aventis ceo breakfast talk on what i didnt learn in business school by Dr Clifford, Columbia University and former McKinsey Director of Global Strategy

1. AVENTIS BUSINESS LEADERS TALK
16th November 2010 | Time: 9..00am to 12.00pm

2. Speaker: Dr Trish Gorman Clifford
Dr Clifford was the Director of Global Strategy Learning at McKinsey
& Company and currently helps mid- and upper-level managers
strengthen their strategic capabilities through consulting and other
learning experiences. She currently serves as adjunct professor at
London Business School and Duke Corporate Executive Education
She has held full-time faculty positions at the University of
Connecticut and at Columbia University Executive Education, and
was Academic Director of the Global Consulting Practicum at
Wharton. She has published articles in Harvard Business Review and
the McKinsey Quarterly and has conducted hundreds of workshops
on strategy development, option generation and evaluation,
organizational alignment, and related topics.

3. What I Didn’t Learn in Business School :
How Strategy Works in the Real World
Aventis School of Management
Patricia (Trish) Gorman Clifford, MBA, PhD
November 16, 2010

4. What Do People Learn in Business School?
• Top 5 Answers
 Financial Analysis
 5 Forces
 Team Building
 Doing Cases
 Networking

5. What do People Learn in Business School?
• The things most associated with Business
School by those who did not attend
• Top 5 Answers
– General Management Skills
– Marketing
– Finance
– Cases
– Networking

6. Perception v. Reality?
Overlap in Top 5 Answers
– General Management Skills
– Marketing
– Finance
– Cases
– Networking

7. Today’s Agenda
• The Book: A Strategy Story
• The Problem
• Strategy in the Real World
• Never Stop Learning

8. Today’s Agenda
• The Book: A Strategy Story
• The Problem
• Strategy in the Real World
• Never Stop Learning

9. The Book: A Strategy Story
• Consulting team at elite firm
• Haven’t worked together before
• New and potentially important client relationship
• The Team
– Justin Campbell, Jr. Associate
– Livia Chambers,AP
– Vivek Chatterjee, Sr. Associate
– Gordon Lee, EM
– Ken McCombs, ED

10. The Book: A Strategy Story
• The Client: HGS, global plastics and packaging materials
firm
• The Researchers
– Jerry Tucker, Lead Researcher and “inventor of Plastiwear”
– Leonard Kibrick, leader of Development Team
• The Decision Makers
– Carl Switzer, CEO
– Scott Beckett, VP Oil and Gas Products
– Bob Hutchins, VP Packaging
– Shirley Rickert, CFO
– Walter Albright VP R&D
– Bill Dixon, Corporate HR

11. The Book: A Strategy Story
• Narrative with Beginning, Middle and End
• Engaging and memorable
• Characters with motivations and emotions
• Tools are applied in context
• Messy, incomplete data
• Ability to reflect complexity in topics
• Ability to iterate and selectively reveal
information
• “Like a long and winding case”
Why a story?

12. Today’s Agenda
• The Book: A Strategy Story
• The Problem
• Strategy in the Real World
• Never Stop Learning

13. The Problem
• The Client stumbled upon an innovative compound
• They haven’t yet converted this innovation to a
marketable product…in 3 years
• Characteristics of fabric made with this compound
– Stainproof
– Wrinkleproof
– White
– Nice drape and hand feel
– Virtually indestructible
What’s the problem?

14. The Problem
• Lack of courage
• Lack of direction
• Lack of funding
• Lack of focus
What’s the problem?
 Who to sell to
 How to create value
 Whether they’ll make money
 Competitive advantages
 When to start
Strategy
Leadership

15. The Problem
• Unclear who should
make the decision
• Uncertain outcome
• Questions about the
future
What’s the problem?
 Differences of opinion
 Where (in the firm) will the new
business be
 Who wins and who loses
 What is success
Organizational
Dynamics
Risk and Uncertainty

16. Today’s Agenda
• The Book: A Strategy Story
• The Problem
• Strategy in the Real World
• Never Stop Learning

17. Strategy in the Real World
Justin is in a team room with a stack of materials to read and
a full email queue
• He applies many Strategy and Management Tools
 Net Present Value Analysis
 Industry Analysis (using 5 Forces)
 Market Sizing Estimates
 Value Chain Analysis
 Stakeholder Analysis
 VRIO
 Option Evaluation Worksheet

18. Strategy in the Real World
Justin…
Sets priorities by a priori workplan
Relies on 5 Forces – done by the client
Wants NPV to give him a clear answer –
and it doesn’t
Expects data to be available and conclusive
Seeks a quick, definitive answer
Poor assumptions
block his
progress

19. Strategy in the Real World
• Wrong tools get you wrong outputs
• Asking the wrong question gets you the wrong answer
• Even the right tools can result in sub-optimal outcomes
– Tools can be an excuse to stop analyzing ..to stop thinking
– Tools can end a conversation
– Tools and approaches give outputs, not strategies
Strategy does not flow from analysis !

20. Today’s Agenda
• The Book: A Strategy Story
• The Problem
• Strategy in the Real World
• Never Stop Learning

21. Never Stop Learning
Justin is least experienced on a diverse team with a tight
deadline
– He believes there is an answer, and he will find it
– Justin thinks he needs to make a good impression
– He is less interested in framing the right question than
in pleasing senior people
– Justin doesn’t take the time to consider other
perspectives on the project

22. Never Stop Learning
What Justin didn’t learn in business school:
• Rushing to the wrong answer is a big time sink
• Some activities take time, but make time
• Working independently from the team can be very
inefficient
• Some activities are path dependent. Others can be
opportunistic

23.  We spend much of our time describing
 Make meaning from what you observe: What’s
happening?
 Shifting to Why? Questions changes the strategic
conversation
 What matters most?
Ask Why?
Never Stop Learning

24. Key Takeaways
• Strategy does not flow from Analysis
• Avoid correctly answering the wrong
question
• Let a Hypothesis lead you into the Data
• Humans are not Human Resources
• Look at Strategic analyses through an
Organizational lens

25. Key Takeaways
• Just because you can do something doesn’t
mean you should
• Just because you’ve finished school,
doesn’t mean you’re done learning

26. Contents
 Chapter 1: A Simple Problem
 Chapter 2: A New Shirt
 Chapter Three: A Moving Target
 Chapter Four: A Working Lunch
 Chapter Five : A Valuable Chain
 Etc.
Each Chapter advances the story and contains
strategy and organization tools and
approaches

27. What I Didn’t Learn in Business School:
How Strategy Works in the Real World
By Jay Barney and Trish Gorman Clifford
Harvard Business Press 2010
Trish Clifford
Trish@managetolearn.com
www.whatididntlearn.com
Questions? Comments?

28. Aventis School of Management is a leading Graduate School which is an affiliated
member of the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) and
European Council for Business Education (ECBE). Unlike most business schools which
rely heavily on academic research, Aventis’s rich industrial heritage sets it distinctively
apart through its unwavering commitment towards delivering practical driven
curriculum.

29.  One of the only 5 business schools in Singapore that is registered with
European Foundation for Management Development.
 An institutional member of the European Council for Business Education.
 A full member of the Prestigious Executive MBA Council of over 250 top
business schools across the world such as INSEAD, Babson College, UCLA,
UCBE, Cornell, Helsinki School of Economics, NUS and NYU.
 An accredited Study Centre of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK.
 An academic participant of the United Nations Global Compact (UN-GC),
the world’s largest corporate social initiatives
 A registered Business School members of the American Academy of
Financial Management (AAFM)
Memberships & Accreditations

30. Established in Singapore since 2006, Aventis is registered with the Council for Private
Education (CPE), Ministry of Education Singapore. As a Leading Institute of Higher Learning,
Aventis trains over 2,000 students and participants annually in its suite of Executive Masters,
MBA, Graduate Diploma and Professional Certifications programs
Registered with the Council for Private Education & Ministry of Education Singapore

31. • Master of Business Administration
• EMSC Finance
• EMSC Marketing (International Business)
• EMSC HR & Global Leadership
• EMSC Psychology (I/O)
• EMSC Info Systems & Bus Computing
EXECUTIVE MASTER PROGRAMS
As the Leading Graduate School in Singapore, Aventis trains over 500 PMETs
and Business Leaders in our suite of Graduate programs annually

32. • Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration
• CIM Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing
• Graduate Diploma in Finance & Investment
• Graduate Diploma in Accounting & Finance
• Graduate Diploma in Portfolio & Investment Strategy
• Graduate Diploma in Social Psychology & Counseling
• Graduate Diploma in Training & Development
• Graduate Diploma in Counter-Terrorism & Security
Management
GRADUATE DIPLOMA PROGRAMS
As the Leading Graduate School in Singapore, Aventis offers a suite of over 15
Graduate Diplomas programs across 7 Disciplines

33. Executive Education Programs

34. Corporate Training & Conferences
Aventis organizes over 60 seminars, workshops, in house corporate training and
conferences annually , reaching out to over 2,000 PMETs and Business Leaders

35. We facilitate connections between students, corporate recruiters and alumni.
Staffed by a team of experienced professionals, our key goal is to help students tap a
wide array of resources and opportunities ensure that they secure the relevant
information, advice and guidance to make the right connections.
Our career services includes
• Career Coaching
• One to one Counseling
• Career & Industry talk
• Mentoring program
• Executive Search
• Business Consulting Opportunities
Aventis Career Advisory & Executive Coaching for PMETs

36. Executive Placement Program

37. For more information about our MBA
Executive MSc or Corporate Training courses
Contact Our Professional Consultant Today
Call :6720 3333 |info@aventis.edu.sg | www.aventis.edu.sg

38. THANK
YOU
Call :6720 3333 |info@aventis.edu.sg | www.aventis.edu.sg