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Human Operating System (HOS) HOS is much like a computer operating system that needs to be upgraded every so often to enjoy the fruits of innovation. Not upgrading the HOS and expecting sustainable disruption is like playing a Shakira video on a Windows 3.1 machine except that in this instance, the hips WILL lie. If you can’t upgrade the HOS every year you will be hosed—no pun intended!The HOS of an organization has multiple stakeholders and includes all of the following—the board, employees, C-level executives (Yes, I call them out separate as they have their own DNA), customers and vendors/suppliers. HOS is much like acomputer operating system that needs to be upgraded every so often to enjoy the fruits of innovation. Not upgrading the HOS and expecting sustainable disruption is like playing a Shakira video on a Windows 3.1 machine except that in this instance, the hips WILL lie. If you can’t upgrade the HOS every year you will be hosed—no pun intended! For all the talk about “our people are our only asset” most organizations do a terrible job of talent sourcing, talent management, succession planning and above all ensuring that at least 80% of the team understands the linkage between brand, strategy and operations. Time and again you will find CEOs (with outrageous salaries) so disconnected from the true organizational fabric that their strategies, albeit good, fail to land. It’s integrated and consequence driven execution STUPID! All this in turn is tied and dependent on an interesting species we call HUMANS! Let’s tackle some major upgrades that your HOS will need if you are not growing: Board-level upgrade:Truth: Many boards in the US are “old-boy” networks. EBITDA has a direct correlation with how smart the board is and how often it’s upgraded in relation to changing business environments and strategies. Think about it—what good is an all-white-male board to a U.S. company trying to get a footprint in the Indian economy? ZERO! American businesses are being caught off guard everyday because they have “old-boys” boards that provide NO value. Actually, many are a liability. We all know the Chairman of the Audit Committee who gets a nice bonus off one of his investments, and is also a main supplier to the company! Push it a little further and the supplier is his son, but they never talk work! I could write a whole new book on board dysfunction in the USA and why even after countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have elected women heads of state, finding a woman executive or a black executive on a US company (public or profit or non-profit) board is a rarity and celebrated every time! Sad indeed! It’s time to upgrade this level at the least even if you chose not to upgrade anything else.C-level upgrade:Truth: Many CEOs are very far from the truth and lost in “self-preservation” exercises. If only I had a nickel for every time a CEO got over a million bucks in severance for consistent underperformance! These same CEOs are the first to blame mediocre performance on jobs going to India, or the price of oil or even better “back-dated stock options”! We need an upgrade assembly line where CEOs can go get a “smarts” upgrade before they got in the driver’s seat.Employee-level upgrade:Truth: Most employees don’t realize (due to lack of clear communication) that an upgrade is urgently needed, but it’s the blind leading the blind. Take for example the lack of talent combined with high degree of turnover you see at the store level in retail organizations. It’s because sitting in the corporate office you can’t increase talent and retention levels at the store level. You have to link behavior of the store employee to the brand, the strategy and above all store level operations.Customer-level upgrade:Truth: 80% revenue comes from 20% clients, yet nobody has the balls to fire the 80% and focus the business on customer profitability. An upgrade is very much needed.Vendor/supplier level upgrade:Truth: It’s a free-for-all since nobody takes accountability seriously. It’s time to upgrade suppliers/vendors and people in your organization that manage these relationships.Let’s be honest, how many times do you go grocery shopping and look at a bushel of apple and say to your self – I am going to pick some good ones and some rotten ones (oh yes, grocery businesses do pull that off). Why should your talent segregation be any different? Why not strive to hire the best! There is no room for mediocre performers or as their colleagues would say “Losers”. Companies all over, especially in the U.S. and Europe need to get a “global” upgrade or new version of the HOS if they want to survive and compete with healthy, vibrant and roaring tigers that Indian business is producing today. A global upgrade requires a mindset shift—one that takes a hard and untraditional look at basic human DNA of all your stakeholders. |
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