Jack Donally was a colossal figure who commanded a lot of respect, if not affection. Just before Jack suddenly died, the board appointed Stephanie Fortas as the new CEO to lead Innostat, the world's best-known manufacturer of prosthetic limbs and surgical implants. Innostat has recently been struggling; its once generous margins have been narrowing for the past several years as other companies have found ways to engineer around its patents and develop competitive products of their own. Worse, the company seems to have lost its innovative edge: It has not launched a major new product in four years. The previous year, the board rejected a plan for a large-scale reorganization that might have addressed many of these fundamental problems. Should Stephanie revive the plan? Her coach tells her she doesn't have the clout to survive a reorg and advises her to scope out new products and drive them through the way Jack used to. Meanwhile, Stephanie deliberates about whether to fire Frank Timoshotsky, the self-effacing head of production who had been Jack's protege and who was passed over for the CEO position. In R0605A and R0605Z, four experts discuss this fictional case study: Robert A. Eckert, the chairman and CEO of Mattel in El Segundo, California; Steven F. Dichter, the director of TruePoint Partners in Waltham, Massachusetts; Patrick J. Canavan, a senior vice-president and the director of global governance at Motorola in Schaumburg, Illinois; and Kerry Sulkowicz, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded the New York-based Boswell Group.
Jack Donally was a colossal figure who commanded a lot of respect, if not affection. Just before Jack suddenly died, the board appointed Stephanie Fortas as the new CEO to lead Innostat, the world's best-known manufacturer of prosthetic limbs and surgical implants. Innostat has recently been struggling; its once generous margins have been narrowing for the past several years as other companies have found ways to engineer around its patents and develop competitive products of their own. Worse, the company seems to have lost its innovative edge: It has not launched a major new product in four years. The previous year, the board rejected a plan for a large-scale reorganization that might have addressed many of these fundamental problems. Should Stephanie revive the plan? Her coach tells her she doesn't have the clout to survive a reorg and advises her to scope out new products and drive them through the way Jack used to. Meanwhile, Stephanie deliberates about whether to fire Frank Timoshotsky, the self-effacing head of production who had been Jack's protege and who was passed over for the CEO position. Commenting on this fictional case study in R0605A and R0605Z are Robert A. Eckert, the chairman and CEO of Mattel in El Segundo, California; Steven F. Dichter, the director of TruePoint Partners in Waltham, Massachusetts; Patrick J. Canavan, a senior vice-president and the director of global governance at Motorola in Schaumburg, Illinois; and Kerry Sulkowicz, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded the New York-based Boswell Group.
In May 2000, Bob Eckert sat on a plane bound for the West Coast and thought to himself, "What have I done?" He was about to become CEO of Mattel, a struggling company in an industry he knew nothing about. And he was facing unrealistic expectations not only from Wall Street but also from Mattel's 30,000 employees, who hoped for an effective leader yet feared sweeping change. How did this former CEO of Kraft Foods address employees' anxiety, gain their trust, and start to turn Mattel around? By using the concept of "mealtime." When people gather together to share a meal, they are nourished in both body and spirit. They become face-to-face equals who exchange opinions, ask questions, receive answers, and share ideas. Eckert knew that he had to build brands and cut costs, but he found that the most crucial and challenging task was to make others comfortable enough to share their metaphorical meals with him. And he found that his favorite place to share these metaphorical--and actual--meals was the employee cafeteria. To make each meal a success, Eckert practiced what he calls "setting the table," which means preparing the atmosphere for honest dialogue by drawing on a set of tools--utensils, if you will--designed to quell apprehension. These include naming the source of tension and calling for honesty; deferring, when appropriate, to the other person's realm of expertise; and recognizing common experience. In this article, Eckert tells the story of his first steps from food guy to toy guy and describes what it takes to fit into the strange new world of another company.