Business beyond the box

John O’ Keeffe
Vice President, Procter and Gamble

1 Dec 8, 2021 - Vinay Chaganti -

 Structure of this Presentation

 Introduction to the Author

 Need to think beyond the box
 Operating principle for Breakthroughs
 Strategies to achieve Breakthroughs

 Interaction

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 John O’ Keeffe

 Graduated from Cambridge University

 Joined Procter and Gamble and had a fast track career
 While leaving Procter and Gamble, he was the Vice President of the
organization, and also the president of its Health and Beauty care products in
Europe
 Recognized as a powerful speaker and effective seminar leader, he shared
platforms with Helmut Schmidt, Michael Porter and Edward de Bono.

 Authored four books

– Triangular Thinking and Triangular Action
– Crisis like performance without Crisis
– Business as usual
– Business beyond the box

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 Need to think beyond the box…

 Ability to Innovate, more than the ability to administrate

 Challenging Status Quo, more than accepting it
 Looking at what can be, more than what it is
 Playing with boundaries, than playing within the boundaries

“The major challenge for the leaders of the 21st century will be,
How to release the brain power of the organizations.”
-- Warren Bennis

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 Operating principle for Breakthrough…

 Use both Pull and Push Strategies,

– Pull : Having a Vision, Attracting Pleasure
– Push : Questioning the status quo, Avoiding Pain
 Leverage on the strengths of Head and Heart,
– Head : Logic, Analysis and Facts
– Heart : Passion, Emotion and Imagination

Step Change alone is DREAM

Know How alone is UNIVERSITY
Creativity alone is ENTERTAINMENT

Combination of all the above only would lead to BREAKTHROUGH

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 Strategies to achieve a Breakthrough…

 Picture a Step Change

 Build Know How
 Use Creative Thinking
 Act in the Action Zone
 Become Whole Brained
 Have a Powerful Mindset
 Use Hats, Maps and Thinking Pads
 Recharge yourself and Get on Fire

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 Picturing a Step Change…

 Requirements
– Imagination of dramatically different ways of doing the business
– Targets stretched, not by percentages but by multiples
– Dreaming precisely while Dreading vaguely
– The ability to distinguish between a MISS and a MISTAKE
 Obstacles
– Temptation for Logical Incrementalism
– Inability to see the need for breakthrough, till there is a crisis

“The power of breakthrough is so great, that we find ourselves close to a

seemingly unattainable target. For this to happen, we need to do
whatever it takes.”
-- John Brown, CEO British Petroleum

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 Building Know How…

 Requirements
– Ability to distinguish between Information and Knowledge
– Holding on to the right sources of Information
– Ability to conceptualize information
 Obstacles
– Information Overload and in some cases Information Pollution
– Inability to participate in groups and share experiences

“Information come from everywhere, that you did not ask for, that which
is not in the best interest, and that which is psychologically
persuasive. Put together, more information can be useless and yet
diverting.”
-- Vinay Chaganti, ATG

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 Building Know How… Continued..

 Tacit Knowledge
– Building up of one’s individual experiences and learning
 Explicit Knowledge
– Overt expression of Methods, Processes and Procedures
 Knowledge when built in group setting can be
– Tacit : Tacit – Sharing Experiences
– Tacit : Explicit – Documenting and Conceptualizing
– Explicit : Tacit – Internalize knowledge from Models
– Explicit : Explicit – Combining Models to Create New Concepts

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 Building Know How… Continued…

 Ten principles to Build Know How

– Engage with peers rather than staying in polite silos
– Discuss the contradictions
– Seek knowledge holders as well as position holders
– Treat the boss as a tacit knowledge holder
– Celebrate knowledge transfer
– Ridicule the barriers to knowledge transfer
– Seek, and interview others with tacit knowledge
– Proactively seek out all explicit knowledge resources
– Make your tacit knowledge explicit
– Keep your goals in the forefront of the mind

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 Using Creative Thinking…

 Requirements
– Ability to Spot more wrong questions than wrong answers
– Realize that the best solutions are rational, but the way of coming to these rational
solutions is barely rational
 Obstacles
– Past thinking may have been wild, going no where and producing nothing.
– Thinking out of the box is in the way of action
– We are paid to do more than think more
– Willingness to balance risk and reward

“Imagination is more important than knowledge, for while knowledge defines all
what we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might
discover and use.”
-- Albert Einstein

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 Acting in the Action Zone…

Too many Options sought : Too fast in Closing
A model that is marked by very quick decision
making, that can lead to discontinuous results.
Best described as ‘Burning bridges ahead”.
Too many Options sought : Too slow in Closing
A model that can produce Incrementalism at its
peak, and Failure at its worst. Unsuitable for
Breakthrough changes to happen. Best described
as “Paralysis by analysis”.

Too little Options sought : Too fast in Closing
A model where decision making is very
premature, leading to a probable panic in the
organization. However, this model proves to be
less risky due to the high conversion rate of
thoughts.
Too little Options sought : Too slow in Closing
A model that can never work due to inaction. At
its peak, it can lead to the death of the
organization.

Model was proposed by Karl Albrecht, in his work “Brain Power”.

“Ideas are cheap and abundant. What is important is the effective placement of these ideas
into situations that develop into actions.”
-- Peter F. Drucker
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 Becoming Whole Brained…

 Brains that produced breakthroughs so far were found using

one or more of the following six ways to engage themselves,
– Colors and Pictures
– Metaphors and Analogies
– Appeals and Emotions
– Gut feelings
– Stories as well as Data
– Semantics
 By becoming whole brained, would mean balancing the
exercise of both right and left brains.

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 Having a Powerful Mindset…

 Examples of mindsets on hypothetical scales:

– Better safe than sorry : Nothing ventured, nothing gained
– Many hands make work light : Too many cooks spoil the broth
– You cant teach an old dog : Its never too late to learn
 Mindset is a certain way of looking at things.
– It is easy to adopt, even without realizing it
– Mind becomes very good at spotting the data that reinforces the same
mindset, but poorer at realizing the contextual difference.
 A good mindset therefore would be Context based and Neutral.

“Every manager carries around in the head, a certain set of biases,

assumptions and presuppositions.”
-- Gary Hamel

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 Having a Powerful Mindset…Continued…

 Breakthrough managers would realize that Context is above

all and can have an impact more than any other attribute.
 Few statements that prove the importance of the context:
– No one can predict to what height you can soar. Not even you, until
you spread your wings and do something.
– Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet.
– All that glitters is not gold.

“Even for breakthroughs, change process begins from within.”

-- Anonymous

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 Using Hats, Maps and Thinking Pads…

 Eight Meeting Diseases

– Verbal IQ Trap - A vs. B Disease
– Specific Group Think- Co-operation Disease
– Idea Destruction - Fear of Exposure
– Bias - Politics
 Changing culture is much beyond changing habits. However, changing
habits can yield results quickly, while contributing to changing culture.
 Better meetings would be model based
– Six thinking hats : Edward De Bono
– Mind Mapping : Tony Buzan

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 Six Thinking Hats…

 Model developed to drive the thought process in a direction, while

also ensuring that the full knowledge is captured.
– White : Seek facts, figures and information
– Red : Comments on emotions, intuitions and feelings
– Black : Comments on caution, judgment
– Yellow : Identification of benefits and advantages
– Green : Alternatives, ideas, explorations, new leads and points
– Blue : Comments on purpose, controlling the process
 Benefits
– Focused group thinking
– Application of MECE, however may lose on some divergent thoughts

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 Mind Mapping…

 Process
– Put the problem in the center of the page
– Define the attributes both logically and creatively
– Expand the tree, giving examples, explaining different cases
 Benefits
– Whole brain is engaged
– Note things in the right place as they strike
– One idea triggers another
– Variety is encouraged and neatly captured
– Movement in thought process is allowed
– Fun and mind opening

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 Recharge yourself and Get it on Fire…

 Low Performance/Low Energy - Dead Bats

 Low Performance/High Energy - Playful
 High Performance/Low Energy - Cynics
 High Performance/High Energy - Winner

 Understand that mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be

ignited. Don’t spend your life climbing the ladder to realize it is a
wrong ladder. Be the driver.
 For breakthroughs,
– Learn not to unload yourself on others
– Learn to respond more with empathy, than with logic
– Learn managing the moods of uncertainty, bad feelings and troubles

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 Few points to reflect on…

 Enemy of success is worthwhile

 Perfectionism is not a virtue, it is a disease
 Nobody gets the work done by Friday, so try and do it
 It needs doing, but by others
 Be effective, rather than efficient
 Junk…
 Dance to your own tune
 Learn at least five ways of saying NO
 Decide how to finish the day and celebrate it
 Everything and anything is contextual

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 …Recap

 Picturing a Step Change  Choose Powerful Mindset

– Aiming High
 Building Know How
– Learn and Stay open to Learn
 Creative Thinking
– Imagine and Imagine
 Acting in the Action Zone
– Define the problem and act
accordingly
– Read the context and think broad
 Become Whole Brained
– Use logic and creativity equally,
and engage the brain
 Use Hats, Maps and Thinking pads
– Have a framework and a plan to
do anything
 Recharge yourself and Get on Fire
– Energy, Energy and Energy

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 Welcome for Interaction

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 Thank You all…

Vinay Chaganti
Associate, ATGOCS

Work Mail ID: Vinay.Chaganti@atgocs.com

Personal Mail ID: nenevinay@gmail.com

Mobile: +91 97040 53338

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