Bob Herbold on the Pandemic Impact

Former Microsoft and Procter & Gamble exec, and my colleague there, Bob Herbold, writes about the  Pandemic impact:

Bob's Gutsy Leadership Blog

The Pandemic Impact: Massive Change Yielding Winners and Losers!   by Bob Herbold.   Posted on April 5, 2021 

From a business perspective, the past 12 months have been about as wild as anyone could have imagined.  The dreaded pandemic, and the constant CDC alarms, led the consumer to be fearful of doing anything.  This has caused major disruption and risk of survival in many industries.  Let’s take a look at some of the major changes that have occurred:  ..... " 

State and Future of IBM

Former exec and colleague Bob Herbold talks IBM in his blog: 

IBM: Finally, A Bold Move Provides Some Hope
Posted on August 6, 2020   by Bob Herbold

One financial analyst calls IBM’s last ten years its wasted decade.  In that period, the company’s annual revenue dropped from a tad over $100 billion to under $80 billion and net income for the decade dropped from $14.8 billion to $9.4 billion.  In comparison, in the past ten years, Microsoft’s revenue grew from $69 billion to over $143 billion and the company has been totally reinvigorated by the move to a cloud emphasis about 6 years ago.

IBM has had two main problems.   First, its leadership under the prior CEO for the past nine years who was finally replaced 4 months ago, prioritized shareholder returns at the expense of innovation.  Her key tools to keep the stock performance from faltering were $75 billion of buybacks over the decade and $45 billion of dividends.  During the decade the R&D budget was kept flat at $6 billion. For perspective, Microsoft’s grew from $9 billion to $20 billion.  ... " 

Beware of Assumptions

Bob Herbold tells a good story about the danger of  assumptions for leaders.

There is a powerful lesson for leaders here:

Beware of Assumptions – Regularly isolate key assumptions that are being used, constantly probe the basis for those assumptions, and experiment appropriately.

Also, thank goodness the America’s Cup team had an out-spoken sceptic in the crew.  We all need those kinds of people on our team! .... "

Bob Herbold on Amazon's Success

From Bob Herbold's Blog:

Amazon’s Secrets to Success
Posted on November 12, 2019  

The article on Amazon’s master plan for success that appeared recently in the Atlantic magazine is a very interesting read. I was most impressed by the clear description of the core principles instilled by Jeff Bezos right in the beginning on how the company would operate. It outlines how the organization protects and effectively executes these principles on an ongoing basis. As I detail below, I also found it interesting how these principles are very similar to what I experienced at Procter and Gamble and Microsoft, the two companies where I spent 26 and 9 years respectively. Here are the principles:  .... " 

Netflix: A Fast Growing Threat

Former colleague Bob Herbold talks about fast-growing early innovator Netflix:

Bob's Gutsy Leadership Blog
Netflix: Underestimating a Fast-Growing Threat?

Netflix has always been the innovator who was way out in front of the current market offerings. It was 1997, when only 7% of households had a DVD player, that Netflix launched its “movies on DVDs by mail” service. At that time, virtually all movies watched at home were rented on VHS tapes from one of the 3000 Blockbuster stores. By 2007, Blockbuster had grown to 9000 stores and was clearly on its way to bankruptcy since most people got their movies by mail on DVD’s from Netflix, since over 80% of homes had a DVD player, and renting a movie on a DVD from Netflix avoided the trips to Blockbuster.

It was also 2007 when Netflix once again got out front of the current offerings (its own DVD service) and launched its streaming service, but few people could take advantage of it, since less than 20% of homes had the adequate broadband capacity to stream a movie. Netflix knew that would change quickly and it did and Netflix grew to its current enormous size.

Today, the number of new challengers to the Netflix streaming service is exploding. Direct TV Now, Hulu, Sling and many others offer a variety of options. Amazon, YouTube, and Apple are growing their own streaming services, and with their deep pockets, will be significant threats. Media industry giants Disney and WarnerMedia are also building major streaming services, and both are hellbent on taking significant business from Netflix. Many of these firms are investing very heavily in new programming to compete very directly with Netflix. .... " 

Turning TV Upside Down

By former colleague Bob Herbold.  On a major change of business model that changes marketing.  We have seen it happen, but what does it mean?

Bob's Gutsy Leadership Blog
Netflix: Turning TV Viewing Upside Down

Completely changing the business model in an industry is not an easy thing to do.  On the other hand, it creates incredible rewards for the innovators.  Netflix is a primary example of this.  It basically put the Blockbusters of the world out of business in the late 1990’s as it introduced DVD’s by mail versus going to a store and renting a VHS tape.  It refined that model in the late 1990’s moving to an “all-you-can-watch” monthly subscription model for its DVD mail service.  The next change occurred in 2007 when it began offering streaming.

In the last few years, it has turned TV viewing habits upside down.  Traditional broadcast channels have schedule programs once a week at a certain time period.  You had to wait until, for example, next Thursday evening at 9:00pm to watch the next episode. Netflix has ignored tradition and offers all episodes at one time; it is called “binge programming.”.... " 

Retail Road Kill

My former P&G colleague and Microsoft exec Bob Herbold talks retail models and performance  in his blog.  No holds barred in his gutsy take.  Worth following.

Retailers: Most are Lethargic Road-Kill!

It’s amazing to see many of the major retailers simply stand by and watch their business atrophy.  On the other hand, there are a few that work hard to get out in front of the key trends/changes impacting retailers.  Best Buy is an amazing example of doing exactly that.  While facing bankruptcy in early 2013, with its stock price down to $11.80, it watched its competitors such as CompUSA, Circuit City and Radio Shack fall by the wayside.

Instead of simply standing still and getting run over, Best Buy launched a completely new business model.  Stores became not only retail outlets, but also inventory warehouses used to fill online orders from a new, robust Best Buy website.  Since orders were being filled from the nearest store to the buyer, one or two day shipping was achieved.  Best Buy also brought accountability to the store-level by measuring the performance of individual salespeople on the floor and before long, it was on the road to success.  The stock price today is in the $58/share range, almost 5X that of early 2013. .... " 

IBM and Innovation

Bob Herbold my former colleague writes about IBM.   He has more than a little internal insight based on his experience in the computing industry.   He makes some brief comments on innovation and leadership that make sense.  Certainly today IBM is pushing very innovative spaces.  Converting that into value in changing context is the challenge.

Sifting Your Big Ideas

Colleague Bob Herbold from his blog:   " ..... Is Your Big Idea Really Big? Really?  ....  Beware, when searching for the big idea and finding that to be difficult, it is very easy to convince yourself that a very modest idea will certainly do the job. ..... This very trait is built into humans and it’s the job of leaders to recognize that and to be stubborn enough to demand the really big idea, not a weak substitute!  ... " 

Lessons from Google's Anouncement

In Bob Herbold's Blog.  Quite a considerable interest in this lately.  Here from a former Microsoft and Procter&Gamble executive.  Insiders perspective.

Creating Rapport with an Organization

In Bob Herbold's Blog:  Creating rapport with an organization, from his interesting organization management writings.

Peak Work Performance

Former P&G and Microsoft executive Bob Herbold on How to Achieve Peak Work Performance.  In his insightful blog.

" ... A couple of years ago a management research firm did a massive survey of almost 100,000 people employed worldwide and surprisingly almost a third cited “burnout” as a problem they were experiencing.

Further analysis found that individuals experiencing burnout were typically doing a poor job of managing their energy and time.  While working very hard, they complained of constant interruptions, the need to constantly check their e-mail, and no time for breaks.  ... "     

Article goes on to makes some useful points.

Damaging Effects of Envy

My former manager Bob Herbold on the damaging effects of envy.

Honda as a World Class Innovator

Bob Herbold uses a recent book to show how Honda is a world class innovator.  Well and simply put.

The Need for Objectivity

Former boss Bob Herbold on the elusive but necessary concept of of objectivity.  He always provides some excellent business examples from the management perspective.   In his blog.

Steps to Avoid Losing Your Credibility

Former P&G CIO Bob Herbold in his blog on credibility. Nice short piece on a recent CIA contract proposal by Amazon and IBM.   " .... Beware! Too many leaders get to the point where they believe they can excite their audience just by broadly describing their dream, but not addressing the current situation. ... " .  Specifics are more credible than dreams.

On Dealing with Bad News

Former P&G CIO and MS Exec Bob Herbold writes about how to deal with bad news.  In particular to be sure it is reported on and dealt with.    " ... The recent sequence of massive vehicle recalls by General Motors, started by the decade-old ignition switch flaw that was buried for more than a decade within the thick GM bureaucracy even though it is linked to a reported 13 death, highlights a key challenge for leaders.  Specifically, how do you create a culture that causes bad news to quickly get reported and acted upon. ... ".  

See more about his books and blog posts in this blog.  Excellent thoughts, concisely presented.

Creating Reality Distortion Fields

My former P&G boss Bob Herbold,  writing on leadership, talks about reality distortion fields.  A term new to me.    " ... In summary, when there are big opportunities, don’t shy away for all the usual mundane reasons — create a reality distortion field. ... " .  Bob Herbold is the former chief operating officer of Microsoft Corp. and author of the recently released book “What’s Holding You Back? Ten Bolds Steps that Define Gutsy Leaders.”  His blog on leadership can be found at BobHerbold.com.