Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning.
During the last few decades, business leaders have sought to fine-tune and articulate their companies’ purpose; some have been inspired, in part, by author Simon Sinek’s exhortation: “People don’t buy what you do, people buy why you do it.”
Darren Ashby, chief impact officer of consultancy businessfourzero, a Heidrick & Struggles company, works with companies on strategy, culture, and purpose—or their “why.” But in a recent conversation, we also talked extensively about the need for leadership teams to also focus on the “how,” or the behaviors that improve the performance of teams and companies.
Focus on impact
Ashby, who is the co-author of Every team actually doing business better, notes that most companies have codes of conduct that ensure people are treated fairly and inclusively. “Those fundamentals should be applied consistently,” he says. “When we are looking at changing or growing a business, we ask leaders, ‘What are the two or three behaviors that are really going to accelerate your execution of your particular strategy and culture?’”
He cites the example of IHG Hotels and Resorts, parent company of brands such as Intercontinental, Holiday Inn, and Crowne Plaza. Ashby notes that the company has long had a strong sense of purpose around providing guests with what it calls “true hospitality.” But before the pandemic, the company was trailing competitors Hilton and Marriott in market share by wide margins; businessfourzero worked with IHG to spell out behaviors that would focus attention on the needs of the business. They were: Talk straight, move fast, think return.
Being brave pays off
Ashby says it is important for leaders to focus on a small number of behaviors that everyone can work on and to “raise the ceiling” for the team, inspiring them to excel and improve execution. Sounds simple, but he notes that getting leadership teams to change—shedding negative behaviors and embracing uncomfortable ones that lead to growth—“requires bravery.”
But the results can be powerful: Ashby says that at IHG, “move fast” meant teams asked themselves what the real barriers were to moving faster (as opposed to perceived ones) and found practical ways to do so, including streamlining decision-making, assessing risk differently, and learning from failure. “The result was a massive increase in new brand openings and doubling of the rate of room openings—the fastest growth in the industry,” he says.
What’s your why—and how?
Do you agree with Ashby’s assessment that the “how” can be as important as the “why” in your business? If you’ve been successful in helping employees change behaviors, what were they, and what were the results? Send your stories of behavioral change to stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. I’d love to share your experiences in a future newsletter.
Read, listen, and watch: creating positive change
- 5 ways employees can shape company culture
- Why this serial entrepreneur relearns his job every 18 months
- How change aversion can derail a transformation
- Navigating how the new world of work is changing
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