When I read "Who Says Elephants Can't Dance" many years later, I can't help but admire Gerstner's profound insights and withstanding the test of time. Especially in terms of competitive and strategic insights.
His career at McKinsey helped Gerstner realize that it is difficult for a company to develop a strategy that is unique, and that the key to success or failure is execution. This is because:
Each industry is defined and constrained by certain economic models, specific customer expectations, and a well-known competitive structure that is unlikely to change in the short term.
A company may have certain advantages, such as cost advantages, brand advantages, or patent advantages, but these advantages are not sufficient to fully defend the company against the onslaught of competition. Ultimately, the most common scenario is that every company is essentially using the same competitive strategy.
To execute well, Gerstner sees three aspects: world-class business processes, strategic transparency, and a high-performance company culture.
Best-in-class business processes
In all industries, there are 5 or 6 key factors that can be used to improve competitiveness, and the best companies in a given industry generally build a business process that their competitors cannot match. For example, Walmart has super business processes in store management, inventory, product selection, and **GE also has world-class business processes in cost management and quality managementToyota, on the other hand, has state-of-the-art business processes in product lifecycle management.
During his nine-year tenure, Gerstner also led IBM's efforts to build leading business processes in key areas, such as the product design process: "It took millions of dollars and thousands of hours of time to change the way tens of thousands of IBM employees work."
Gerstner concludes by emphasizing that leading processes are essential to a company's success: "If your company has an outdated, intermittent and slow-moving process – especially those that are critical to your success in your industry – you are bound to be a failure." “
Strategic transparency
In order to outperform the competition in terms of strategy execution, the company must clearly communicate the strategy and values to all employees, reinforce these values in every action of the company, and allow employees the freedom to act accordingly, trust them and trust them to execute the company's strategy in accordance with these values.
When you come to The Home Depot, you'll have a clear understanding of your role in the success of your company by a talented salesperson who is eager to find an opportunity to help you. Their actions are motivated by confidence and conviction in success, not by procedural regulations.On the other hand, too many companies are sending conflicting messages to their employees. "We want the highest quality in the industry. A CEO said in January. "We need to cut our spending by 15 percent across the board. The chief financial officer said in March. The next time another conflicting message about an important customer's needs comes out, how do the company's employees deal with their customers?
High-performance company culture - the same people win
Super strategy execution isn't just about doing the right thing, it's about doing it right faster, more often, and more effectively than the competition. It's a tough jobEmployees in the company are required to be able to transcend the ordinary company-employee relationship and have an extraordinary dedication. All of this is what I call a high-performance company culture.A high-performance company culture is something that can only be understood, not spoken. Once you're in a successful company culture, you'll quickly feel it: the company's senior executives are true leaders and people who take the initiative;Employees are willing to dedicate themselves to the company's pursuit of success;The products are all top notch;Everyone cares about quality;Losing to a competitor – whether in a big battle or a small one, is something that makes all employees angry;There is no hiding place here for the golden mean;Excellence should be encouraged, valued, and rewarded.
In short, a company with a high-performance culture is a winner in the business world, and its employees are loyal to the company and are reluctant to go to any other company except their own.