Ray Anderson and Interface

In one of my classes today we watched a video on a company called Interface which was founded in 1973 to produce the first free-lay carpet tiles in America. Their former CEO, Ray Anderson, led a change effort that had to do with sustainability. After reading The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken he completely changed the company internally to become more sustainable and I think a lot more companies (Walmart for example) are becoming eco-friendly because of the success that his company had. In 2009, Interface was more than halfway towards the vision of "Mission Zero", which means the company wanted to produce zero waste by using recycled products to manufacture recyclable products. 

I think it's becoming more and more important for companies to implement sustainable programs and behaviors into their businesses because if they don't, we're going to have a lot less time on this planet than most people think. It's impossible to run linear business plans (make, sell, throw away) in a non-linear world forever. Eventually we're not going to have enough resources or enough room to put our waste and I think that starting change projects that put sustainability practices into place are a lot more important today than they used to be, mostly because we know now that our current procedures won't work forever. Anyone have a different opinion or any thoughts on this issue?

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Daniel Changelon

First Female CEO in IBM History

IBM announced the Virginia Rometty, a senior VP and group executive for IBM Sales, Marketing and Strategy as its next CEO, replacing retiring CEO Sam Palmisano. Rometty will take over on Jan. 1. She will also serve as president and join the board. Palmisano will retain his role as chairman.  In her current role, Rometty is responsible for IBM’s worldwide results, which exceeded $99 billion in 2010.  She also is responsible for leading IBM’s global strategy, marketing and communications functions.  She has been named to Fortune’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Business” for the past six years.   Rometty, who is 54, takes the reins after IBM celebrated its centennial and as steady profit growth pushed the shares this year to the highest level since the company went public in 1915. Her experience in sales, services and acquisitions fits with the strategic direction set by Palmisano, who said last year the company will add $20 billion to revenue between 2010 and 2015 by expanding in markets such as cloud computing and analytics.

Rometty grew up in a Chicago suburb, the oldest of four children. In 1979, she got a degree in computer science and electrical engineering from Northwestern University and headed to an internship with General Motors in Detroit, where she met her husband, Mark. After her internship, she joined IBM. She now splits her time between homes in White Plains, New York, and Bonita Springs, Florida, where she and Mark are avid scuba divers.  Rometty will become the first women to hold the title of IBM in its history.  Do you think that her gender will play a role in the way workers within IBM respond to her?  Should she approach the job any different then she did before to try and earn early respect?

Cliffton Gordon

SAS Business Model

SAS is the largest privately held software company in the world, and the 14th largest overall. The company's CEO, Jim Goodnight, has turned customer loyalty and employee satisfaction into an art and because of his business model, SAS has an employee turnover rate of 2-3% while the rest of the industry's rate is around 20%. Goodnight believes many executives are too obsessed with short-term number-based managements. With their eyes only on the short-term, they fail to recognize long-term opportunities such as research and development, employee and customer longevity, and education for the next generation. I think that the main reason we are currently in a recession is for these exact reasons; too many CEO's and managers work in the short-term and don't look at the long-term consequences of their actions.

Jim Goodnight actually believes in his workers and values their creativity and opinions. He thinks of employees as his primary and does anything in his power to keep bringing them back day after day. This ideology is a change from most companies that make the news where employees are just used as tools for profit and I think that upcoming business leaders can learn a lesson from Goodnight's actions. Does anyone else agree with his business model? Or does this only work because Goodnight is running a privately held corporation that doesn't have to worry about shareholders? Could this same model be applied to a public organization focused more on profit?

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Daniel Changelon

New C.E.O. for Harry & David

Harry and David is a company founded in 1910 in Seattle, Washington.  The company is well known for high end gift baskets and holiday gift towers.  The company within the last year filed for chapter 11, bankruptcy.  After the board of directors fired the previous CEO, they hired an interim CEO named Kay Hong.  Hong has been in charged since February and has helped the company back into profitable quarters.  Harry and David announced their new CEO earlier this morning as Craig Johnson.  Craig Johnson and Kay Hong will work together till the end of the year to help ease the transition process for the company. 

            Craig Johnson is the former chief supply chain officer for Guitar Center.  Johnson recently released a statement saying, “With its successful restructuring now complete, improved capital structure in place and an outstanding harvest and holiday gift selection, the company is poised for a successful holiday season.”  Johnson has been in several leadership roles and sounds excited to start working with his new team.  In my opinion I believe that Johnson should learn as much as he can from Hong while he still has him as a resource.  Hong is only there to make the transition phase easier for Johnson but he has to prove that he is a vital replacement for Hong.  Kay Hong has led the company out of a recession and back into profit.  Harry and David is not a Fortune 500 company; however Johnson needs to be careful because he has a lot of employees that work underneath him that might be disappointed with the decision to go against Hong.  It will be large shoes for Johnson to fill even though Hong was only there for a short time. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/harry-and-david-appoints-craig-johnson-as-its-ceo-succeeds-kay-hong/2011/10/24/gIQA7rFRCM_story.html

F8: Mark Zuckerberg and the Facebook Comittee - Too much change?

F8 is a yearly event that Facebook holds to bring the entrepreneurs of social media together to discuss the next level of Facebook. This year Mark Zuckerberg announced a new way to view another Facebook member's profile with "Timeline". Granted this new technology keeps Facebook moving forward and always innovating, as soon as something changes in the "Facebook World", every Facebook user complains about it. Even threats of moving to a new social media provider surface.

With this new technology and user interface changes, is Facebook moving to fast for it's own good? Are the developers at Facebook innovating too fast? Is there such a thing as too much innovation? Remember back in the 1980's when three dimensional videos surfaced? When they were introduced into the market, it caused quite a stir in the way movies were seen. However, it die out quite rapidly. The movie industry did not continue the three dimensional movies until the late 2000's. Was this a result of too much innovation in the movie industry? Could Facebook be heading into a similar hole, a hole where they cannot dig themselves out of?

I personally do not believe so. There is one key element to Facebook's success that I believe trumps all other aspects. It is FREE. There is no financial commitment to Facebook. That is what allows Facebook to innovate freely and try these new approaches on a market that adjusts so easily due to the lack of financial commitment. One picture stood out to me when researching this topic. It was this...

Do you believe Facebook could be in trouble with this new innovation and constant changes? Will they lose users to Google+?

-Alec Bettenhausen

Apple's new leader: Tim Cook

Before being named CEO in August 2011, Tim was Apple's Chief Operating Officer and was responsible for all of the company’s worldwide sales and operations, including end-to-end management of Apple’s supply chain, sales activities, and service and support in all markets and countries. He also headed Apple’s Macintosh division and played a key role in the continued development of strategic reseller and supplier relationships, ensuring flexibility in response to an increasingly demanding marketplace.

Apple itself is experiencing a change of leadership. Not knowing both Steve Jobs and Tim Cook or their leadership styles but rather their experience and current roles, I can imagine Tim Cook has big shoes to fill. This is interesting to me because they probably have different leadership styles. If I were in Tim Cook's shoes, there would be a lot of things I would have to consider. One of the things I would consider is the employees' personal feelings. I'm sure as soon as Steve Jobs stepped down, there was a lot of uncertainty within the company. If I were Tim Cook, I would address everyone's concern and let them know that you are going to motivate them to take this company to even higher heights than it is now.

What do you guys think? What other things does Tim Cook need to consider?

-Alec Bettenhausen

Team 2

Our team includes Daniel Changelon, Alec Bettenhausen, Brian Gabriel, and Cliffton Gordon. We've decided to follow the theme "The Big Bang Impact" which discusses recent leaders of change. We believe that now is the perfect time to talk about issues like Steve Jobs stepping down as CEO of one of the largest hardware and software companies in the world, Apple Inc., Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, and how Barack Obama has changed the world during his Presidency. Throughout the semester, we plan to ask the questions, "Why have these people been successful? What actions have lead to their success?" and "Are there any times when they have been unsuccessful?".

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Daniel Changelon