The CEO Forum Group Magazine Business 2023 (1) - Flipbook - Page 45
President & CEO, Dale Carnegie
the former CEO of Boeing and Ford. He took over
Ford in 2006. There’s a great book called American
Icon that chronicles all this—a toxic culture, a lot of
infighting, and the company was close to bankruptcy
and about to lose $17 billion.
He came in and he focused on bringing people
together. It’s a working-together mindset. He got his
leadership team focused on creating transparency
and trust. He put into place a system called the
“Business Plan Review,” which is a weekly meeting.
They would look at every metric of the business and
they’d say, “Hey, are we red, yellow, or green?”
“The idea that people want to
be appreciated, people want to
be respected, people want to be
valued, is timeless and central to the
idea of psychological safety.”
In the beginning, everyone was afraid to speak up.
Every metric was green, and after several weeks, he
said, “Look, we’re about to lose billions of dollars
here. How could every metric be green? Is anything
not going right?” One of the executives spoke up
and said, “I’ve got a red issue, I’ve got a production
problem.” And everyone looked to see what Mulally
was going to do. Is he going to fire this guy? Is
someone going to come yank this guy out of the
room?
Instead, he clapped and said, “Now that we have
visibility, we can fix it. Who can help on this issue?”
And the point of this is—if you look at The Dale
Carnegie Principles—about showing respect for
the other person’s opinion. If you’re wrong, admit
it quickly and emphatically and begin in a friendly
way. A lot of these different principles Mulally was
applying are central to how we create a relationship.
When Alan Mulally spoke at our 2016 International
Dale Carnegie Convention, he explained how it was
Dale Carnegie principles that influenced him in the
Ford Motor Company turnaround.
There is just story after story of great leaders and
companies who attribute so much of their success
and their organization’s success in thriving to the
Dale Carnegie principles.
It’s interesting because you’ve used the phrase
“psychological safety.” Describe that in more
detail.
It’s fascinating how the Dale Carnegie Principles that
were created many years ago fit like a glove and are
almost the predecessors of what global organizations
seek today. With people now, things have changed,
technology has changed, the way we connect has
changed. You and I are connecting via Zoom. We’re
not sitting down. Four years ago, we sat down in
person and had an interview. But the idea that people
want to be appreciated, people want to be respected,
people want to be valued, is timeless and central to
the idea of psychological safety.
What happens if I have an idea and I throw something
out there and people say, “It’s a silly idea, it will never
work,” and so forth? What’s the effect that has on me
wanting to share more ideas or to take a risk or to
take a chance?
We do global research, and we’ve done research
around the world in 20+ countries on creativity
Creativity starts with the CEO and the kind of
culture and environment that the CEO is going to
promote. And if the CEO is essentially creating an
environment that encourages people to speak up,
now we have to create accountability. We must hold
people accountable, and we’ve got to get results.
Otherwise, we won’t be in our roles long. The essence
of Dale Carnegie is you can say almost anything to
someone if you say it in the right way. You can still
respect someone. You can still listen to someone, and
you can hear them out.
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