Something with high momentum is usually the opposite of nimble. It's a total facepalm that they proudly drew that false equivalency (momentum = swift/nimble) in the first couple sentences of the press release. They should consider a PR strategy where they walk it back while poking fun at themselves: 'We've been working on the important things and while we'd like to blame it on the intern, we f'd up the whole name-the-company-thing. Be back in a few with the real name.'
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It is absolutely true. In my last business the reps were often told to quite literally to not even answer the phone for accounts below a certain dollar amount. They were supposed to just forward them to a distributor, the distributor would then promptly sell the customer a non-3M product.
This is on top of having only about half the number of sales reps needed to cover the business, let alone grow.
Good god, is it true that management is so mo--nic that they don’t let sales people make personal visits to customers? If that’s true, it’s as if they are going out of their way to sink the company! Wake up, you i d i o t s!
It's an example that even if Parentco says all those things that makes the company great, they mean nothing if it is all lip service. How many of us have actually been able to make a $100 purchase, or decide to take the local train for $50 to visit a customer? Management just prohibits all spending and as a result, stops us from getting sales growth.
But why are some people even expecting that there is going to be 15% time, the McKnight principles, etc? It's not going to be current 3M, but why think it's going to be old 3M?
It's just a name. In the end, it is about how the company will actually operate under the vision of the CEO. Just like Parentco, all those initiatives, 15% time, McKnight principles, innovation..... all of that mean nothing if they are not truly practised.
How quickly we confuse movement (Momentum) with progress. How easy it is to think solutions (Solving) are going to be great products.
Imation was somewhat more nimble after the spin off from Mother M, but also did some weird things just to be different from 3M. Naming their buildings Apollo, rather than a number, for example.
I suggest they dust off Nexcare (as the new company name) and call it good.