2013 Women Leaders Conference

1. Let’s Talk
How to talk to your CEO
Women Leaders Conference
03/15/13
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2. Agenda
• What your CEO thinks about
• Creating a company roadmap
• Speaking the language of “C”
• Interpreting a company dashboard
• Communication styles 101 (know thy audience)
• Using a DISC assessment
• Tools for delivery & follow-up
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3. Who’s Dohmen?
• Trusted partner to 600 drug and device companies
• And 6600 employers
• 850 employees
• 10 companies
• 5 states
• 650,000 square feet pharma facility space
• Processing $9 billion in transactions annually
• Touching 16 million consumers & 16% of US Rx’s
• Helping 123 million people through our foundation
• And we’re 155 years old this year!
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4. www.dohmen.com

5. Change
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6. Ideas
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7. What your CEO is thinking about
1 What values characterize your company
• Short-run profit, long-term growth, innovation, cost
2 What is your strategic intent
• Purpose, mission, envisioned future
3 What are the external conditions
• Regulators, industry trends, global challenges
4 What is the competitive environment like
• Competitors defined by cost, quality, growth rates
5 What are your distinctive competencies?
• What your company does better than the rest
- PETER DRUCKER
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8. Roadmaps: a path to the future
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9. Roadmaps: why they’re important
Because…
1. Roadmaps bring the future into focus
• They operationalize strategic ideas into tactics
2. They help prioritize a pipeline of possibilities
• If everything’s important, nothing’s important
• Resources are never unlimited
• Know your companies top 5, but live #1
3. They create a “picture” of the future that can be shared
• With common terminology about where we’re going
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10. What’s on the roadmap?
Values:
• A company’s values express the principles that guide its internal
conduct and its relationship with the external world
• They define group beliefs and act as a framework to guide behavior
• They already exist whether they’re written down or not
• They’re enduring tenants - part of your company’s DNA
• And everyone knows what they are
• Leadership is practiced in actions more than words
Why it’s important?
• Your communication (& behavior) should align with your company’s
core values. If not, you may be working at the wrong place!
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11. What’s on the roadmap?
Vision/Mission
• Enterprise vision describes a desired future state
• “What does our organization want to accomplish?” (beyond just profit)
• Mission statements define why a company exists
• It’s a short, succinct statement
• What business you’re in
• Who your customer is
Why it’s important?
• You should be able to answer “yes” to the question, does my
initiative support our vision +/or mission and describe how
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12. What’s on the roadmap?
Competitive Advantage
• When a firm sustains profits that exceed industry averages, it has a
competitive advantage over its rivals
• There are two types
• Cost – you deliver the same benefits as competitors at a lower cost
• Differentiation – you deliver benefits that exceed those of
competing products
Why it’s important?
• Businesses without a sustainable competitive advantage are short-lived
• You need to know what your company considers its competitive
advantage because that what it will invest in
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13. What’s on the roadmap?
SWOT
• An analysis of a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats.
• Strengths = the internal capabilities that make a company strong
• Weaknesses = the internal obstacles that make a company vulnerable
• Opportunities = the external conditions that should be leveraged
• Threats = the external marketplace conditions that need to be addressed
Why it’s important?
• It’s a simple way to understand your company’s business context
• You should be able to position an idea as something that strengthens
a weakness, exploits a strength, takes advantage of an opportunity or
defends against a threat
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14. What’s on the roadmap?
Sandbox
• The sandbox describes a company’s “go to market” strategy
• What do we sell (products/services)
• Who do we sell to (customer segments)
• Where do we sell (geography)
Why it’s important?
• It’s how companies think about growth; new services, new segments
and new geographies all lead to new revenue
• Think about your idea relative to these categories. Will it generate
growth opportunities – how?
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15. What’s on the roadmap?
Strategic initiatives → yearly goals → quarterly tactics
• Define your company’s three year growth strategies
• New product launches
• New market segments
• New geographies
• Identify & prioritize what has to be done to get this year
• And this quarter…
Why it’s important?
• Ideas don’t count unless they’re executed
• Align your idea with the objectives of the organization
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16. The language of C: financial dashboards
March
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17. The language of C: financial dashboard
An income statement (P&L) answers the question – how’d we do?
Revenue = Sales
• Know what your company is selling & how revenue is generated
• Know your company’s yearly revenue goals and what’s behind them
• Is revenue growing, declining – how can you affect it
Expenses = Costs
• Cost of goods/services and cost of general administration (SG&A)
• Are they higher or lower than prior year as a % of revenue
• How can you reduce them
Profit = Net income
• Revenues less expenses determines profit during a specific period
Why it’s important?
• Your communication should be grounded in an understanding of how your
company makes money
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18. The language of C: financial dashboard
A balance sheet answers the question – how healthy are we?
Money = cash = capital
• How much money your company has in the bank
• Is your company’s cash position strong or weak
• Will your idea require capital
Return on Assets (ROA) = Return on Investment (ROI)
• How much money your company is making on investments
• How will your idea produce a return for the investment of resources
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19. The language of C: financial dashboard
A budget answers the question – what does the future look like?
Projected performance
• A budget is a plan that predicts income and expenses for the year
• It helps companies manage their resources and plan for the future
• It drives decision making by monitoring performance to plan
Why it’s important
• Familiarize yourself with your company or department’s budget
• Identify how your idea will impact it
Other metrics
• Familiarize yourself with your company or department’s budget
• Identify how your idea will impact it
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20. The language of C: financial dashboard
What matters gets measured
• Your company has non-financial metrics too
• Performance guarantees to your clients
• Quality
• Productivity
• Diversity
• Client Satisfaction
Identify whether your idea can improve the KPI’s that matter to
your company and its customers
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21. HI I:
Hi D:
Influencing
Dominant
Hi C: Hi S:
Compliant Steady
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22. Know thy audience
How you lead & communicate are influenced by your
personality style
Dueling paradigms
• Don’t assume your paradigm is the same as your listeners
People don’t do things against you, they do things for themselves
• We influence others by adapting our own behaviors to their needs
Conflict comes from a clash of styles
• People who behave differently are different, not wrong
Beware of using labels
• DISC can help you relate to how people see the world
• But everyone is a unique blend of these four behavioral types
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23. Know thy audience
High D individuals
• Are outgoing and task-oriented: dominant & decisive
• Just the facts, get things done, broad brush, little use for details
• Tips for communicating with a bottom line person:
• Be efficient and businesslike
• Be brief, get to the point and then be gone
• Be prepared with a well organized “package”
• Don’t ramble or give too many details
• Just give facts and options for action
• Talk in terms of results, not methods
• Keep meetings fast paced and well planned
HINT: CEO’s often exhibit this behavior
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24. Know thy audience
High I individuals
• Are outgoing and people-oriented: inspiring & influencing
• Magnetic, friendly, enthusiastic, curious, expressive
• Tips for communicating with “promoters”:
• Leave time for social niceties – relationships reign
• Be prepared to talk about family, hobbies, etc.
• Don’t over control the conversation
• Ask for their opinion
• Talk about the people involved in a project
• Put tasks in writing or you may never get to them
• Give lots of chances to talk in meetings
HINT: CEO’s often exhibit this behavior
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25. Know thy audience
High S individuals
• Are reserved and people-oriented: supportive & steady
• Low key, cool, calm, patient, don’t like conflict
• Tips for communicating with supporters:
• Don’t come on too strong
• Start with a comment that weaves work & life together
• Talk softly and non-threateningly
• Give time to think
• Earn their trust in small steps
• Don’t demand fast decisions
• Provide reassurance
• Talk in terms of security, guarantees, testimonials
• Stop and check for agreement in meetings
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26. Know thy audience
High C individuals
• Are reserved and task-oriented: cautious & conscientious
• Perfectionists, careful, thoughtful, analytical, conservative, detailed
• Love lists, charts, graphs, figures
• Tips for communicating with Analyzers:
• Be well prepared with facts & stick to business
• Keep emotion to a minimum
• Have facts and figures for back-up
• Expect skepticism
• Answer all of their questions
• Allow time for analysis, don’t demand fast decisions
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27. One Page Communications Plan
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28. Get talking. Ideas are meant to be shared!
Be courageous – make the appointment & don’t be afraid of hierarchy!
Be prepared – do your homework ahead of time & show that you know
Be specific & to the point – explain your idea & how it will improve the co.
Be brief – respect the value of time and provide a one page executive summary
Be aligned – connect your concept to the company roadmap & objectives
Be diligent – clarify action items and own the follow-up
Be nice – don’t forget to say thanks (to your CEO and their EA!)
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