Turning The Giant: Leadership Challenges in Control and Automation

October 2003. We had a couple of issues of our new trade publication, Automation World, out into the world. There were two user conferences the same week that month. Foxboro (Invensys at the time) held its meeting in Houston. Emerson Process gathered users in Orlando.

Co-founder Jane talked it over with me. “I’m more acquainted with Emerson, so why don’t I go there, and you go to Foxboro?” OK. I found myself in Houston while she was in Orlando.

TLDR—I was in the midst of product meetings when my phone rang. Jane. “You’re got to get here.” What? “They want to talk with you.” So, I found a department store in downtown Houston to buy a shirt and underwear. Online, I found a way to fly to Orlando and then back home from there.

I wish I’d have had this new book, Turning The Giant: Disrupting Your Industry With Persistent Innovation, by former Emerson Process CEO John Berra then. I knew very little, well actually almost nothing, about Emerson at that time.

Marketing Director Bill Morrison conducted a person tour of everything at the exhibit hall. And thus began a 10-year relationship with many really smart and nice (at least to me) people. And I saw a lot of technology development over those years along with increasing market reach.

And Berra is the only other man I’ve run into who also played Bellomy in The Fantasticks in community theater.

After he retired, I asked John if he would write a column for Automation World, which he did until the month I left the magazine. 

Berra’s book takes a look at his career in control and automation with the stories of companies he worked for and how Emerson Automation all came together. The central theme looks at overcoming challenges (Giants) leaders will face and must overcome. It’s interesting for those of us within the industry. It is also useful information for new would-be leaders about how not everything goes smoothly and what to do about it.

Since I reported post 2003, I’d have liked more details. I understand he had to fit it into his theme, though. Even if you were an ardent Emerson competitor back in the day, it’s worth a read for the background of today’s market. And the leadership lessons are worth the price of the book.

You Can’t Inspect-in Quality

I took a position as quality assurance manager at a manufacturing plant early in my career. I had been doing product development and had turned down a quality manager position a couple of times. But, this was open and seemed like it could be good.

It took only a few days for me to discover W. Edwards Deming. 

I found myself battling:

  • The chief designer who specified the minimum specifications possible for materials;
  • The manufacturing engineer who bought tooling then washed his hands when they didn’t perform;
  • The purchasing manager who bought components and raw materials from the cheapest source;
  • The general manager who overrode me when products from his good friend failed to meet spec;
  • People on the shop floor who wanted to do a good job versus a system that confounded them.

I lasted a year, then I found a position elsewhere in product development and engineering.

These memories came flooding back to me when I read that the official Boeing response to yet more problems with the 737 Max program was to do more inspections.

Oh, for crying out loud! From what I’ve read, the source of the problems with the system and program management was the CEO’s office. The board needs to begin fixing things at the root. And then bring in someone strong in a power position to change the system. It doesn’t take a genius to see where shortcuts were taken along the line in order to get production (and sales) ramped up.

You don’t achieve quality from inspection. At that point, it is too late. Fix the system. Advice from 45 years ago.

What Happened to Microfinance, or Is It Time to Reevaluate Your Processes?

I bought into the microfinance system almost 20 years ago. An avid reader at the time of Leo Babauta’s Zen Habits blog, I joined his group lending $25 to people around the world to support their nascent businesses. We used Kiva.

For many years, repayments came in regularly, and I would re-loan the money. I don’t know when I first noticed that the loans were not going to people but to organizations. And the repayments became infrequent. It would be months before one of my $25 loans was repaid in order for me to loan again.

Meanwhile there came a barrage of daily (or more often) emails from Kiva to loan more.

I was growing suspicious. Didn’t know why. But something had changed.

I also started to read little snippets about microfinance not always working.

Then came this article in MIT Technology Review. What happened to the microfinance organization Kiva? A group of strikers argue that the organization seems more focused on making money than creating change. Are they right? By Mara Kardas-Nelsonarchive.

“The Kiva users noticed that the changes happened as compensation to Kiva’s top employees increased dramatically. In 2020, the CEO took home over $800,000. Combined, Kiva’s top 10 executives made nearly $3.5 million in 2020. In 2021, nearly half of Kiva’s revenue went to staff salaries.”

Despite this income, Kiva turned over CEOs almost as fast as the Cleveland Browns turn over quarterbacks.

All this to suggest that we all need to reevaluate our processes and patterns periodically. Sometimes our path had turned into a rut leading somewhere we don’t wish to be.

This works for leadership, as well. It is good to have people question processes from time-to-time. The process that worked ten years ago may be detrimental today.

Thoughts On The Return To Office Movement

Executives, especially in Silicon Valley, have been on a concerted campaign to force their remote workers to return to the office. A few academic and/or journalist writers have tried to provide support by pointing to “studies” that show that when people work together they are more productive. On the other hand, there are studies (see links below) that show the opposite.

I recently listened to an interview with a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who wants employees in the office three days per week. The reason—meetings. He thinks meetings are great. And looking at the “Brady Bunch” gallery of faces unsettles him. He needs to focus on one face at a time.

I have always found meetings inherently unproductive wastes of time. Maybe if everyone is in the office impromptu one-on-one meetings have some value. But, those also interrupt one or both people from the thought work they need to be doing.

I also listen to Jason Fried and David Heinemeier-Hansson of 37 Signals and Michael Sliwinski of Nozbe and recently game developer Justin Gary. All run thriving companies with no office. Fried and Sliwinski have written books on the success of remote work.

The purpose of this recent movement is really control. Managers who do not know how to lead rely on control mechanisms to keep track of employees. I had a boss once whom I informed that I was going to spend more time working from home. “Well, as long as you’re working,” he replied.

How would you even calculate most knowledge worker productivity? Number of reports per week? Number of quotes sent per day? Projects per month?

People making things must be where the things are being made. And the number of cars or barrels or bottles can be counted. But reports? For the most part, who cares? Who reads them?

Productivity is nonsense in the knowledge worker domain. More important are impact and effectiveness. Peter Drucker saw this 40 years ago.

Questions for us:

What impact have you had on the success of the business or organization today?

How effective was your latest initiative for improving workflow?

These unfortunately cannot always be easily measured with a number. But everyone knows your impact and effectiveness. And for most, that doesn’t being chained to a cubicle. After all, how many CEOs are in the office every day? And how many are flying around the globe every week?

A good article from Forbes on the myths of productivity.

A study on knowledge worker productivity.

Measuring and Improving Productivity

Harvard Business Review, Knowledge Workers More Productive from Home

From Microsoft, new performance equation in the age of AI

Four Ways to Build a Culture of Honesty and Avoid ‘Productivity Paranoia’

Trust seems to be a commodity in short supply these days—if we are to believe all the media we might be consuming. My personality type tends to trust most people upon first meeting allowing them time to prove themselves either worthy of trust or someone to avoid. Many people default to distrust allowing another to perhaps overcome the distrust—if ever they can.

Building trust becomes essential to both building a brand and building a team.

Therefore, this article I saw in the MIT Sloan Management Review struck me as relevant.

A lack of trust between colleagues and managers in remote and hybrid environments can damage workplace culture and morale.

It was inevitable that the rise in working from home would create tensions inside many organizations. But it didn’t have to be quite this bad. According to a new survey by Envoy, less than a quarter (24%) of employees trust their colleagues to get work done remotely.

Twenty years ago, I told my manager I was going to do more work from home. I was a writer. The cubicle life at the company detracted from the ability to concentrate on writing. I churned out more articles and news from home. In fact, no one on the staff turned out more work. But the boss, worried about control, said, “As long as you get your work done.”

Research shows that distrust damages workplaces, whereas high levels of trust fuel engagement and motivation while reducing absenteeism.

Four points:

  • Assess Employees’ Individual Environments
  • Simulate Natural Interactions — Lots of Them
  • Be Transparent About Monitoring
  • Train Team Members in Getting to the Truth

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Pamela Meyer is the author of Liespotting: Proven Techniques to Detect Deception (St. Martin’s Press, 2010) and the CEO of Calibriate, a deception detection and inside threat mitigation consulting firm. Her 2011 presentation “How to Spot a Liar” is one of the 20 most popular TED Talks of all time.

Bullet number two should be stimulate natural interactions. Good people management both of local and remote teams benefits from such an environment. Don’t let people burrow into lonely caves. Especially if you are managing nerds.

Transparency is always a key to good leadership. Let people know what you are doing, where you are going, and how they stand with you.

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