Answering those questions means looking at our team, player by player, and developing metrics that help with that evaluation. We have size and speed requirements for every position. We also measure subtler factors. With a wide receiver, for example, we measure such things as his ability to release off the line of scrimmage. Is he considered a threat to score every time he catches the ball? I study how each player at each position scores on relevant criteria.
I also apply that approach to new players. I determine whether a player has the strengths that we need, even if he's been found lacking in some other way by another team. That's why, if you're lucky, you can incorporate a player like Brett Favre into your system and then watch him blossom.
Ron Wolf became general manager of the Green Bay Packers in 1992. Under his leadership, the Packers won their first Super Bowl in 19 years, made back-to-back Super Bowl appearances, and qualified for the playoffs five years in a row. Wolf recently wrote a book, "The Packer Way: The Nine Stepping Stones to Building a Winning Organization" (St. Martin's Press, 1998), coauthored by Paul Attner.
Dean
London Business School
London, England
We're not in the education business. We're in the transformation business. We expect everyone who participates in a program at the London Business School -- whether it's for three days or for two years -- to be transformed by the experience. We want people to look back on their time here as something that significantly influenced their career and possibly even their entire life.
I've been dean for only 10 months, so I haven't been able to change the world yet. But I am committed to measuring our performance against the objective of creating a transformative experience.
We are in the process of developing what I call a "transformation-benchmarking questionnaire" that we will give to students who have taken a program at the school. We'll administer the survey again as they advance in their careers -- one year after they leave, and then every five years.
The questionnaire asks students how much of the program's content they can recall and whether they're in touch with faculty or fellow students. We'll also ask how big an impact the program has had on their career and on their quality of life.
One nice thing about declaring that we're in the transformation business is that everyone here -- from custodians to deputy deans -- has become much more motivated. People are eager to take part in having an impact on the students who come here.
John A. Quelch, a native Londoner, was the Sebastian S. Kresge Professor of Marketing at the Harvard Business School. The London Business School, established in 1965, now serves more than 1,100 graduate students and more than 4,000 executives each year. The Financial Times, of London, recently ranked it as the leading business school outside the United States.
Cofounder, president, and CEO
PowerBar Inc.
Berkeley, California
Before I got into business, I coached track. One thing I learned was that I not only had to manage my players' workouts; I also had to help manage their lives so that they would be ready to compete.
Today, as a businessman, I've got to make sure that my frontline people are ready to compete. What I've been wrestling with as a business coach is, How do I create an environment in which people are committed to doing really great work? Tracking company culture is the answer. That means looking at the company as a whole and understanding how all aspects of it are interconnected.
We're in the midst of a major culture project. It began with a survey that measured 41 statements about our company culture. Those statements covered everything from how we treat customers and how we work as a team, to how we value employees and how we treat the environment. Employees used a five-point scale to indicate whether they agreed or disagreed with each sentence.
The results of our first survey were somewhat depressing: We scored below the 80th percentile in everything. We want those numbers to improve, so we've formed teams from across the organization. Each team is charged with establishing an action plan to improve survey results.
Two things are going to help us compete successfully: our brand and our people. And because our brand is managed by our people, people are what matter most. For us, that means tracking company culture.
Brian Maxwell, an Olympic marathon runner, started PowerBar with his wife, Jennifer, in the kitchen of their apartment in 1986. The fast-growing company, with annual revenues of $100 million, employs more than 250 people.
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