The SHIFTPOINTS Blog

Note:  This is an excerpt from my latest book, Drive One Direction: How to Unleash the Accelerating Power of Alignment. In the One Code chapter, we highlight companies who unleashed the accelerating power of alignment with an intense focus on their values.

The Mayo Clinic has over 4,700 physicians and scientists. Like many companies, they have a list of core values.

But they are crystal clear about which one is Number One.

In 1863, Dr. William Mayo opened a private medical practice in Rochester, Minnesota. His sons, William and Charles, continued to build the practice around a relatively innovative concept at the time—hiring a diverse staff of specialists to work as an integrated team. Their model produced better health outcomes and quickly began drawing patients from around the world.

The Mayo Clinic’s core values “are an expression of the vision and intent of our founders, the original Mayo physicians and the Sisters of Saint Francis.” There are eight of them:

1. RESPECT—Treat everyone in our diverse community, including patients, their families and colleagues, with dignity.
2. INTEGRITY—Adhere to the highest standards of professionalism, ethics and personal responsibility, worthy of the trust our patients place in us.
3. COMPASSION—Provide the best care, treating patients and family members with sensitivity and empathy.
4. HEALING—Inspire hope and nurture the well-being of the whole person, respecting physical, emotional and spiritual needs.
5. TEAMWORK—Value the contributions of all, blending the skills of individual staff members in unsurpassed collaboration.
6. INNOVATION—Infuse and energize the organization, enhancing the lives of those we serve, through the creative ideas and unique talents of each employee.
7. EXCELLENCE—Deliver the best outcomes and highest quality service through the dedicated effort of every team member.
8. STEWARDSHIP—Sustain and reinvest in our mission and extended communities by wisely managing our human, natural and material resources.

However, they specifically identify One Value as their primary value: The needs of the patient come first.

Elevating One Value to be Number One makes things incredibly clear. It takes courage and discipline, since every value is important.

It has worked for Mayo. In 2018 over 1.3 million people from 136 countries went to the Mayo Clinic for care, and in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings, the Mayo Clinic is the Number One hospital overall and Number One in more specialties than any other hospital in the nation.

What is your company’s Number One Value?

Note:  This is an excerpt from my latest book, Drive One Direction: How to Unleash the Accelerating Power of Alignment. In the One Code chapter, we highlight companies who unleashed the accelerating power of alignment with an intense focus on their values.

Hilton (NYSE: HLT) is a global hospitality company with a portfolio of seventeen brands, 5,700 properties, and over 923,000 rooms.

Hilton improved alignment by creating One List of core values.

Perhaps you are thinking, “Of course they have One List of values.” However, this was not always the case.

When Christopher Nassetta took over as CEO in 2007, he discovered that Hilton had over thirty different lists of core values.

Here is how he described the process of consolidating them into One List:

“We did a lot of work with teams around the world, and asked people to look at all their values statements and boil them down. Then we took all those ideas with us on a two-day offsite with about 12 of us. There was a lot of overlap, and we tried to consolidate it. What I ended up saying to them was, let’s use some of our own skills and brand it, not because I want to be cute about it, but because people will remember it. I started looking around the room and at the letters and they came together as HILTON—H for hospitality, I for integrity, L for leadership, T for teamwork, O for ownership and N for now. To reinforce them, we are constantly referring to the letters—in newsletters, in town halls—almost to the point where we are driving people crazy. But it works.”

For your reference, here is the One List of Hilton values:

• HOSPITALITY—We're passionate about delivering exceptional guest experiences.
• INTEGRITY—We do the right thing, all the time.
• LEADERSHIP—We're leaders in our industry and in our communities.
• TEAMWORK—We're team players in everything we do.
• OWNERSHIP—We're the owners of our actions and decisions.
• NOW—We operate with a sense of urgency and discipline.

As you can see, each value has both One Word and an expected behavior. This extra step turns static values into a dynamic corporate code that can drive behavior.

Of course, this starts with having One List.

Does your company have One—and Only One—List of core values?

Note:  This is an excerpt from my latest book, Drive One Direction: How to Unleash the Accelerating Power of Alignment. In the One Code chapter, we highlight companies who unleashed the accelerating power of alignment with an intense focus on their values.

The Blommer Chocolate Company (www.blommer.com) is the largest cocoa processor and ingredient chocolate supplier in North America.

Blommer unleashed the accelerating power of alignment with One DNA.

Blommer Chocolate was founded in 1939 in Chicago, Illinois, by three brothers; Henry, Al, and Bernard. For almost 80 years, the Blommer family has run the company.

The company now has over 800 employees, including the third generation of Blommers: Peter, Rick and Steve Blommer, Peter Drake, and Tori Blommer-O’Malley.

(Although these Blommer family members come from different branches of the family tree, they still share some common DNA. This could actually be confirmed by Autosomal DNA testing, which measures the number and length of common DNA segments.)

Peter Blommer, the grandson of Henry, started working for the company in 1991 in the Union City, California, plant. He became the President and Chief Executive Officer in 2009.

To manage the rapidly expanding company, Peter needed to recruit and incorporate outside executives who were not part of the Blommer family but shared the company’s DNA.

After all, your company’s DNA—just like your personal DNA—defines who you are and differentiates you from everyone else.

Here is how Peter Blommer described it, “Our unique company DNA is a function of several factors, including our history as a family business, our company values, our philosophy of management, and more. Creating company-wide alignment with the Blommer DNA was a top priority when I became CEO.”

At this point, roughly three-quarters of the senior management team is comprised of executives from outside the family.

The results from Blommer’s investments in strategic alignment have been sweet. (Pardon the pun.) The business continues to grow, the family relationships are healthier than ever, and the company is positioned to thrive for generations to come.

Your company may not be a family business, but that does not mean you can’t run it like one. You can treat your employees like family. You can treat your customers like family. You can even treat your vendors like family.

Of course, this means that you must codify your company’s unique DNA.

Do your values emanate from the founder’s DNA?

So, perhaps you are thinking that your company could never be a Medtronic. Your purpose will never be as inspiring as saving lives.

One Way to align everyone is to create a nonprofit or foundation as your One.org.

Today’s workforce needs to be inspired.

To stay aligned with my One Theme, I thought it would be nice to profile ONE, the international organization co-founded by Bono from the band U2. ONE is focused on ending extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa.

The ONE name was inspired by the belief that One Voice, coming together with many others, could change the world for the better.

And I’d like to challenge you to believe that One Company—yours—could also come together to change the world for the better.

For example, many companies have created their own nonprofit or foundation, often using the .org domain extension as part of the brand. This becomes a secondary corporate structure that complements their for-profit business.

For example, Salesforce created Salesforce.org. Here is how they describe the impact, “Over the last 18 years, Salesforce.org has become a vital part of the Salesforce culture—and has allowed us to engage our employees in their communities and support the effectiveness of the social sector.”

Salesforce is also one of the leaders in a corporate philanthropy movement called “Pledge 1%.” This challenges companies to give 1% of equity, 1% of employees’ time, 1% of products, and/or 1% of profits to philanthropic endeavors. Over 8,500 companies have now taken the pledge.

Since their founding, Salesforce has given more than $260 million in grants, donated 3.8 million hours of community service, and provided product donations for more than 40,000 nonprofits and higher education institutions.

Of course, there are other ways to align your company with an inspiring purpose.

In fact, the best companies find a way to align their corporate philanthropy with their core competency.

David Abney, the CEO of UPS, explains it this way, “We focus on areas where our volunteer efforts and philanthropy not only make a difference, but also where they align with our vision, which is to ‘connect a global community through intelligent logistics networks.’”

Of course, you could always adopt an existing corporate charity. Perhaps you should consider Bono’s ONE.

Does your company have One Cause that you support as part of a “we give back” culture?

Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) develops therapies that treat nearly 70 conditions, including some of the world’s most challenging chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, cancer, and heart disease. They have revenues in excess of $30B, operate in more than 160 countries, and have over 86,000 employees.

They keep everything aligned with their “One Company. One Mission.” framework.

This amazing success story started in a garage in 1949 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (And you thought that only happened in Silicon Valley!)

Normally, we advise companies that their mission statement should be just One Sentence. Otherwise, no one will remember what it is.

Medtronic’s mission statement, in contrast, has six sentences, multiple clauses, and is over 170 words long. While this violates our penchant for brevity, I must give them credit for longevity.

Their mission statement was written by their late founder, Earl Bakken, in 1960. They spent a few years locking it down and they have used it verbatim ever since.

THE MEDTRONIC MISSION

1. To contribute to human welfare by application of biomedical engineering in the research, design, manufacture, and sale of instruments or appliances that alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life.
   
   
2. To direct our growth in the areas of biomedical engineering where we display maximum strength and ability; to gather people and facilities that tend to augment these areas; to continuously build on these areas through education and knowledge assimilation; to avoid participation in areas where we cannot make unique and worthy contributions.
   
   
3. To strive without reserve for the greatest possible reliability and quality in our products; to be the unsurpassed standard of comparison and to be recognized as a company of dedication, honesty, integrity, and service.
   
   
4. To make a fair profit on current operations to meet our obligations, sustain our growth, and reach our goals.
   
   
5. To recognize the personal worth of employees by providing an employment framework that allows personal satisfaction in work accomplished, security, advancement opportunity, and means to share in the company's success.
   
   
6. To maintain good citizenship as a company.

When you stay with One Mission for six decades, it is easy for everyone to align with it, “Nothing I can say about Medtronic today makes me happier or more optimistic about the future than the fact that the Mission is deeply embedded as a permanent part of the culture,” explained Earl Bakken.

Will your company have the discipline to stay with One Mission for six decades?

In July 2016, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) updated their mission statement.

They changed One Word.

The original mission was to “accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable transport.”

The new one is to “accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”

Here’s why they made the change. On August 1, 2016, Tesla agreed to acquire SolarCity, the largest solar provider in America.

Here is how Tesla explained the case for the acquisition,

“We would be the world’s only vertically integrated energy company offering end-to-end clean energy products to our customers. This would start with the car that you drive and the energy that you use to charge it, and would extend to how everything else in your home or business is powered. With your Model S, Model X, or Model 3, your solar panel system, and your Powerwall all in place, you would be able to deploy and consume energy in the most efficient and sustainable way possible, lowering your costs and minimizing your dependence on fossil fuels and the grid.”

Tesla has a big mission and has a big strategy to make it happen.

To ramp production to 500,000 cars per year, Tesla alone would have consumed the entire worldwide supply of lithium-ion batteries. Therefore, they built the Gigafactory (the name comes from the word “giga,” the unit of measurement representing “billions.”) Once complete, Tesla expects the Gigafactory to be the biggest building in the world—and it will be powered entirely by renewable energy sources.

One of the key aspects of the Drive One Direction^® model is the concept of “Aligned Agility.” We want companies to be both highly aligned and extremely agile. The fact that Tesla could pivot the entire company and integrate a major strategic acquisition by simply changing One Word in their mission statement is a testament to their agility.

As you might expect, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has a fascinating way to describe alignment, "Every person in your company is a vector. Your progress is determined by the sum of all vectors."

For those of you who did not get that, you might want to brush up on your linear algebra.

Tesla is a mission-driven company. By simply changing One Word, they were able to integrate Tesla Motors and Solar City.

Two companies with One (BIG) Mission.

Does your company have a mission … or a BIG One?

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) started out selling books. Now, it sells everything.

Amazon keeps the vast enterprise aligned with One Obsession.

Jeff Bezos has built Amazon into one of the most successful and transformational companies in history. And on October 27, 2017, he became the richest person in the world.

So, what was the secret to Amazon’s amazing success?

When Amazon.com launched in 1995, their mission was “to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices.”

In one of Bezos’ annual letters, he describes it this way, “There are many ways to center a business. You can be competitor focused, you can be product focused, you can be technology focused, you can be business model focused, and there are more. But in my view, obsessive customer focus is by far the most protective of Day 1 vitality.”

Let’s unpack this statement.

First, Bezos is obviously right. There are indeed many ways to center a business. In other words, there are many ways to align a business.

Second, Bezos presents the options as discreet choices. His implication is that your company must choose One of them. Do you agree?

Third, Bezos bridges from describing the other choices as “focused” to Amazon having “obsessive customer focus.”

“Obsessive” is an extreme word. In extreme cases, obsession can become a dysfunctional pathology.

Perhaps “obsessive customer focus” sounds extreme. But clearly, it has worked for Amazon.

Unfortunately, most companies are distracted, divided, and dysfunctional. Many others are obsessed with the wrong things.

Developing One Obsession is a tremendous way to improve strategic alignment. You will just have to agree on what to become obsessed with.

Finally, while becoming “the Earth’s most customer-centric company” was indeed Amazon’s original mission, they now describe it as one of the fourteen leadership principles that make up their DNA.

If you are inspired to copy Amazon’s example, complete this sentence: “Our mission is to become the most ________________-obsessed company in the world.”

Your company has a mission.

Otherwise, you should not exist.

As best as I can determine, the term “mission statement” first appeared in an obscure U.S. Department of Commerce document published in 1960. Since then, it has become conventional wisdom to suggest that companies should have One.

While every company has a mission, our research revealed that many—but certainly not all—companies have mission statements.

Crafting a corporate mission statement can be an excruciating process.

In 1983, Bain and Company, the management consulting firm, embarked on the process of crafting a mission statement. The senior partners of the firm spent five days holed up in a cabin in New Hampshire. They agonized over every word and ultimately crafted this statement:

“We help our clients create such high levels of value that together we set new standards of excellence in our respective industries.”

Bill Bain, their founder and CEO, described it this way, “This is the combination of those things that we already do when we are at our best and those things that we need to do to be at our best more often.”

While most of the mission statements we reviewed were vanilla and uninspiring, a well-crafted One—like Bain’s—can help companies create alignment.

This week, we will look at how fast-lane companies addressed this issue. Amazon’s mission is internally focused and articulates what they aspire to become. Tesla’s mission is externally focused and describes what they aspire to do.

To me, aspirations are visions, not missions, but who am I to argue with Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk?

Next, we will look at Medtronic. They have been guided by their mission for sixty years!

Finally, we will explore One.org and learn how companies can make their mission more inspiring.

Of course, it is not enough to have One Mission; you must use your mission to guide both big strategic decisions and everyday tactics. You must align everyone—and everything—with it. You must prune things that are not aligned with your mission.

NOTE: These stories are excerpted from my book, Drive One Direction.

Note:  This is an excerpt from my latest book,Drive One Direction: How to Unleash the Accelerating Power of Alignment. In the One Vision chapter, we highlight companies who unleashed the accelerating power of alignment with an intense focus on One Vision.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (www.MADD.com) is a Washington, D.C., nonprofit organization with over 400 employees, over 8,000 volunteers, and over 200 field locations.

It all started with One Mom.

Candace Lightner founded Mothers Against Drunk Driving on September 5, 1980, after her 13-year-old daughter, Cari, was killed by a drunk driver.

In the nearly 40 years since their founding, drunk driving deaths have been reduced by 50%.

While that is impressive, they are intensely focused on One Number: zero.

Zero deaths. Zero injuries. Zero families impacted by impaired driving.

Here is how they bring their vision to life, “At MADD, we believe in zero. Zero fathers who aren’t there for bedtime. Zero mothers who miss the first day of kindergarten. Zero sons and daughters who never come home. We believe in zero victims of drunk driving. Since MADD’s founding, we’ve made great strides … but it is not good enough because every year, drunk driving injures over 290,000 people. It’s not good enough because every year, drunk driving takes 10,000 lives. It’s not good enough because it isn’t zero.”

MADD’s campaign to get to zero has four strategic initiatives:

• High-visibility law enforcement, including DUI checkpoints.
• Ignition interlocks for all convicted drunk drivers, which forces offenders to provide a sober breath sample before operating their vehicles.
• Advanced vehicle technology, including autonomous vehicles which have the potential to eliminate roadway fatalities.
• Public support, since everyone has a responsibility to help eliminate drunk driving.

In Built to Last, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras introduced the concept of the Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal or BHAG (pronounced bee-hag). Here is how they describe it, “A true BHAG is clear and compelling, serves as unifying focal point of effort, and acts as a clear catalyst for team spirit. It has a clear finish line, so the organization can know when it has achieved the goal; people like to shoot for finish lines.”

MADD’s “zero” is a brilliant example of a BHAG. It is clear, simple, and inspiring.

It is also a brilliant example of the One Number strategy. When you can summarize your vision in One Number, everyone knows exactly how you keep score.

Lots of numbers are important, but it is the job of the leader to define which One is the most important.

Revenue. Revenue Growth. Profitability. Market Share. Customer Satisfaction. Net Promoter. Earnings per Share. Share Price. All of these (and more) are good numbers.

Which One is the most important? That depends on how you define success. Ideally, find One Number that is simple to measure and simple to communicate.

MADD’s vision is One Word that also happens to be One Number. Brilliant!

If you had to summarize your vision with One Number, what would it be?

Note:  This is an excerpt from my latest book,Drive One Direction: How to Unleash the Accelerating Power of Alignment. In the One Vision chapter, we highlight companies who unleashed the accelerating power of alignment with an intense focus on One Vision.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) began in 1971 as a low-cost carrier with three airplanes flying to three cities in Texas. Now, they have approximately 750 airplanes making more than 4,000 weekday departures during peak travel seasons to over nearly 100 destinations. More than 58,000 employees serve over 120 million passengers every year.

Southwest is a great example of a company whose vision statement clearly articulates their ambition.

In January 2013, Southwest launched a new vision: to become the world’s most loved, most flown, and most profitable airline. 

Their vision has three components, and each can be measured.

The “most loved” component expresses how they want people—customers, employees, partners, suppliers, and investors—to feel about them. Here is how they are doing:

• Southwest has been #1 in the DOT Consumer Satisfaction Ranking for 23 of the last 27 
• Southwest is ranked #2 on the list of Top-Rated Workplaces in 2018 by Indeed.
• Southwest received 301,825 resumes and hired 6,275 new employees in 2017. 

Since launching their vision, the stock is up more than 300 percent!

The “most flown” component expresses their desire to be the biggest. Here is how they are doing:

• Southwest is America's largest domestic airline in terms of originating domestic passengers with 24 percent market share at the end of 2017.

The “most profitable” component can also be quantified. Here is how they are doing:

• In 2017, they celebrated 45 consecutive years of profitability.

While Southwest calls it a “vision statement,” perhaps it should be called an “ambition statement.” It has three simple components, which makes it easy to understand. Each can be measured, which makes it easy for them to evaluate their progress.

In addition to their vision, Southwest also has a mission statement, a set of core values, and a purpose—to connect people to what's important in their lives through friendly, reliable, and low-cost air travel. All of these elements work together to unleash the accelerating power of alignment.

By any measure, Southwest is an amazing company. For the 24th consecutive year, they were named to FORTUNE's 2018 list of “World's Most Admired Companies.” This is just one of many accolades and awards.

Does your vision statement articulate your company’s ambition?