KEY FINDINGS
|
| KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Barbara Victor,
International Journalist & Author, Army
of Roses and The
Last Crusade
Sharon L. Allen, Chairman of
the Board, Deloitte & Touche USA LLP
Edie Weiner,
President, Weiner, Edrich, Brown, Inc.
Mira Ricardel,
Assistant Secretary of Defense, International
Policy (Acting) |
| ROUNDTABLES
Choices - Are We
Drowning?
How Low Can The Bar
Go?
The Revolting Consumer
Risk Radar
|
CLOSING
REMARKS
Dr. Judy B. Rosener,
Professor, Graduate School of Mgmt, University
of California, Irvine |
| |
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Barbara Victor, International Journalist
& Author, Army of Roses
and The Last Crusade
WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 29, 2004
|
| |
Yes,
the Palestinian women suicide bombers are
desperate. But no, this is not a political
thing. It’s a misguided and perverted
feminism. These women are recruited to blow
themselves up. Their lives are at a dead end.
They’re told suicide bombing will make
them martyrs, clear their husband’s
or family’s name, will make the happy,
and ensure them a place in paradise. Women
are recruited with the promise that they will
fight beside the men and will be revered as
national heroes. |
| |
In 1988, Hamas
came into power and women could no longer
be in the streets. They were gowned, wore
head covering, and became second-class citizens.
The feminists and other moderates let it happen.
Why? As Hanna Shrowe explained, “We
were willing to put aside our feminist goals
for the sake of our national liberation.”
|
| |
On January 27,
2001, Yasser Arafat spoke before a group of
women at his headquarters in Ramal. His message
was: “You women are the hope of Palestine.
You are no longer only the ‘Womb of
the Nation,’ you are now warriors.”
A very smart speech. Body searches of Palestinian
women were forbidden, so they were easily
able to pass through security checkpoints.
On that January afternoon, Waffa Idris, the
first woman suicide bomber, blew herself up
in Jerusalem. |
| |
Leila Khaled, the
pre-eminent PLO hijacker in the 1980s said,
“I have no trouble with equality, but
I would rather see our women equal in life,
because everyone is equal in death.” |
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If you have a religious
fanaticism, a nationalistic cause, and terrible
poverty and misery, you have a fatal cocktail.
For these reasons, you would, for example,
never find women suicide bombers in Beverly
Hills. |
| |
Palestinian girls
are raised so that by age 19 they’re
ready to die as suicide bombers. Little girls
say they want to be martyrs. But when pressed,
they say, they don’t, they’re
afraid. When asked if they believe they will
get to paradise, these young girls say, yes,
then no. When asked why they chose to be suicide
bombers, they say things like, I was being
teased in school, and my uncle said if I did
this and went to paradise, I’d be popular
and happy. |
| |
Women in extremist
and outcast organizations are used as tools.
How do we get to women and change this? It’s
not enough to be outraged by women who are
veiled or circumcised or who can’t go
out, open a bank account, go to school, or
do anything without permission of a male relative.
It’s not realistic to assume that we
can change an entire culture or religion –
or that the extremists are going away. The
hope is education, economic development, and
health care for women. |
| |
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Edie Weiner, President, Weiner, Edrich,
Brown Inc.
THURSDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 30, 2004
“Systemic Neurosis”
|
|
“There’s a rising tide of frustration
in the workplace, the marketplace, and the
voting booth. There are cultural issues and
clashes, big national and personal issues.
It’s a ‘systemic neurosis.’
The business and the public sectors are neurotic.
Now, this is not a bad thing. Systemic neurosis
is systemic tension. Sometimes the tension
or neurosis is high, sometimes it lessens,
but it’s always a force smart businesses
can harness to be very creative, very innovative,
and to gain a competitive edge.” |
|
Five Thinking Technologies |
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Educated Incapacity:
We know so much about what we know that we’re
not able to see beyond it, not able to shift
focus, and not able to anticipate a competitor
coming out of left field. That’s why
we’re so often surprised when someone
else steals our lead. Educated Incapacity
begins to accrue from the time we start to
learn. We gather knowledge and experience
and carry it with us, and it becomes so heavy
that it limits our creativity and ability
to see. |
| |
Trend/Counter-Trend:
For every action, there’s an equal and
opposite reaction. For every trend, there
is at least one counter-trend. For example:
|
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Immortality/Boredom:
Thanks to genetic engineering, entertainment,
and computer technologies, we can become immortal
– experience thousands of years of human
experience in one afternoon. Watch Jurassic
Park and Star Trek back-to-back. The counter-trend
to this immortality is boredom. The more information,
experience, and entertainment we can compress
into smaller periods of time, the more excitement
we crave. We’re miserable at leisure,
and, as a result, each generation becomes
increasingly bored. |
| |
Decline of Nation
States/Rise of City States; National borders
are eroding. New boundaries are beginning
to emerge, formed around global corporations,
religions, ethnic affiliations, Internet chat
rooms, communities of interest, and cities.
It has become more important for travelers,
for example, to understand the city they are
traveling to than the country. |
| |
Big Brother/Little
Brother: We’re afraid of government
and big-corporate intrusions in our privacy,
but we’re less afraid of the little,
subtle intrusions in our privacy. The truth
is, we should be concerned about both. Everybody
has access to the same “spying”
technology. |
| Four
Bottom-Line Reasons to Switch Figure and
Ground |
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Ability/Disability:
We tend to believe the vital population –
the people in the foreground – are physically
able. In the background, are all those with
physical challenges or disabilities. The truth
is that most everyone faces some kind of physical,
mental, visual, auditory, lifestage-related,
etc., challenge at some time. So when you
design for the physically challenged, you
design for everyone. |
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Computer Efficiencies/Computer
Glitches: It’s our perception that smoothly
running software and computers are the norm,
the foreground. The background is computer
glitches and abuses. The reverse is actually
the case. In fact, software and computer glitches
and abuses are the pollution of the coming
economy. |
| |
Education/Intelligence:
We are moving to higher levels of education
and specialization. That’s the figure
ground. Lower level skills are in the background.
However, the skills of professionals like
the engineer, the lawyer, the doctor, the
software engineer, the accountant can be replicated
and are becoming commodified. A skill no longer
guarantees job security. In this environment,
we shift focus, and intelligence is the foreground.
We have to be able to apply our intelligence
to create and recreate. |
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Secularism/Militant
Religionism: Secularism, most of us perceive,
is the norm, the figure ground. In the background
is militant religionism – militant Islam,
for example. Not true. Militant religionism
is happening on every continent and growing
rapidly – Islamic Fundamentalism, Christian
Fundamentalism, Jewish Extremism. |
| |
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Mira Ricardel, Assistant Secretary
of Defense, International Security Policy
(Acting)
LUNCHEON, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2004 |
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“Transformation
depends on attitudes and mindsets and openness
and willingness to challenge what’s
been done and how. When we look back 10 years
from now, I believe the Transformation initiative
will have a monumental impact, and I’m
pleased to be part of it.” |
| |
The Secretary of
Defense’s Policy Office is involved
in day-to-day tasks such as conducting defense
talks with other countries, developing international
initiatives, drafting instructions for negotiators
dealing with proliferation and other issues.
We’re also involved in long-term thinking
on the US Defense Strategy.
When President Bush came into office, he asked
Secretary Rumsfeld how best to position the
US in the world for the decades to come. Transformation
is the initiative that resulted from this
directive. |
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Transformation: |
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- refers to changes in structure, approach,
and thinking needed to adapt and meet
the new challenges of the 21st century.
- is about how we’re trying to remake
the Department of Defense, including how
we’re organized, do business, business
practices, and how we recruit and reward
the best talent.
- is about how our military is trained,
equipped, utilized, and positioned around
the world. Consultations are underway
with countries around the world about
how we’re going to update the types,
locations, and capabilities of our forces.
- is about our alliances and how we work
with our allies and partners. Our coalitions
are very important because terrorist movements
and threats go across borders.
|
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Post-Transformation:
- Defense reforms and
a much more capable military in many NATO
countries.
- Vast sea change in our relationship
with Russia. There is cooperation on terrorism,
especially since the tragedy at Beslam
Grozny. There is focus on corruption,
including air safety and the black marketing
of airline tickets. There is transparency
in our relationship.
- In Central Asia, in the Caucuses, after
September 11th, the US has received tremendous
support, basing, and access. Islamic extremist
terrorism has been a factor in this part
of the world for a number of years.
|
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Women
In Security Roles:
Mira is one of very few women in
the Pentagon, in national security leadership
in Central Asia and NATO. When Mira heads
a US delegation and in her role as Chairwoman
of the NATO Political Directors Group, she
is often the only woman at the table.
|
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Answers
to Questions: |
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“You do much
better in combating extremism if you have
a middle class. I’m not an economist
or an expert on Islamic extremism, but if
you look at the countries that are liberalizing
their economies and giving opportunities and
education, that’s very important. Extremists
essentially high-jack their religion and education
systems.” |
| |
“Democracy
is a process. I don’t think it’s
uniquely ours and only applicable to western
countries. It develops it’s own forms.
Almost 10 million people have registered to
vote in Afghanistan even though they’ve
been threatened. That suggests to me that
most people around the world crave liberty.” |
| |
“When it
comes to security, you can’t choose
to deal with one issue at a time. You have
to do them all at once, and not every problem
has the same solution. We’re dealing
with networks. It reminds me of organized
crime. The mobsters may not like each other,
but they do business with each other.” |
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“One of the
most dramatic developments is Libya. The impact
of Iraq on Libya was, please don’t come
here. That’s a very dramatic change
and a net plus for security. One less rogue
state.” |
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ROUNDTABLE
CHOICES: ARE WE DROWNING? |
| |
AGENDA
QUESTIONS:
1. How do you know if and when your customers
are confused?
2. What are the best things companies can
do to help customers choose?
3. If the “choice trend” continues,
at what point does the system crash?
|
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POINT
OF VIEW
“I’m not with Miss
Piggy on choice. She said, ‘too much
of a good thing is wonderful.’ I say,
is seven salad dressing choices in a restaurant
better than three? Hasn’t your day
been hard enough? We are over-stimulated
and overwhelmed, and what we need is not
more choice, but more touch.” Linda
Stone, Writer, Consultant & Professional
Pollinator
“We no longer live in a selling culture.
You can’t sell anybody anymore. You
have to allow them to discover you, your
products, and services. Then, they can begin
to own you, and that builds the kind of
intimacy and personal relationship that
breaks through the overwhelming number of
product choices.” Joan Overlock,
Former Executive Vice President, Marketing,
Limited Brands
“Simplicity is a choice. When there’s
so much clutter and so much noise coming
through, simplicity breaks through. It’s
a return to family values, to stepping back
to reassess what’s important.”
Beth Wood, CEO, Nancy’s Coffee,
NBW Corporation
|
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KEY FINDINGS |
| |
For Americans,
choices are multiplying exponentially in every
aspect of life. We’re confused and exhausted
and numbed by over-choice. |
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Making choices
is a conscious process, which requires brain
capacity, and our brains are somewhat limited.
We can only hold about seven simple pieces
of information at a time. Beyond that, our
brains start to wipe the slate, empty out,
lose things. That’s not just a function
of age. Scientists believe that teenagers
are also overwhelmed and damaged by too much
choice. Their brains have not yet developed
the appropriate filters. |
| |
Consumers fall
into two groups, maximizers and satisfiers.
Maximizers always want to make the best decision.
They agonize and second guess. Satisfiers
make decisions and move on to the next project.
Satisfiers are generally happy. Not surprisingly,
most CEOs and top level executives are satisfiers. |
| |
When things start
to fall out of our heads, emotion and repetition
do stick. For advertisers and marketers, it’s
critical to make that emotional connection.
Mini-Cooper, Jet Blue, and Apple are three
brands successfully doing this |
| |
Consumer research
is only as good as the people who interpret
it. Marketers over-react to every need that
consumers voice. Wouldn’t it be great
if we had this or that, they suggest, and
marketers jump. |
| |
Demographics don’t
matter any more. You cannot make assumptions
about consumers because of age and income
alone. Marketers need to consider psychographics,
the mind-set and interests of consumers, and
they need to find ways to help the consumer
feel safe and protected in making a decision. |
| |
Direct to consumer
communications, face-to-face interaction,
and good customer relationships can help to
guide consumer choices. Consumers do need
guidance, and if they trust you, you’ve
gained a competitive edge. |
| |
There are 6,200
consumer magazines published annually, $10
billion is spent on Internet advertising,
20 minutes of every hour of television is
advertising. In this environment, mediocrity
is dead. You’ll never cut through the
clutter – or you’ll never get
past technologies like TIVO. |
| |
People block advertising
and e-mails and telemarketing, so celebrity
endorsements and product placements are a
free-for-all. Beware. Put your brand in the
wrong place, and your equity and consumer
trust can erode. |
| |
Most people filter
information badly, particularly in the area
of medical decision making. A lot of medical
information comes to us via the Internet.
We don’t know if we can trust it. |
| |
There are 19,000
choices when you walk into Starbucks. Is that
motivating or de-motivating? Have we taken
customization to the extreme? In a consumer
experiment, one group was given a choice of
24 jams, another was given six. The group
with 24 never opened a single sample. |
| |
It isn’t
the over-abundance of choice that’s
driving our consumption of anti-depressants.
It’s the fact that we want to choose
our mood. An unwillingness to or not enough
time to deal with our feelings is boosting
anti-depressant sales. |
| |
More women are
choosing to opt-out of big corporate jobs.
The motivator: the need to do what we do,
without the bureaucracy, the politicking,
and the posturing. Going into small organizations
allows us to get back to what we do well.
|
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Choices are different
around the world. In New York or Milan, we
have to choose whether to wear high heels
with blue jeans or which kind of food to eat.
In India, parents have to choose if they will
eat or feed their children. It’s important
that we limit the gap between the haves and
the have-nots. |
| |
In emerging markets,
marketers must be very conscious of how many
and in what manner choices are presented to
consumers. Too much choice could alienate
novices in the marketplace, too little could
be seen as patronizing. In existing markets,
it’s wise to alleviate consumer stress
by making it easier to make choices without
eliminating options. |
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ROUNDTABLE
HOW LOW CAN THE BAR GO? |
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AGENDA
QUESTIONS:
1. Should companies want to raise
the bar?
2. Are cheating, theft, voyeurism and violence
good or bad for business?
3. What will the new role models look like?
|
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POINT OF
VIEW
“I’m a
huge first amendment person. Still, the media
can reach enormous audiences and has a tremendous
amount of influence. They do have an obligation
to raise the bar in terms of behavior.”
Peggy Conlon, President & CEO, Ad
Council
“We’re seeing
a perfect political, economic, and social
storm. We don’t have social control
anymore. We don’t know our neighbors.
We’re mobile. We’re on-call all
the time, suffer from information overload,
and are frustrated and angry. We only hear
the negative. Put all this together, and it
explains why we lack civility.” Judy
B. Rosener, Ph.D., Professor, Graduate School
of Management, University of California, Irvine
“The TV is our great fireplace
that we’ll sit around to watch two men
vie for the presidency. The debates should
refine discourse, but instead they’ve
become a free-for-all. The candidates will
get negative and say what they want, knowing
they’ll change policy once they get
into the White House.” Betty Hudson,
Senior Vice President, Communications, National
Geographic Society |
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KEY FINDINGS |
| |
We’ve lost
our moral compass. Civility, respect, politeness,
and tolerance are out of fashion. Distrust,
disrespect, theft, bad taste, hate, lack of
concern, bully managers, and cheating are
on the rise – at the workplace, online,
and in virtually all human interactions. |
| |
Kids, adults, corporate
executives, government, universities, etc.
lie. The public is extremely distrustful of
the news media. Yet, kids are getting their
values from the TV screen. These are things
that threaten our freedom of press, bring
up issues like censorship, heighten our sense
of insecurity and fear, and erode public good
will. |
| |
Twelve percent
of employees leave their workplace due to
co-workers’ or supervisors’ rude
behavior. Another 53 percent are considering
leaving. Information and property theft by
people and companies also results in heavy
losses. Some experts are finally awakening
to the importance of trust and civility in
the workplace. |
| |
The days of a mutual
loyalty between an employee and organization
are over. Organizations and their workers
have no shared commitments. Accountability
seems passé. We see our leaders lie
on TV. Betrayals in the boardrooms, though
anomalies, get the media attention. They shock
and that’s what the disc jockeys talk
about in the morning. Martha Stewart, for
example, got more news coverage for what she
did wrong than she ever did for all of her
accomplishments over a 12-year period. |
| |
The pressure is
on! People are giving their lives away to
companies – 50-60 hour work weeks. So
we feel entitled to walk off with a few pencils
or pads – or to commit horrible infractions
in the boardroom – or to spend company
time on the Internet or to make long-distance
phone calls. Then, we buy things we can’t
afford because we feel we deserve them for
putting in the hours. That competition is
also motivating kids to cheat, and their parents
to support them. Kids need the grades to get
in the best schools and to land the big jobs.
The message becomes the end justifies the
means. |
| |
Corporations may
drive the return to civility and accountability.
Sarbanes Oxley probably went too far, but
there are downsides to a lack of civility:
poor performance, declines in productivity,
law suits, high-turnover, lack of innovation.
|
| |
Talking about the
way we cover war is crucial because we vote.
People need to know what it’s like on
the ground over in Afghanistan and Iraq. They’re
very different wars. We cannot decide whether
we should be there or not unless we are speaking
to people in the know – and that’s
not the people signing the checks on armaments
and budgets. A free media is critical, and
we are living in a time when the media has
been managed and compromised more than ever
before. |
| |
How do we find
the truth? The networks are profit-driven
corporations. TV news is entertainment and
editorial driven by quarterly ratings, but
people think it’s unbiased journalism.
People self-select news sources to get information
that reinforces their opinions. |
| |
Negative news and
low-brow programming does sell, and every
media organization is driven by profits. People
say they want good news, and they want intelligent
programming, but when they come home at night
exhausted, they go for the less thoughtful
or stressful choices. |
| |
There are more
good CEOs than bad. A lot of work has to be
done to change the perceptions created by
Enron, etc. Women can lead that change. We
need to go back to our businesses and our
homes and change the flow. Pay it forward.
|
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ROUNDTABLE
THE REVOLTING CONSUMER |
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AGENDA
QUESTIONS:
1. Is service better or worse?
2. How do businesses restore trust?
3. What will be the upshot of compulsive shopping
and compulsive complaining?
|
|
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POINT OF
VIEW
“When consumers
get angry, they complain. About 80 percent
of all the consumers who complain hang in
and try to get their problems resolved. After
they’ve tried and tried, they vote with
their feet.” Maura Breen, Senior
Vice President, Support Services – Network
Services Group, Verizon Telecommunications
“Customer service can be a
true point of differentiation. If customers
are coming to you because they believe in
your brand…If your brand delivers
against your marketing promise…If
you provide the proper service, you’ll
hold on to your customers.” Joanne
Schram Mealia, Senior Executive, Integrated
Marketing Communications, IBM Canada
“The current healthcare system doesn’t
work for people in general, but it really
doesn’t work for women, who are the
main utilizers of the system. We have generic
providers delivering generic care to a generic
consumer using generic practice guidelines.
There’s no way a woman can, in a 7-minute
interaction with a doctor, be heard and
understood as a whole person and get the
latest in gender-based medicine.”
Dr. Eileen Hoffman, Clinical Associate
Professor of Medicine, NYU School of Medicine. |
| |
KEY
FINDINGS |
| |
Businesses have
created a “confusopoly.” Consumers
know everything about any product and its
price, but don’t know what to do with
the information. We can’t figure out
which store has the better price, because
merchandise can differ from store to store.
If we shop around, we feel as though we’ve
wasted our time, and that makes us angry. |
| |
Consumers are
time-starved. They’re saying to marketers,
if you can’t give me a way to intelligently
and quickly purchase my product, I’m
gone. If it takes more than three clicks
for consumers to make a purchase or find
information, they’ll abandon a web
site, and they won’t wait more than
71 seconds on a telephone service line. |
| |
Revolting can apply
to someone rebelling or someone who is repellent
and abhorrent. Both meanings seem to fit today’s
consumer. There’s consumer backlash
against products that don’t deliver
on their advertised promise, ubiquitous marketing,
intrusions (spam, telemarketing, etc.), a
decline in service, lack of respect and trust.
|
| |
With the Internet,
anyone can fire off an e-mail to the CEO or
chairman. They’re inundated with angry
e-mails. Few people write when they’ve
had a great product experience. So, marketers
are fighting back and looking for friendlier,
unobtrusive ways to engage consumers. |
| |
Healthcare is an
area of consumer revolt. Forty-five million
people don’t have health insurance.
The top-down, corporate structure is not the
right structure for the healthcare system.
This structure is making healthcare complicated
and dysfunctional. |
| |
“Revolted”
by the healthcare system, more consumers are
not using their consumer or political power
to drive change. Consumers are going to alternative
practitioners – which has caused traditional
healthcare to take notice, but is also causing
some people to fall through the cracks. |
| |
Pharmacogenomics
is the future of medicine. The pharmaceutical
industry is producing the technology to create
and prescribe customized therapies based on
each patient’s genomes and proteins.
A lot of research and development is going
into replaceable parts, anti-aging, etc. |
| |
Increasingly, consumers
complain to marketers about problems that
have nothing to do with their products. This
is particularly true in telecommunications
and high-tech. In fact, at Verizon, only 4
percent of customer service calls are related
to the products they sell. This is costly,
but essential to maintaining customer relationships.
|
| |
There are some
times when marketers or retailers need to
fire a customer. It’s counter-intuitive
to build a great relationship with someone
who is unhappy. Marketers listen and work
to solves problems, but when it’s clear
there’s no solution, there’s no
profit to be made, you have to end the customer
relationship. |
| |
Baby boomers –
a very “me”-oriented group –
control 80 percent of the personal financial
assets and 50 percent of discretionary spending,
which will total $1.9 trillion by the end
of this decade. Women are responsible for
83 percent of all consumer purchases, 94 percent
of home furnishings, 92 percent of vacations,
80 percent of healthcare decisions, and about
two-thirds of healthcare spending. Consumer
word of mouth is powerful, treat your customers
well. |
| |
ROUNDTABLE
RISK RADAR |
| |
AGENDA
QUESTIONS:
1. Will abiding by the “precautionary
principle” require a different form
of strategic planning?
2. What safety valves exist when you can’t
know it all?
3. Since “unavoidable ignorance”
won’t cover you, where do you draw the
“held liable” line?
|
| |
POINT OF
VIEW “I look at risk very
simply. We have to take risk, and it’s
important to be right 51 percent of time,
and that’s not so difficult. Risk-taking
is about trying to anticipate the future
and then going for it.” Jane Friedman,
President & CEO, HarperCollins Publishers
“There are three parts to our risk
strategy. We’re choosy about who we
do business with. We align ourselves with
and hire people who have a passion for and
commitment to our business. We keep our
eyes on the lawyers, legislatures, and media.”
Melinda Masson, CEO/President, The Merit
Companies
“There is an increasing intolerance
for risk when it comes to the protection
of human health and the environment from
hazardous constituents and toxins. People
are unwilling to accept any level of risk
and unwilling to trust the tools and techniques
used to ensure the safe management, treatment,
and disposal of toxic waste. This has serious
consequences.” Jacqueline W. Sales,
Founder & President, HAZMED, Inc.
|
| |
KEY FINDINGS |
| |
Our perception
of risk is heightened in all directions –
terrorism, healthcare, environment, air travel,
etc. As a result, businesses are moving from
objective assessment of risk as our guiding
principle to the perception of risk; from
how much risk is safe to how little damage
is acceptable. |
| |
Risks for every
business are all-encompassing – human
resources, rogue employees, theft, sexual
harassment; information risk, hackers, spies,
system collapses; environmental and product
liability; copyright risk; reporting risk;
casualty; the kinds of problems we saw at
Enron, and many more. |
| |
The “precautionary
principle” – understanding how
much damage to the environment might occur
and what will be acceptable to the affected
parties – is now being applied to decision-making
in other areas. It’s leading us to the
belief that we should be able to anticipate
all risks. On the other hand, the common law
principle of “unavoidable ignorance”
– can’t be liable for what you
didn’t know – seems to be invalid.
“The Law of Unintended Consequences”
is being repealed, and guarantees of safety
are being demanded. The result will be significant
increases in liability and litigation. |
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The “precautionary
principle” is more than an abstract
concept, but it’s not a absolute proof
of safety; nor can it be applied to everything.
Every time pharmaceutical companies put a
drug on the market, they have to put it through
long-term studies and meet government regulations.
Every time the government makes an environmental
move, an assessment must be done. Every time
a product is sold to children it’s tested
and re-tested. When you market and sell to
children, you can’t afford to be wrong
even one time. |
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We’re now
seeing the precautionary principle applied
in bio-tech. Applying it creates a shift in
burden of proof and the frustration of guaranteeing
a product would never hurt anybody. It’s
impossible to make that promise. |
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Toys-R-Us protects
against risk, their brand, and the safety
of their customers by setting the bar high.
That includes: working with state and federal
agencies on safety regulations, running background
checks on employees, limiting access to “mature”
toys and games, never collecting information
from children under 13. |
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McNeil Nutritionals
drives growth through bringing new ideas to
the market. New products account for 70 percent
of growth. So, we need big, transformational
ideas, and they are hard to find and take
time and money to bring to market. In order
to bring one idea to market, I have to invest
in about 10-30 ideas. Our product doesn’t
have to be the first to market, but it has
to be the best. |
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If you want to
make the big win, you have to take the big
risk and accept that it can be a big failure.
Most organizations do not reward people for
taking risks that don’t pan-out. One
of the best things managers can do is to positively
reward failures, and create a culture of accountability.
|
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The time to take
risks is when your company is in a position
of strength. There’s little likelihood
you’ll bring your company down. CEOs
have to be satisfiers, can’t think twice
and over deliberate, but have to take calculated
risks every day. Even failures create opportunities.
From a career standpoint, no one can succeed
without taking risks. Promotion by seniority
is long gone. |
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CLOSING REMARKS
Dr. Judy B. Rosener, Professor, Graduate
School of Management, University of California,
Irvine |
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Choice is really
a luxury of the well-to-do. Advertising is
consumer-driven, so we get the marketing we
deserve. Our brains, when overloaded, delete
information. We need to see face-to-face product
and service choices differently than supermarket
choices. We need intermediaries to help us
make the best choices. Emotion and repetition
stick. Lack of choices around the world, limit
choice in the US. |
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News was a loss-leader;
now it’s a profit center. There are
many causes to incivility, and each of us
has to take responsibility for raising the
bar. |
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Consumers are in
revolt and revolting. Consumers don’t
complain, typically, until they’ve really
had it with a company. Consumers are more
sophisticated because they’re gathering
information online. Marketers need to listen
to their customers and prospects. Women over
45 are a powerful market. There’s a
large number of us, and we control the majority
of purchases. |
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Risk Radar: it’s
easy to be right 50 percent of the time. There’s
risk to playing it safe as well as innovating.
We can’t apply the burden of certainty
rule to every action. There’s increasingly
intolerance for risk associated with toxic
materials. When dealing with children, you
can’t afford to be wrong even once.
We all have grave concerns with regard to
lawyers, legislation, and the media in terms
of taking risks. Many people don’t want
to take responsibility for risks. |
| |
We can all make
a difference when it comes to the issues that
we talked about today. We can increase civility
in all of the arenas in which we operate.
As Yogi Berra said, “When you get to
a fork in the road, take it.” |
