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StrategyDriven Podcast Special Edition 30a – An Interview with Lynne Lancaster and David Stillman, authors of The M-Factor, part 1 of 2

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StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag articles on the StrategyDriven website.

Special Edition 30a – An Interview with Lynne Lancaster and David Stillman, authors of The M-Factor, part 1 of 2 examines how to successfully integrate Millennials into the workforce from the perspectives of the Traditionalists, Boomers, and Gen Xers already there and the incoming Millennials themselves. During our discussion, Lynne Lancaster and David Stillman, authors of The M-Factor: How the Millennial Generation Is Rocking the Workplace and co-Founders and Partners of BridgeWorks, shares with us their insights and illustrative examples regarding:

  • who Millennials are and their shared characteristics and traits
  • significant environmental factors, world events, and technologies that shape Millennial values, behaviors, and beliefs
  • seven trends associated with Millennials and the impact of each on the business environment

Additional Information

In addition to the incredible insights Lynne and David share in The M-Factor and this special edition podcast are the resources accessible from their website, www.Generations.com.   Their book, The M-Factor, can be purchased by clicking here.

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About the Author

Lynne Lancaster is one of today’s foremost cultural translators. An expert on the generations, she is co-founder of BridgeWorks, a company that advises leaders, managers, and employees on how to conduct business more successfully by bridging generation gaps at work and in the marketplace. Her keynote speeches and workshops have enlightened and entertained high level audiences from many of America’s best companies, including 3M, American Express, Best Buy, Citigroup, Coca-Cola, Lockheed Martin, and Wells Fargo, as well as from numerous public sector and nonprofit organizations. To read Lynne’s full biography, click here.

David Stillman is co-founder of BridgeWorks and one of the youngest keynote speakers to hit the national circuit. He co-authored the best selling business book, When Generations Collide, with Lynne in 2002. David has appeared nationally on CNN, CNBC, and the Today show and has been featured in such prestigious publications as TIME magazine, Entrepreneur, The New York Times, and USA Today. To read David’s full biography, click here.

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StrategyDriven Editorial Perspective – You Don’t Get Something for Nothing

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Some would argue that with President Obama’s signing of health care legislation into law a great deal of uncertainty was eliminated from the marketplace. While the uncertainty associated with whether or not health care legislation would become law has been resolved, the new healthcare entitlement itself represents an injection of new uncertainty into the market. As is the case with many laws, the various regulatory agencies of the U.S. government must now determine the specifics of how the new law will be enacted. This process itself may take several years to accomplish; allowing the uncertainty to continue to fester within the U.S. marketplace. Additionally, legal challenges as to the constitutionality of the healthcare law also inject an unknown into the business environment. Thus, businesses are left to deal with the healthcare uncertainty at least for the time being.

One thing is for certain, you don’t get something for nothing. Provisions of the new healthcare law provide for the extension of benefits to millions of currently uninsured Americans. Insurance companies will not be able to deny coverage to individuals with pre-existing health conditions and there will no longer be lifetime insurance payout limits. Another requirement extends the age for which children can be carried on their parent’s insurance policy to twenty-six. …and the list goes on. All of these additional healthcare benefits have to be paid for by someone or some company even if the specifics of those payments remain unknown for some time.

Some leaders already estimated the cost of the new healthcare law on their organization as:

  • AT&T: $1,000 million
  • Verizon: $970 million
  • Deere & Co.: $150 million
  • Beoing Co.: $150 million
  • Caterpillar: $100 million
  • Prudential Financial: $100 million
  • Lockheed Martin Corp.: $96 million
  • 3M Co.: $85-$90 million
  • Exelon Corp.: $65 million
  • AK Steel: $31 million
  • Eaton: $25 million
  • Illinois Tool Works: $22 million
  • Xcel Energy: $17 million
  • Valero: $15-$20 million
  • Honeywell: $13 million
  • Goodrich: $10 million
  • Allegheny Technologies: $5 million1

Other companies warning of an increase in benefits costs include: Con-Way Inc., Navistar Inc., Xerox Corp., Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., and Met Life Inc.2

“The total cost of this [healthcare legislation] has been significantly underestimated,” said Jim Rogers, Chief Executive Officer of Duke Energy Corp. and a director of U.S. health insurer Cigna Corp. “Corporations are going to pay billions of dollars this year that no one even talked about in the debate and that’s just the beginning.”

Rogers said the health-care law makes it more economical for Duke Energy to pay a penalty for not providing health coverage for employees, forcing workers to “go shop” for a plan. The company won’t take this route, he said.

“Your health-care program is important; it demonstrates that you care about your employees,” he said. “So as a practical matter we won’t be driven by the most economic thing to do, we will be driven by taking care of our employees.”3

StrategyDriven Recommended Practices

So what is known? Unless the new healthcare law is found to be unconstitutional, it is reasonable to infer that existing capital within our economic system, regardless of its source, will be diverted in larger portions to the healthcare industry – and away from other market sectors. It is also reasonable to assume that those receiving health care coverage will make greater use of the medical services now available to them than simply the emergency room visits they were entitled to before. These reasonable yet broad assumptions drive StrategyDriven leaders to consider the following strategic options:

  • Eliminating, streamlining, and outsourcing all labor intensive work activities. The goal is to reduce hiring and/or eliminate headcount in order to avoid the potential costs associated with the new healthcare legislation. In the case of outsourcing, serious consideration should be given to transferring those functions not absolutely required to be performed within the United States to overseas providers.
  • Relocating operations to another country not as heavily burdened with taxes and other mandates. The goal is to reduce non-value adding payments required by the government. Consideration must be given to other added costs such as transportation and importation taxes when evaluating whether or not to relocate.
  • Examining the potential competitive advantage the organization’s health care program provides when seeking to attract and/or maintain talent. The goal is to use the organization’s healthcare benefits as a differentiator when acquiring and maintaining top performing individuals.
  • For those organizations providing products and/or services to the healthcare industry, reevaluating the company’s production capacity with respect to the potential change in the demand resulting from the influx of millions of newly insured patients. The goal is to be appropriately prepared and positioned to seize as much of the newly created market as possible.
  • For those organizations not currently providing products and/or services to the healthcare industry, considering the impact of the diversion of discretionary personal funds and/or corporate capital away from their market segment. This evaluation should take into account the extent to which the product and/or service is provided are a human or business necessity. The goal is to estimate the amount of business loss that may be incurred because of the diversion of personal and corporate funds to the healthcare industry.
  • For those organizations not currently providing products and/or services to the healthcare industry, evaluating the company’s capability and opportunity to provide products and/or services to the healthcare industry. The goal is to be appropriately prepared and positioned to seize some of the newly created market if it is reasonable for the organization to do so.

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StrategyDriven Editorial Perspective PodcastThe strength in our community grows with the additional insights brought by our expanding member base. Please consider rating us and sharing your perspectives regarding the StrategyDriven Editorial Perspective podcast on iTunes by clicking here. Sharing your thoughts improves our ranking and helps us attract new listeners which, in turn, helps us grow our community.

Thank you again for listening to the StrategyDriven Editorial Perspective podcast!

Sources

  1. “Companies Take Billions In Health Care Charges,” Reid Wilson, National Journal, April 2, 2010
  2. “Deere & Co. says new health care reform law will increase fiscal 2010 expenses by about $150M,” Josh Funk, Associated Press, March 25, 2010
  3. “Duke Energy Says Health Law to Result in ‘Large’ Cost (Update1),” Kim Chipman and Jordan Burke, Bloomberg, April 01, 2010

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Decision-Making Warning Flag 1c – ad hominem: Personal, Not Issue Attacks

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StrategyDriven Decision Making Article | ad hominem“An ad hominem argument, also known as argumentum ad hominem (Latin: “argument to the man”, “argument against the man”) consists of replying to an argument or factual claim by attacking or appealing to a characteristic or belief of the person making the argument or claim, rather than by addressing the substance of the argument or producing evidence against the claim. The process of proving or disproving the claim is thereby subverted, and the argumentum ad hominem works to change the subject.

It is most commonly used to refer specifically to the ad hominem abusive, or argumentum ad personam, which consists of criticizing or attacking the person who proposed the argument (personal attack) in an attempt to discredit the argument. It is also used when an opponent is unable to find fault with an argument, yet for various reasons, the opponent disagrees with it.”

Ad Hominem
Wikipedia

The ‘Old Boys Club’

Product defects plague a company’s profitability; warranty repairs, returns, and lost sales robbing the organization of its already slim profit margins. Executives assembled an engineering team to assess product designs and material quality in hopes of identifying a root cause to the defective product issue. A junior member of the assessment team, a young, recently hired assembly line supervisor, identifies the lack of routine calibration of critical cutting tools as a contributor to the poor fit of key product components. The tenured company engineers on the team discount the supervisor’s observation because he’s too young and too new to know what’s really important. These senior engineers have just made an ad hominem argument to advance their position.

Ad hominem arguments are bias-based logic fallacies made to support business decisions every day. As with all logic errors, decision-makers fall prey to the appearance of reasonableness, especially when the assertion supports their desired course of action. Although difficult, recognizing and eliminating the use of ad hominem arguments in decision-making is absolutely necessary.

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Additional Information

Additional insight to the warning signs, causes, and results of logic errors can be found in the StrategyDriven website feature: Decision-Making Warning Flag 1 – Logic Fallacies Introduction.

Insights on organizational diversity and inclusion can be found in the StrategyDriven topical area: Diversity and Inclusion.

Organizational Accountability Best Practice 2 – Data Transparency

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StrategyDriven Organizational Accountability Best Practice ArticleIs it still wrong if I don’t get caught? YES!

Organizations live and die by the decisions of executives and managers and the actions of employees. Therefore, individuals must be held accountable for their work that both helps and hinders goal achievement if the organization expects to thrive. This accountability can only happen, however, if the decisions/actions and associated results are visible. Data transparency helps create this visibility.

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Management Observation Program Best Practice 8 – Cross Organizational Trending

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StrategyDriven Management Observation Program Best Practice ArticleManagement observation programs generate a wealth of individual and workgroup performance data. All too often, workgroup managers view their employees job functions as being singularly unique and so don’t consider pooling their observation results with peers. Doing so, however, creates the possibility of identifying broader organizational trends that may be culturally driven and more economical to resolve with a single integrated initiative.

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