In March 2021, the wholesale distributor of home décor products SBO Distributors Ltd. (or SWISSBO), based in Vancouver, Canada, was considering an opportunity for strategic analysis. The firm was at a crossroads in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic had led to a setback in the company’s revenues and margins—seemingly, a temporary setback. The wholesaler was now facing a make-or-break dilemma that involved a new growth opportunity to move up the value chain toward retailing.
By November 2016, Trian Partners had built up a sizable stake in General Electric Company shares and became the company’s eighth-largest shareholder. General Electric Company’s total shareholder return had outperformed the market by 9 per cent since June 2015, when Trian Partners initially invested in the company. However, it was important to consider whether the factors that had led to this performance could be sustained, and a comparison of General Electric Company’s performance over the last 10 years under the current chief executive officer with that under his predecessor could offer some useful perspective. General Electric Company’s share price had reached its all-time high under Jack Welch, solidifying his reputation as the “Manager of the Century.” However, there were several important questions to consider: What factors contributed to the success of General Electric Company historically? How might those same factors influence the company’s future prospects? And how might an analysis of these factors shape an agenda with the board?
In October 2015, the investment management firm Trian Partners disclosed a US$2.5 billion investment in one of the largest industrial enterprises in the world, General Electric Company. The investment was the largest in the firm’s 10-year history. At the time, General Electric Company was the longest-standing member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the 18th-largest company by market capitalization in the entire S&P 500 Index, and featured regularly on Fortune’s list of the world’s most admired companies. General Electric Company’s reputation as an enviable employer and world-class company had largely been cemented under Jack Welch’s tenure (1981–2001), when the company’s share price had reached its all-time high. Understanding what drove its performance during that period was therefore an essential part of any effort to determine whether General Electric Company had a sustainable competitive advantage to carry that performance into the future.
In 2019, Walmart Inc. (Walmart) was the largest retailer in the world, with over $500 billion in revenues and thousands of stores in the United States and international markets. It was in the midst of a transformation to compete in the online shopping and home delivery space, an industry that was dominated by relative newcomer Amazon.com Inc. (Amazon). While Walmart had continued to expand its physical stores and discount centres over several decades, its online presence had needed attention; its investment in online sales between 2013 and 2018 had brought about a significant reduction in the operating income margin in its largest and most profitable segment, Walmart US. However, by February 2019, the company had achieved growth in online sales of 43 per cent. Would the strategic changes that had brought about this growth enable the company to maintain its position in the United States?
In 2001, Apple, Inc. (Apple), known mainly as the maker of a niche personal computer and related operating system and software, became a disruptor in the music industry with the launch of the iPod music player; it followed up two years later with the launch of the iTunes Music Store (iTunes). Over the next several years, the company struck deals with major music recording labels to distribute downloadable music legally through iTunes, challenging an industry-wide decline in a climate of widespread digital file-sharing and piracy. In 2007, it brought about increased sales of digital music downloads after launching the iPhone. However, by 2019, consumers were mainly consuming music via streaming services such as Spotify, Google LLC’s YouTube, Amazon.com Inc., and Pandora. What would Apple need to do to continue as a leader in the music industry?
For people who aspire to drive change, studying the impact that character had on RBG’s judgment is as important as replicating her commitment and competence
In the lead-up to the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, the coach of the Canadian men’s volleyball team needed to make a final decision about the team’s composition. Although the core eight players had already been selected, the difficult decisions involved choosing the supporting cast of four players from a list of seven players being considered. His decision would directly impact the team's performance at the Olympics but would also leave an imprint on the men’s volleyball program, and would change the lives of the athletes. How could the coach ensure he made the most appropriate selection decision?
The world needs great leadership like never before. And contrary to popular belief, strength of character can be developed. This article explains why people tend to underestimate the need for leader character and overestimate their personal strength of character. In a recent executive development course, participants from a company took the self-assessment version of the Leadership Character Insight Assessment. The authors noticed that an inordinate number of respondents had self-assessed as 5 out of 5 on all dimensions. These results were at odds with the briefing received from the company’s CEO before the workshop. The CEO had serious concerns about his employees’ performance. After experiencing a change in senior management, the company had moved from a hands-on, command-and-control leadership style to a more open, collaborative approach. After the shift in leadership, employees still functioned in silos, with little collaboration. Despite these problems, participants believed that their self-reported character assessments were true. This allowed the authors to “start an excavation for self-awareness.” As part of an experiment agreed to by the CEO and a pre-selected participant, the authors bullied this participant. This offered an opening for a discussion on the interconnected dimensions of leader character. How was it acceptable to watch and do nothing while a colleague was bullied? Developing character is different than developing competencies. It is like strengthening your body by working out. Unlike physical training, however, there is no limit to how much we can exercise character.
The Bob Franklin case series portrays four critical incidents in the life of Bob Franklin, allowing students to explore both the role and development of the lead character throughout his career. Although there are choice points, attention is directed at who you are and why you are and who you are becoming as revealed in the choices made.
An executive has just joined adult entertainment producer Private Media Group Inc. (PMG) as a strategy consultant. Despite being a highly controversial industry, adult entertainment has been credited with furthering the widespread adoption of major technologies such as the VCR, Internet and digital transmissions over hand-held devices.<br><br>In preparing for his first meeting with PMG’s president, the executive wonders if he should recommend pursuing larger productions with higher costs and higher sales versus the current mixture of large productions ($100,000 or more in production costs), medium productions ($75,000) and small productions ($5,000). He also believes there is an opportunity to increase PMG’s brand awareness through licensing. Finally, the executive knows that the adult entertainment industry is quick to adopt new technologies so he wants to prepare PMG for the inevitable demise of DVDs. See the supplement to this case, 9B15M026.
As Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist Victor Frankl noted, the space between stimulus and response creates an opportunity to engage the moment in a way that can be transformative. However, engaging the moment is difficult because attention on the task at hand can be drawn away by past experiences, as well as expectations for the future. The ability to engage the moment is developed over time and anchored in competence, character and commitment, which are only developed in everyday moments. These three qualities work together to deliver strong performance, which is realized through the string of present moments. Indeed, for great athletes, the ability to engage the moment is not reserved for grand competitive occasions — it is a habit. Being fully present during everyday moments provides the foundation for tackling the big moments. As this article explains, great athletes and leaders alike understand that fear of failure is a distraction that can cripple performance, which is why they focus on process rather than outcome. It is easy to get rattled under pressure, but trusting one’s preparation helps to ensure commitment to the moment.
Nine meetings involving 786 directors and would-be directors were held at the Institute of Corporate Directors with the objective of facilitating a discussion on leader character with people experienced in the practice of corporate governance as well as with individuals interested in becoming directors. Following the sessions, a survey of attendees was conducted. This article presents what the authors learned and offers six recommendations for improving the director search, evaluation, performance review and renewal processes: 1. Be explicit about search criteria and include the character dimensions along with competencies. 2. Ensure that whoever does interviewing is, in fact, a good interviewer. 3. When multiple interviews are done sequentially, ensure that each interviewer has a set of questions so that the sessions are comprehensive but not repetitive. Furthermore, schedule a session of all involved in the process to share their observations. 4. Task the search consultant, if one is used, with developing a comprehensive list of referees who actually know the potential nominee. 5. When asking a referee whether they “know” someone, care must be taken to understand the context of this knowledge. 6. If a candidate resists or resents discussion about character, then you should resist the candidate.
Business schools have done an admirable job of teaching competencies, and many business organizations have defined the framework of competencies that are required to be successful in the institution. However, much less attention has been spent on leadership character and the importance of commitment to the leadership role. There is no consistent understanding among executives about what character means, despite a concurrence that it is important. The movie Invictus portrays Nelson Mandela in his first year as the first black president of the newly desegregated South Africa as he persuades not only both black and white populations to support the national rugby team in its effort to win the World Cup but also the players themselves. It provides a truly brilliant illustration of not only the competencies required to lead but also the leadership character and commitment that are needed to lead during trying times.
Louis Vuitton, the flagship group within Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), had contributed to the stellar growth of the group in 2010 and 2011. But, there were clouds on the horizon. Was the recent growth sustainable? What steps should Louis Vuitton take to address upcoming challenges? This case takes the student through the challenges a global company faces as it tries to grow a business that is based on one of the most valued high-end brands in the world. The case reveals the fundamental strategic tension between what a firm needs to do, given the competitive environment, what it can do, given its resources and organization, and what leaders want to do, given their fundamental motivations and beliefs, which shape the way they see the issues.
Lack of candour stems from avoidance of difficult or uncomfortable situations. However, what begins as an attempt to avoid difficulty often turns into a series of bad decisions and bad consequences. Candour allows organizations to have better idea generation, faster problem solving through avoiding “beating around the bush,” and more efficient processes. The authors argue that candour requires character and that with character comes the judgment that ensures the appropriate expression of candour. Their research has shown that candour requires depth of character across eleven dimensions. <br><br>To understand candour in practice, the authors have interviewed General Rick Hillier, former Chief of the Defence Staff of the Canadian Forces. Hillier defines positive candour as that which focuses on a leader’s charges. He refers to leaders making comments for personal gain — such as in the case of certain whistleblowers — as an example of negative candour. He explains that if a leader acts candidly, then they must expect their subordinates to be equally candid and must not punish them for doing so. Arguably, being candid is the best way to treat people fairly. However, Hillier clarifies that candour is culturally bound and that leaders must be patient and polite in their interactions with foreigners in order to ensure effective communication.
Corporate directors should look for three criteria in executives: competencies, commitment, and character. This article focuses on leadership character, the least understood of the three criteria. The authors met with over 300 business leaders on three continents, who identified character weaknesses or defects — including overconfidence, lack of transparency, and lack of accountability — as central to the Global Financial Crisis. The authors posit 11 dimensions of character — integrity, humility, courage, humanity, drive, accountability, temperance, justice, collaboration, transcendence, and judgment. They examine why character has not been studied extensively, given its relation to the crisis, and point to the lack of resources that the private and public sectors have spent on studying character (in contrast to competencies), as well as the common misperception of character as a “soft,” non-quantifiable construct. Character is revealed by how individuals behave in particular situations, and a full character assessment requires a deep and wide-ranging examination of a person’s life and work history over an extensive time period. Directors can influence character development in their organizations by discussing dimensions of character during appraisal processes, developing formal leadership profiles, and introducing character-focused discussion into their own board assessments.
This six-part video case series features social entrepreneur Craig Kielburger as he faces pivotal moments in his life and the remarkable evolution of his organization. The primary dilemmas are strategic in nature and their solutions rely on leadership and social entrepreneurship. Students assume the role of Craig Kielburger in each case, which begins with a video set-up, followed by a short one- or two-page case and a discussion, and concludes with Craig describing what happened in a video clip. (This no-fee product consists of five of the six cases. Use product #9B12M031 to order the remaining case.)
The Apple A and B cases provide two different perspectives on the evolution of the computer and electronics firm Apple and are designed to evoke debate about models of strategy, organization, and leadership. The A case presents the story of Apple from a hindsight rational analytic perspective in which students are able to apply a variety of models about strategy, organization, leadership, and innovation. The B case presents a more nuanced, critical account of Apple’s development, attributing some of its success to happenstance and good fortune, and also raises questions about Jobs’s leadership.