- Mastering the Art of Persuasion | IdeaCast | Podcast
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- How to Disagree with Someone More Powerful: The Harvard Business Review Guide
Mastering the Art of Persuasion | IdeaCast | Podcast
[MUSIC PLAYING],,ALLISON BEARD: Welcome to the HBR Ideacast,from Harvard Business Review.,Im Alison Beard.,[MUSIC PLAYING],,How do you get someone to back your ideas, buy your products,,or behave in a different way, whether its a boss or a peer,,customer or client, supplier or investor,,or maybe people failing to wear masks during a pandemic?,How do you get them to see things your way, especially,if they initially disagree with you, discount,you, or even worse, dont even know youre there?,Even with irrefutable data and emotional appeals,,it can be really hard to change another persons mind.,Most of us get extremely stuck in our opinions, preferences,,and habits.,Todays guest argues that its possible to push even,the most resistant people in new directions.,He says that persuasion starts with recognizing the reasons,why affecting change is so very difficult,and then developing strategies to overcome those obstacles.,JONAH BERGER: Jonah Berger is a marketing professor,at the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School,and author of The Catalyst, How to Change Anyones Mind.,And a quick note to listeners, we spoke to Jonah,a while back before the pandemic and its fallout,,but we checked in with him for an update,on how these ideas apply now.,And youll hear that conversation,at the end of the show.,[MUSIC PLAYING],,ALLISON BEARD: We know that persuasion,is so important in business, politics, all areas of life,really.,Some people seem a lot better at it than others.,So whats the number one mistake that most people,make in this area?,JONAH BERGER: Everyone has something they want to change.,Employees want to change their bosses mind,,and leaders want to transform organizations.,Marketers want to change the customer or clients mind.,Sales folks want to do the same.,Startups want to change industries.,Nonprofits want to change the world.,But change is really hard.,Often we push and we push and we push and nothing happens.,We think about changing minds, and we,think about changing behavior.,We think about changing organizations.,Often, we take a certain style of approach.,We think if we just add more information, more reasons, more,facts, more figures, just send people one more PowerPoint,deck, theyll come around.,And that intuition makes a lot of sense in the physical world.,If were sitting in front of a chair, for example,,and we want to move that chair, a good way to move that chair,is pushing, right?,We push a little bit on the chair,and it goes in the direction we want it to go.,But in the social world, that doesnt necessarily,work because, when we push people,,they often push back, asking a subtly but importantly,different question, why hasnt that person changed already?,What are the barriers or obstacles,that are getting in the way of change?,And how can we mitigate them?,ALLISON BEARD: So why do people have this instinct,to push back even when the thing being suggested,might be good for them?,JONAH BERGER: We all love to feel like were in control.,We love to feel like were shaping,and were driving our own lives.,Were making the choice.,But unfortunately, when other people,try to shape our opinions, we dont,feel like we have control.,Think about a few years back to the Tide Pod challenge.,So if you remember a number of years ago,,Tide Pod was having this issue.,Proctor & Gamble was having this issue,where Tide Pods, the things that we all throw in the laundry,to make laundry easier, people were eating them.,And so you think about detergent,,why would anyone eat detergent?,But there was a funny article on The Onion saying,they looked good enough to eat.,And soon, young people were challenging each other,to eat Tide Pods.,And so there was all this chatter online about, oh,,should we eat Tide Pods?,Should we not?,People shooting videos of themselves doing it.,Lots of people getting attention.,ALLISON BEARD: Should we eat poison or not?,JONAH BERGER: Yeah.,[LAUGHTER],For this ridiculous, ridiculous thing.,And so imagine youre sitting in Procter & Gambles shoes,at the moment, right?,Youre probably sitting there going,,why do we need to tell people not to eat chemicals?,But youre probably saying, just in case,,well put out an announcement.,So Procter & Gamble does.,They put out a very simple announcement saying,,dont eat Tide Pods.,And in case that wasnt enough, they,hired Rob Gronkowski, a famous football player,we think of as Gronk, to help.,So he shoots this quick video for Tide online saying,are Tide Pods ever safe to eat?,No, no, no, no, no, no, no flashes on the screen.,Now clearly, this should have been enough.,It shouldnt have been a problem to begin with, right?,People eating chemicals.,But interestingly, if you look at the data,,something funny happened.,So if you look at search data for Tide Pods,,its creeping up as the Tide Pod challenge gets some attention.,And then Procter & Gamble and Gronk make their announcement.,And thats when all hell breaks loose.,So you would think, or you would hope,that that would lead people to stop eating Tide Pods.,If anything, it should have no effect on Tide Pods,,but the exact opposite happens.,Search traffic shoots up by more than four-fold.,Visits to poison control shoot up as well.,And essentially, asking people not to do something,had backfired.,ALLISON BEARD: And so how do you get people to overcome,this instinct to push back and say, no, I dont,want to be told what to do?,JONAH BERGER: Yeah, the funniest and almost worst,thing about reactants is it isnt just,when we tell people not to do something.,The same thing happens when we tell people to do something,,even if it was something they may have wanted to do already.,You think about a meeting where youre asking people,to support a certain initiative, they,may have already even thought about supporting,that initiative.,But if you ask them to support it,,it impinges on that freedom and autonomy, right?,They feel like now the reason theyre,supporting it isnt because they wanted to.,It was because you told them to, which,makes them have this knee-jerk reaction, well,,maybe I shouldnt go along.,And so one way to solve this problem is to do something,I call providing a menu, right?,So imagine just in your own personal life,,for example, someone asks, what are you,going to do this weekend?,Or what do you want to do this weekend?,You say, oh, lets go see a movie.,And then they go, oh, its going to be too rainy outside.,Or oh, why dont we do something else instead, right?,They shoot it down.,But if instead you give them two options, multiple options,,it suddenly changes their role because now, rather,than sitting there thinking about all,the reasons wrong with what you suggested,,now theyre thinking about which of the two options,you suggested is a better fit for them.,Consultants do this all the time, right?,Consultants say, hey look, if I pitch one thing to the client,,the client will think about all the reasons,why they cant do it.,If I pitch two, maybe even three solutions to the client,,now theyre strategizing, OK, well, which one of these,do I like better.,And because theyre focusing on which one they like better,,theyre more likely to pick one at the end of that meeting.,ALLISON BEARD: So what are some of the other big hurdles,that we face when were trying to get someone,to change, whether its an opinion or the products,and services were using?,JONAH BERGER: So there are five common barriers,I found across situations.,We talked about reactants.,The next is endowment, which is we tend to be attached,to things were doing already.,Then theres distance.,Too far, if we ask for something thats too big an ask,,people ignore it.,And corroborating evidence, which is,all about providing more proof.,I think another big issue is uncertainty.,Any time theres a change, any time theres something new,,any time were asking people to do something different,,theres a risk associated with doing something different.,Old things feel safe.,Even if theyre not perfect, have,problemsA Plan Is Not a Strategy
ROGER MARTIN: This thing called planning has been around,for a long, long time.,People would plan out the activities,theyre going to engage in.,More recently, has been a discipline called strategy.,People have put those two things together to call,something strategic planning.,Unfortunately, those things are not the same, strategy,and planning.,So just putting them together and calling it,strategic planning doesnt help.,What most strategic planning is in the world of business,has nothing to do with strategy.,Its got the word, but its not.,Its a set of activities that the company,says its going to do.,Were going to improve customer experience.,Were going to open this new plant.,Were going to start a new talent development program.,A whole list of them, and they all sound good,,but the results of all of those are not,going to make the company happy because they,didnt have a strategy.,[MUSIC PLAYING],So whats a strategy?,A strategy is an integrative set of choices,that positions you on a playing field of your choice in a way,that you win.,So theres a theory.,Strategy has a theory.,Heres why we should be on this playing field,,not this other one, and heres how, on that playing field,,were going to be better than anybody else,at serving the customers on that playing field.,That theory has to be coherent.,It has to be doable.,You have to be able to translate that into actions for it,to be a great strategy.,Planning does not have to have any such coherence,,and it typically is what people in manufacturing want–,the few things they want, to build a new plant,,and the marketing people want to launch a new brand,,and the talent people want to hire more people–,that tends to be a list that has no internal coherence to it,and no specification of a way that that,is going to accomplish collectively,some goal for the company.,See, planning is quite comforting.,Plans typically have to do with the resources youre,going to spend.,So were going to build a plan.,Were going to hire some people.,Were going to launch a new product.,Those are all things that are on the cost side of businesses.,Who controls your costs?,Whos the customer of your costs?,The answer is, you are.,You decide how many square feet to lease,,how many raw materials to buy, how many people to hire.,Those are more comfortable because you control them.,A strategy, on the other hand, specifies an outcome,,a competitive outcome that you wish to achieve,,which involves customers wanting your product or service,enough that they will buy enough of it,to make the profitability that youd like to make.,The tricky thing about that is that you dont control them.,You might wish you could, but you cant.,They decide, not you.,Thats a harder trick.,So that means putting yourself out and saying,,heres what we believe will happen.,We cant prove it in advance, we cant guarantee it,,but this is what we want to have happen,and that we believe will happen.,Its much easier to say, Ill build a factory,,I will hire more people, et cetera,,than I will have customers end up liking our offering more,than those of competitors.,The tricky thing about planning is that while youre planning,,chances are at least one competitor,is figuring out how to win.,When US air carriers were busily planning what routes to fly,and da-da-da, there was this little company,in Texas called Southwest that had a strategy for winning.,And at first, that looked largely irrelevant,because it was tiny.,What Southwest Airlines was aiming for was an outcome.,What they wanted to be is a substitute,for Greyhound, a way more convenient way,to get around at a price that wasnt extraordinarily much,greater than a Greyhound bus.,Southwest said, everybody else is flying hub and spoke.,They have hubs, and they fly hub and spoke.,Were going to fly point to point so that we dont have,aircraft waiting on the ground because you only make money,when youre in the air.,Were going to only fly 737s, one kind of aircraft,,so that our gates are set up for those,,our systems are set up for those, our training,,our simulations are set up.,Were not going to offer meals on the flights,because were going to specialize in short flights.,Were not going to book through travel agents.,Were going to encourage people to book online,because thats less expensive for everybody,and more convenient.,So their strategy ended up having a substantially lower,cost than any of the major carriers so,that they could offer substantially lower prices.,Because it had a way of winning, it,got bigger and then bigger and then bigger and then bigger,and bigger and bigger and bigger until it,flies the most passenger seat miles in America.,The major carriers were not trying,to win against one another.,They were all playing to play, as I say.,They were playing to participate, maybe buy,more planes, get more gates, maybe grow some,,not having a theory of heres how we could be better,than our competitors.,And that was fine until somebody came along and said,,heres a way to be better than everybody,else for this segment.,And so that segment then goes.,Its gone [FAST-MOVING SOUND].,And the main playing to play players,have to share a smaller pie thats,left over after Southwest takes whatever share it wants.,[MUSIC PLAYING],If youre trying to escape this planning trap, this comfort,trap of doing something thats comfortable but not,good for you, how do you start?,The most important thing to recognize,is that strategy will have angst associated with it.,Itll make you feel somewhat nervous because as a manager,,chances are youve been taught you should do things,that you can prove in advance.,You cant prove in advance that your strategy will succeed.,You can look at a plan and say, well, all of these things,are doable.,Lets just do those because theyre within our control.,But they wont add up to much.,In strategy, you have to say, if our theory,is right about what we can do and how the market will react,,this will position us in an excellent way.,Just accept the fact that you cant be perfect on that,,and you cant know for sure.,And that is not being a bad manager.,That is being a great leader because youre,giving your organization the chance to do something great.,The second thing I do is say, lay out,the logic of your strategy clearly.,What would have to be true about ourselves, about the industry,,about competition, about customers for this strategy,to work?,Why do you do that?,Its because you can then watch the world unfold.,And if something that you say is in the logic that,would have to be true for this to work,is not working out quite the way you hoped,,itll allow you to tweak your strategy.,And strategy is a journey, what you,want to have as a mechanism for tweaking it, honing,it, and refining it so it gets better and better as you,go along.,Another thing that helps with strategy,is not letting it get overcomplicated.,Its great if you can write your strategy on a single page.,Heres where were choosing to play.,Heres how were choosing to win.,Here are the capabilities we need to have in place.,Here are the management systems.,And thats why its going to achieve this goal,,this aspiration that we have.,Then you lay out the logic, what must,be true for that all to work out the way we hope.,Go do it, and watch and tweak as you go along.,That may feel somewhat more worry-making, angst-making,than planning, but I would tell you that if you plan,,thats a way to guarantee losing.,If you do strategy, it gives you the best possible chance,of winning.,
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– So I graduated from Harvard in 2015, almost six years ago,there was pomp, there was circumstance,,and honestly, I was just glad to be getting out of there.,And I thought to myself as I was leaving,,I worked my butt off for this degree,,I did my time, this had better be worth it.,Ive done several Harvard related videos on this channel.,I even documented my experience while I was there.,And Ive given (beep sound),plenty of advice for people who want to apply,,but should you apply?,Is it worth the strife?,Now that Im a few years out,,I feel like I can evaluate what was the true cost,of going to Harvard?,What did I sacrifice, and was it worth it?,(upbeat music),Hey, its your girl Ahsante,,helping you move consciously and creatively through life,,so lets go.,Before we get into my thoughts on Harvard,,a quick disclaimer.,Since Im evaluating my Harvard experience in this video,,Im going to be critical.,I went there on my own volition,,it was my choice, and I know theres a ton of privilege,and even being able to do that.,And I know that graduating from Harvard is beneficial,to a persons career.,So I wanna be clear that I am grateful for the opportunity,,Im going to be critical of the institution and the culture.,Harvard is a huge institution.,I went to Harvard college, specifically.,Having talked to other friends in different schools,,I feel like these issues are relevant across the Ivy League,and across elite colleges in general.,Note that this is my personal opinion,based on my own experience and interpretation.,Some people absolutely loved their time at Harvard.,My thoughts are more nuanced.,And to do justice to that nuance,,this video is on the longer side,but I have to illustrate what its like to be in that place,for you to understand where my thoughts are coming from.,When asking was Harvard worth it,,the first cost you probably think of is financial.,And I do wanna acknowledge that degree is expensive.,Harvard only does need-based financial aid,,they dont give merit scholarships.,They do an assessment of your familys financial situation,and then decide how much your family is going to pay.,I dont think they did a great assessment for my family,,and so it was definitely a financial burden for me to go.,If your family doesnt make a lot of money,,then Harvard will cover the cost entirely.,If your family does make a lot of money,,then it doesnt matter for you to pay full tuition.,If youre in the middle and I grew up middle-class,,its expensive.,So the financial cost can be a deterrent, absolutely.,The more serious costs though for me was psychological.,The culture at Harvard is tough,and its an extremely competitive environment,,like it was a shock to me how competitive it was,and how high a level you had to compete at.,And judging from my comments sections,,some other people also have no idea.,Every now and then Ill get angry comments that are like,,”I got perfect SAT scores,,and I got top grades and I didnt get into Harvard.,This is racist.”,And Im like, “Oh, you have no idea,how competitive Harvard is.,And I guess you also dont realize,that black people are capable of getting perfect scores.”,Harvards like, “Oh, you have perfect scores.,Great, so do a lot of people.,What else you got?,Oh, straight As, hmm, guess that made you special,in your hometown.,Thats the bare minimum here, hun.”,Like thats very much the energy on campus.,Its very much, “Oh, you get high marks,,so does everyone else get in line.”,I remember visiting campus for Accepted Students Weekend,,and I was eating in the majestic Hogwarts-like dining hall,,just soaking it all in and thinking about,how fortunate I was to be here, at this fabled school,,with all this elite status.,And I asked the girl sitting across from me,as a conversation starter,,”Did you ever think that you would get into Harvard?”,And she said, “Well, the valedictorian,from my school usually gets in, so.”,Like I was shook.,First of all, I went to public school,and no one in the living memory of the school,had gone to any Ivy League,,like in no way, was this normal for me.,And second, that was my indication that everyone here is,at the top of their class, including myself.,I was salutatorian, number two.,Everyone here is the best.,That is the new normal, that is the new standard.,You are not special.,And I was completely unprepared,for the intensity of the competition.,You are constantly judged by and compared to your peers,,both formally and informally.,You have to compete to get into certain classes.,Like you have to submit an application.,I wound up majoring in film, which is in the art department,,and most studio art classes were limited to 15 people.,You apply, you interview,,and then theres a list posted of who got into what.,And preference for the art classes,is given to those who are within the major,,but in order to get into the major,you have to have take in an art class.,Like its stressful.,And in general, a lot of classes are graded on a curve.,So not everyone can get top marks,and youre competing directly,against your peers to get the A.,A lot of classes over assigned readings,,so there was no way for you to get all the work done,,so that was stressful.,And if youre thinking to yourself,,”Well academics might be hard, but at least student clubs,and activities would be a place to relax,” think again.,Many of the extracurricular clubs there,were also competitive to get into.,Hi, could I write for the magazine?,Well, maybe, if you can pass our tests.,What are the tests?,Jump through four flaming hoops,,leap over a pit of our bubbling destain,,produce three brilliant works of literary genius.,Then show up to a mystery location at exactly 12:07 am.,Get down on your knees and grovel.,That sounds like a lot to potentially,not even make it in at the end.,Sorry, not everyone can hack it.,What can I join the acapella group?,That depends theyre seven.,Do you wanna join the ones that are noble,or the ones that are common?,Any of them?,Hmm, no.,Okay, can I join this non audition choir?,Well, you can join, but shell never get a solo,,well see if you make it into the small group.,Maybe if you ask us nicely, well let you sing at a concert.,Like thats the energy across the entire campus.,And whatever thing you wanted to try,,someone here has been doing it,since they were nine years old,and theyre better than you, so.,At the beginning of the year or of the semester,,clubs would have what was called a comp process.,Its several weeks long, theres an interest meeting.,You might be invited,to an initial social event or a group gathering.,You do some sort of exercise or assignment,,and then youre invited back for subsequent rounds,of testing, interviewing, or additional assignments.,And eventually they whittle down,and decide who they invite to join the club.,The competition is endless,as is the sense that one group is better than another,because its even more competitive to get into.,This applies to things you might expect,like theater, acapella, performance groups.,It also applies to student newspapers and magazines.,It also applies to most social groups.,It also applies to service organizations.,The one that sticks out in my memory is that I could not get,into a club that teaches dance to kids after school.,Like I wasnt good enough to get,into the teaching dance to kids club.,And if you follow me on Instagram, yall know I can dance.,So that wasnt the issue.,Its exclusion for the sake of exclusivity.,And it can lead to a lot of rejection,especially your freshman year,when you dont know anyone in these clubs,,because knowing people in the clubs is really,what allows you to get in,because everyone is super talented.,And this was a big blow for me coming from a high school,which did not work that way at all.,They just let you into clubs that you were interested in,,and if it was a performance group,then talent was usually enough.,Like I said, in my video on how I got into Harvard,,I did a ton of extracurriculars in clubs in hig
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The New World of Work: Ryan Roslansky, LinkedIn CEO
What Is Strategy? It’s a Lot Simpler Than You Think
FELIX OBERHOLZER-GEE: For many people,,strategy is a little bit of a mystery.,Often, we have a sense, in order to know what strategy is,,you have to be super senior.,If there are a lot of job experience,,it seems very complicated.,Nonsense.,Strategys simple.,Its a plan to create value.,The way a company plans to create that value, thats,the strategy of the company.,[MUSIC PLAYING],,Of course, its natural to look at financials.,What are your margins, whats profitability, whats,the return on invested capital, and that,,of course, shows the result of strategy.,Its an endpoint.,Its a consequence.,Its not actually where we start.,The strategy is about looking forward, seeing the future,,planning for the future.,We want to start with a sense of how much value do,we create in the first place.,Value for customers, value for employees, and value,for suppliers.,Value is the difference between willingness,to pay and willingness to sell.,Theres a really straightforward and simple way,to show this in a figure.,The figure is called a value stick,,and literally imagine at the top,,we have willingness to pay.,At the bottom, we have willingness to sell,,and the difference between the two,is the value that the company creates.,If Im more successful, if I create more value,,I can only do this in two ways, either by increasing,willingness to pay or by decreasing willingness to sell.,Now, Im going to ask, OK, so what is willingness to pay?,What is willingness to sell?,Willingness to pay describes customers.,Its the most a customer would ever,pay for a product or a service.,Charge me once cent more, and Im better off not buying.,Now, the company is not going to give away its products,,of course, and so over charging a particular price,,the price has to be below willingness to pay,,otherwise people will not buy.,The success for customers is just,a difference between willingness to pay and price.,I dont know about you.,I have a hard time waking up in the morning.,My willingness to pay for that first cup of coffee, $7,,$8 easily.,I go to Dunkin Donuts every day.,They sell me coffee for $2.,Big difference between my willingness to pay,and the price.,There is a lot of value created for customers.,Customer delight, the difference between willingness to pay,and price, is significant.,Willingness to sell is a little less intuitive than willingness,to pay.,Willingness to sell is the least amount of compensation,that an employee would accept and still work,for this particular company.,So think of a person trying to sell.,I could sell my work to company A.,I could sell my work to company B.,How do I choose between the two?,How fabulous is the job?,How interesting is it?,Will I like my colleagues?,Value for employees is the difference between compensation,and my willingness to sell.,Its a measure of the quality between what,the person is looking for in work,and what the company can offer.,[MUSIC PLAYING],So total value created is the difference between willingness,to pay and willingness to sell, and then it,gets split three ways.,Some of it goes to customers.,Thats the difference between willingness to pay in price.,Some of it goes to employees, thats,the difference between willingness to sell,and compensation, and the middle wedge.,Thats the margin of the company.,Thats financial success.,In the end, how profitable an organization,reflects the amount of overall value creation.,So one natural question is, what are the ways,I can raise willingness to pay?,And there are really three buckets.,The first one is the quality of your product or your service,,where quality can mean very different things,to different people.,But the higher the quality, more appealing the product,,the more appealing to service, the higher,is willingness to pay.,And then there are two different ways,to also increase willingness to pay,that are a little less obvious.,The first one is with the help of complements.,A complement is a product or a service,that supports willingness to pay of something else.,Think razor, razorblade.,Think printer and cartridges, think espresso and espresso,machines, and espresso capsules.,And the third is network effects.,For some products in some situations, the more popular,the product is, the more widespread its adoption,,the greater my willingness to pay.,Social media is a great example.,If all my friends are on Instagram,,oh, its so much better to also be on Instagram.,My willingness to pay will increase as the adoption,of Instagram increases.,There are really two ways to be more attractive in the market,for talent.,The first one is I should pay you more money.,The moment I pay you more money, of course,,Im going to be more competitive in the marketplace for talent.,The second option that seems similar,is I make the job a better job.,I create more attractive working conditions.,Maybe I have a better training plan.,Maybe I have more generous promotion rules.,Maybe you can work three days from home.,Whenever I make the job a better job, willingness to sell,is going to go down.,And so at the beginning you might think,,these things are really the same.,If I pay more money, I create more value for my employees,,and if I make a job a better job,,I lower willingness to sell, and that does the same thing.,It creates more value, but there is a big difference.,If I pay more, that just shifts value,from the company to the staff, to the employees.,Theres no value created.,Value is just redistributed between the company,and the people who work for the company.,If I make work more attractive, if the job is a better job,,willingness to sell goes down, and that actually,creates value.,[MUSIC PLAYING],,Lets talk about the specific example.,You might know Best Buy, the electronics,retailer in the United States.,And if you go back say, 10 years or so,,everybody, including myself, everybody,was convinced that Best Buy was going to go out of business.,Why?,Many other electronics retailers had gone out of business,,and with roughly 1,000 stores, it just,seemed impossible to compete against Amazon.,At one point in time Best Buy lost $1 billion,in a single quarter, and then a new CEO comes in eventually,,and remember, strategy is not complicated.,Its all about either increasing willingness to pay,or decreasing willingness to sell,,and thats exactly what he does.,Instead of building big distribution centers,,big warehouses from which you ship online,,he starts thinking about every store as a warehouse,and they start shipping from each individual store,typically from a store that is just down the road from where,you are.,We increase willingness to pay by having better shipping,times, and then a second idea has to do with the retail store,environment.,He goes to Microsoft, he goes to Samsung, he goes to Lenovo,,and he says, well, you can go down the Apple route,and you can build really beautiful freestanding stores,at millions and millions of dollars,or you can have a store in a store inside Best Buy,,where people are shopping for electronics,products in the first place at a fraction of the cost,,lowering willingness to sell for the vendors to Best Buy.,Now, what does it mean for employees?,Instead of selling innumerable products,,now, Im dedicated to the store in a store thats,the Microsoft store or the store in the store that,is the Sony store.,I know so much more about the products I have.,I can do a much better job helping customers figure out,which products are exactly right for them.,My job is easier, I feel more successful.,Willingness to sell drops, and if you,look at employee engagement surveys at Best Buy,,they are at an all time high after these big changes.,So what they Best Buy do?,It increased customers willingness to pay,and we have fewer pricing pressures.,Next, they lowered willingness to sell,and costs fall for Best Buy.,The middle portion of the value stick,,we have less pricing pressure, we have lower costs.,Not surprisingly, the company is more profitable.,They go from losing $1 billi
What Makes a Great Leader?
LINDA A. HILL: We know that one of the key reasons why,organizations arent able to innovate organizations arent,as agile as they need to be is they,dont have the kind of leadership they need.,If you came to the Harvard Business School 100 years ago,,great leadership was really about setting direction,and making sure that people went in that direction.,How do you come up with strategy?,When I came almost 40 years ago, we moved a bit from strategy,to, really, vision.,So people like John Kotter and Warren Bennis,helped us understand that people needed,to have a bigger ambition than just the strategy.,Whats the vision?,Where are we going and why?,What Ive come to see as Ive begun,to do research in the 2000s–,yes, you still need to be a visionary.,But guess what?,Because innovation has become ever more important,,that means, really, moving from vision,to shaping culture and capabilities.,You have to move from focusing on, OK, whats my vision,and how do I communicate and get people,to follow me to the future?,Instead, leading innovation is about getting people,to co-create that future with you.,And co-creation requires a different kind of leadership.,[MUSIC PLAYING],If you want to lead an organization,and build an organization that can innovate,at scale with speed, really, leaders,have three functions they have to fulfill.,The ABCs of leadership–,A, you must be an architect, B, you must be a bridger, and C,,you must be a catalyst.,The first role is the role of architect–,building the culture and capabilities,necessary for a group of people to be able to collaborate,,experiment, and learn.,Innovative work is not about an individual,having an aha moment.,Its really about a collaboration,of individuals with diverse expertise,,diverse points of view and experiences, who figure out,,again, how to collaborate, how to experiment,and learn together with some speed– what,we call collective genius.,The idea here is that everyone in your organization,has a slice of genius.,Everyone has talents, everyone has passions.,Your role as a leader is to unleash the diverse slices,of genius in your organization and then leverage,and harness them for the collective good.,How do you get everyone in the organization,to understand that they need to work,on not just what they should be doing,,but what they could be doing?,,The second is B, or bridger.,We have to go outside the organization to get access,to talent and tools.,You need to be able to bridge, because you do not,have the talent and tools you need inside your organization,to innovate at speed or at scale.,Just dont.,Particularly now that digital is such a big piece of it,,you are always, you and your organizations,,are really embedded in a web of interdependencies.,And that means trying to innovate across boundaries.,So we see many organizations building out new units,or asking leaders to lead units in which they really,are serving as the bridge between the outside,of the organization and the inside.,Weve been studying leaders who run innovation labs,,corporate accelerators– even organizations that were digital,first are finding that they need to partner,with other digital first companies,to get access to the cloud, right?,Because other organizations might be better at it,than they are better at it, and they,need to focus on other things that,are their core capabilities.,And then the third is catalyst.,And this is when youre trying to accelerate co-creation,throughout the entire ecosystem.,And there can be a couple of reasons,for why you want to do that.,One may be that for you to do what,you want to do inside your organization,,you need other people, other organizations to be,able to innovate, because they got,to create something that you need to fulfill your purpose.,The other is, fundamentally, because youre,trying to just create more capability,in the whole ecosystem.,Because when you lift the whole, everyone gets lifted.,Its when your ambition is much, much greater,than your organization and youre maybe,trying to change a country, or the prospects,of a whole continent.,So you have to get the whole ecosystem,active and co-creating if you want to do that kind of thing.,An example would be if you want to be,as secure yourself in your own internet service,,then if you can help your clients be more secure,,have more cybersecurity, that helps you as well.,So thats an instance of being a catalyst.,But when youre actually doing the act of working across,,that is where youre being a bridger.,So these three roles are very interconnected.,Weve been studying the leader who runs the trials for Pfizer.,It turns out that Pfizer can only,innovate and be as agile as it needs,to be if, in fact, their vendors are agile and able to innovate.,So we have leaders there who are working across with vendors,and turning those vendors into partners, where, in fact, we,have a real connection.,We do trust each other.,We do know how to influence each other.,We are willing to make mutual commitments.,Because only when we have that deep connection,are we willing to do the hard work together necessary,to actually do something like run those trials in 266 days,and make the impossible, possible.,Now, what you see– again, the catalyst role of that same,leader–,is working to put together consortia,of people who are in the pharmaceutical industries,to go back and think about, what are some new standards,we want to set?,And talk with regulators about now,that we know whats possible, will,allow us to bring hope to patients even faster if we work,across the industry to raise all of our capacity,to do more innovative work.,So what we see is organizations have to go outside,to get what they need.,What theyre really all about is learning,how to exercise influence when you,dont have formal authority.,Weve got to let go of formal authority,as our source of influence and power.,Instead, were using, if you will,,being able to shape culture and capabilities,,being able to forge connections between diverse parties,,real connections where we actually,have mutual trust, mutual influence,,and mutual commitment.,Dont rely so much on your formal authority,as a way of influencing people.,Its not very useful, because with formal authority,,if youre using that as your source of power,,maybe you can control people, but youre not,building their commitment.,And you need commitment if you want,to have people take the risks associated,with trying to do something new and useful,,particularly a breakthrough kind of innovation.,You dont use formal authority as a way to get things done,,because you cannot tell people to innovate.,You can only invite them.,It is a voluntary act.,
How to Disagree with Someone More Powerful: The Harvard Business Review Guide
lets say you disagree with someone more,powerful than you say your boss or your,bosss boss how do you decide if you,should say something,when and where to speak up,what to say,and how to say it im going to share,some advice to help you disagree with,that authority figure more,constructively and more confidently,[Music],lets say your client is demanding an,unrealistic timeline or your senior,colleague wants your buy-in on that doom,to fail idea to decide if you should say,something at all its helpful to first,do a risk assessment,its natural to avoid confrontation with,a superior as humans we instinctively,steer clear of situations that we fear,might cause us harm emotional rejection,or professional failure but you might be,overplaying these risks chances are,youre not going to be fired or make an,enemy just for speaking your mind,especially if you do it the right way,most of us focus on the risk of saying,something but communication expert,joseph granny suggests we focus first on,the risk of not saying something what do,you stand to lose,what opportunities could you or your,team be missing out on what could happen,later if you dont raise this issue now,then think through realistically what,might happen if you voice your,disagreement,and ask yourself which is worse,you may decide speaking up truly isnt,worth it especially if they hire up is,someone who you suspect will be,vindictive or your workplace has a,history of punishing people for speaking,their mind but in many cases sharing,your opinion will be the right thing to,do,then you need to decide when and where,to share it,you may be able to build a stronger case,if you wait to share your disagreement,this will give you time to research,facts and make sure you understand the,full picture it can also give you time,to find colleagues who are on the same,page as you and their ideas and support,may bolster your case the delay will,also give you time to find the right,environment to have this conversation,where you meet matters a private meeting,with this powerful person may be less,threatening than airing your,disagreement in a more public space,once youve decided if when and where to,share your opinion its time to get into,the nitty-gritty of what to say and how,to say it,communication expert holly weeks advises,us to remember this is not a boxing,match its more like a chess game where,you need to be strategic to increase,your chances of success,while keeping everyones integrity,intact on that note if possible its a,good idea to establish a process with,this person ahead of time before theres,even a disagreement you might say were,probably not always going to see eye to,eye and i was wondering how you want me,to share my opinion if it differs from,yours that way when a disagreement comes,up theyve already told you how theyd,like you to handle it and theyve given,you tacit permission to share your,opinion whether or not youre able to,lay that groundwork beforehand heres,what i recommend when youre planning,what to say first clearly restate the,original idea or proposal it may sound,unnecessary but you dont want the,conversation to be about whether or not,you understood the original message you,want it to be about your ideas also ask,permission to disagree like id like to,lay out my reasoning would that be okay,that may sound overly deferential but,its one of those strategic moves that,allows your superior to opt into the,conversation without feeling threatened,plus when they say yes it has the added,benefit of boosting your confidence,before you share your opinion then and,this one is really important connect,your idea to a shared goal something you,both care about like quarterly earnings,company morale or creating an equitable,workplace the discussion can then be,refocused on accomplishing goals that,are in the teams or the organizations,best interests,not on the fact that you happen to have,a contrary opinion once youve figured,out what youre going to say you need to,think through how youre going to,present your argument and yourself in,this delicate,situation first stay calm this isnt,always easy but you want to project,confidence in neutrality anxious or,hesitant body language may undercut your,message so breathe deeply,speak slowly and deliberately trust me,youll both be a lot calmer stay humble,your opinion is just that your opinion,and you should be upfront and,acknowledging that saying things like,im just thinking out loud here or tell,me where im wrong on this leaves room,for dialogue and invites curiosity,rather than defensiveness stay neutral,share only facts not judgments try this,experiment to see what i mean state your,case without using a single adjective,especially loaded ones for instance,instead of saying i think making a big,purchase now is hasty you might say we,can see that prices are dropping if we,wait a little while longer we may be,able to save some money avoiding words,like foolish naive and wrong,separates your critique from the people,involved and keeps it focused on the,problem that youre trying to solve,together be respectful and firm saying,something like i know youll make the,final call here its up to you puts the,ultimate decision in their court while,showing that you know where you stand to,be clear this isnt about backtracking,or undermining yourself its a balancing,act and you want to be firm about your,opinion while acknowledging their,authority,okay that was a lot of information so,let me summarize,when assessing if when and where to,speak up remember the consequences of,disagreeing might not be so bad and,could be much worse if you keep silent,at the same time,wait to launch the discussion until,youve had time to gather support and,ideas so you can present the best,possible case,choose the right time and place in which,to have the conversation,when strategizing what to say restate,the original idea so they know you,understand what they proposed explain,that you have a different opinion and,ask if you can voice it,find common ground connect your,disagreement to a shared goal you both,want to achieve if you can,set up a disagreement process ahead of,time to make all of the above much,easier,when thinking about how to say it stay,calm breathe deeply and speak slowly to,keep everyone cool and collected,stay humble and curious enough to hear,critiques,stay neutral and avoid judgy adjectives,that can be upsetting and,counterproductive,be respectful but firm,acknowledge their authority in making,the final decision after confidently and,clearly stating your opinion thanks for,watching all of these strategies are,based on hbr articles and well put the,links in the description below,do you have a tactic thats worked for,you to disagree with someone more,powerful than you,or do you have a big topic you want us,to cover in the next hvr guide to video,comment below bye for now