Johnson just before the company went public, the Credo is the company’s foundation and the basis for its exceptionally consistent performance: 76 consecutive years of sales increases, 25 of adjusted earnings increases, and 47 of dividend increases.
Statement of Caring: “Caring for the world, one person at a time…inspires and unites the people of Johnson & Johnson….”
Commitment to leadership development: “We expect leaders to grow their business and, at the same time, to make us proud of the ways they grow.”
The Ayers Report asked Ayers professionals from different areas of the firm’s practice to share their thoughts about the seminar’s top takeaways.
“It makes sense that if you take good care of customers, employees, and the communities where you live and work, profits will follow and shareholders will get a fair return on their investment. Weldon repeatedly placed the emphasis on ‘fair’ return. I was also impressed by the emphasis on investing in and developing people. He said that success is driven by great people. Great products can’t sell themselves. I also took away the powerful, tangible value an organization’s integrity can have when dealing with stakeholders: customers, governments, business partners.” – Alan Silberberg, Senior Career Transition Consultant
“With regard to succession planning and leadership development, he talked about the importance of developing transferable skills and experience. The value of a decentralized organization with some 250 operating companies is that people can be moved around globally to gain breadth and depth of experience. They can put leaders in smaller companies and give them room to grow, develop, and make and learn from mistakes without doing any real harm. He said making mistakes is good because it means you’re outside your comfort zone. If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not taking enough risks.”
– Damon Montal, Executive Career Transition Consultant
“The three most important lessons Weldon learned as a leader are: 1) When you begin managing others, your success becomes tied to theirs. Their actions have more impact on your success than your own do. 2) Working outside of the U.S. teaches you that Americans don’t know everything, although we grow up thinking we do. 3) It is crucial to stick to your corporate values. They provide guidance that doesn’t necessarily make decisions easier but ensures you have the greater good of the organization in mind while you’re making them. How the company responded to the Tylenol crisis is a case in point. Among the things he’s proudest of are the company’s caring for people and its development of extraordinary leaders, many of whom go on to serve as CEOs of other companies.”
– Joan Caruso, Managing Director, OEC
“The true character of leadership is not only winning in the marketplace, but winning in the right way. Johnson & Johnson is pulling out of countries and regions where government is corrupt even though it loses money by doing so. Weldon noted that part of leadership is looking at what’s on everyone’s plate with the idea that there’s no point in doing well what you shouldn’t be doing at all. Especially in times like these, when everyone is trying to do more with less.”
– Sally Haver, Senior Business Development Executive
“Johnson & Johnson judges its leaders based on how well they follow the Credo, down to how they educate new employees about it.” – Joe Bruccoleri, Director
[PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION]
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS CONSULTING
|
|
|
|
