So, let's say someone gives you all the power and the corporate steering wheel - what would you do to save 3M?
14 replies (most recent on top)
Call DuPont and BASf
Tireman doesn't need any help when he has the Mckinsey rejects at Kearney to do his job for him.
This question sounds like tireman or Roman is looking for help because they have run out of ideas.
Another GE VP in with Vig,,bumming and blowing about her award she got,not with mm but GE
Consolidate and shift your sales and marketing resources into Electronics and Transportation where some 3M innovation still exists. Sell all those old industrial products as “Distributor-branded” products, reduce the 3M marketing efforts and stop trying to get a price premium on products with no value-added performance. They’ve already reduced the 3M industrial selling mission to annual attempts to secure price hikes rather than gaining market share. So why not just shift the industrial sales effort to large channel partners?
Do the same for consumer products. If a product has some performance advantage, market it under the 3M brand. License the Scotch, Scotch-Brite, Command, etc brands for other co-branding opportunities to keep the market presence but reduce 3M’s operating cost. If it’s just another “me too” or out-sourced product get rid of it or private label it. 3M needs to give up trying to be a marketing company (which it doesn’t do or fund sufficiently well) and restart its R&D engine by shifting it’s primary focus back to developing innovative products for key accounts. When the smoke clears from all the litigation, the 3M brand won’t necessarily be the asset it once was. So it’s a good time to reset the brand around innovation instead of buying someone else’s product and slapping a 3M logo on it - which is how they ended up here in the first place.
To Anonymous:
I'm senior enough that multiple COC members know me by (my real) name.
I'm junior enough I don't have to deal with COC every day, and for that I am glad.
I will leave it up to the MBAs and Black Belts. I will sit back, relax and watch. They know what they are doing. Let them shine.
To Just My Thoughts -
If you want to expand your perspective on Welch, read “The Man Who Broke Capitalism: How Jack Welch Gutted the Heartland and Crushed the Soul of Corporate America.” David Gelles is the author. Not saying I subscribe to everything Gelles writes, but it’s certainly hard to ignore how destructive Welch and his disciples have been while lining their own pockets. Makes one wonder why anyone from that era of GE would be hired to lead other companies.
Love the comments from Varys.
I’d also add the need to reevaluate the role of Division level HR so they prioritize supporting the employees rather than the current mission to mainly protect the corporation (lots of personal experience here).
Also, it’s time to get a divorce from the cancerous Jack Welch way of thinking where employees are only a cost and disposable, M&A / divestment replaces true innovation, and quarterly short term results are the only thing that matters (Welch is reported to have unethically used GE Capital as the lever to accomplish this).
Finally, I’d love to see R&D fully resourced with a numeric rating system in place for patents, where the commercialized ones get greater credit for the inventor/employee than the ones that don’t. Both can exist, but 3M needs to prioritize innovation - and reward the employees who accomplish this - that drives sales and profits (along with customer loyalty) versus patents that are just plaques on a wall.
Just my thoughts. Feel free to comment with yours.
Get rid of 1/2 the EVPs and SVPs across the company to facilitate the meaningful culture change needed to right the ship. Culture eats strategy for breakfast every day. A truly great company culture fosters innovation, transparency, and engagement.
There is clearly a “I got mine” mentality at the expense of everyone else. This mentality drives short-sightedness such as only managing to the quarter, the month or the week not allowing us to invest and capitalize on future opportunities or anticipate risks. This is why decision making is concentrated at the SVP level and above. Unbelievable how many VPs have to defer to their manager.
What JG are you Varys? You've created a better strategy for saving 3M than the entire executive conference plus Mckinsey and Kearney combined.
FIRE Roman, FIRE Monish….
FIRE anyone who has been complicit and not vocal in following their asinine strategies and ineptitude.
LISTEN to your customers, to the employees (the few ones that are left that are truly loyal) and ultimately, Return to your roots.
Simple, return to 3M's roots:
Make premium products - if it can't at least arguably claim to be best in class, discontinue or private label it away from the 3M brand. R&D is a big part of this.
Sell value - By this I mean actually have 3M sales people and tech service out in the field selling. Show the world that a better 'mousetrap' exists and that is will make their lives better/easier/safer. Distribution and channel partners will not do this, it runs counter to their very business model.
Maximize flexible manufacturing - A secret strength of 3M is the ability to make a great many products on a single line. Sometimes complex supply chains have large advantages.
Tell Wall Street and the hedge funds to go fu-k themselves in no uncertain terms. 3M can generate plenty of cash to grow. 3M does not need their money. If they don't like it, invest elsewhere.
Play long-term: Build the new 3M to think in terms of years and decades, not months and quarters. R&D needs to be playing at this time frame to work.
Return to the McKnight principles - Be very selective to hire the best, pay them well, and let them do their jobs. Knock most decision making down 1 to 2 levels in the organization. If a division or BG president is approving anyone's travel, it had better be to space.
For the 3M monitors on the site: If you want more details, reach out for a consulting agreement. I promise I'm much cheaper than McKinsey.
Grasshopper:
You could begin by using what worked in the past.
The current 3M Values are a good frame work at the strategic level. You just need to follow them in practice, and not just words on a piece of paper. "Be Honest", "Be Respectful" and having transparency would be a good place to start. Additional recommendations will require deposits into my paypal account. Better advice, and lower cost than the current consultants. The days of working for free or below market value are over. LOL