Dupont’s four principles for moving ahead in turbulent times
Posted by Oliver Nyumbu
July 28th, 2009
“People are always for change in general and then they begin to worry about particulars“. Those were the words of Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, in an interview about the health bill currently being debated in Congress. She is right, both Republicans and Democrats agree something needs to be done but vehemently disagree on what should be done, how it should be done, and who should pay. This seemed illustrative of the dynamics of recession-triggered change and transformation taking place in many organisations. People tend to agree to something needs to happen but….
Leaders in organisations could benefit from taking a leaf out of the book of Dupont’s CEO, Ellen Kullman, who advocates four principles for moving ahead during turbulent times:
- Focus on what you can control
- Adopt a new trajectory by re-thinking your business model
- Communicate, communicate, communicate
- Maintain pride around your organisation’s mission
Kullman’s organisation employs 60,000 people in 70 countries so she decided to adopt the idea that:
“If you try to change everybody at once, you are changing nobody, so you really have to start in one area, or a couple of areas and show success”.
The impact of her disciplined implementation of these principles can be measured in many ways, not least of which are employee engagement and financial metrics. If you were to take a leaf out of her book what might that look like? Or, maybe you are already doing so - in which case, tell us some of your stories.
Tags: Change, Dupont, Ellen+Kullman, Hilary+Clinton, turbulent+times
