Was fortunate to attend Argyle’s Leadership in Digital Marketing Forum in New York today. Overall an excellent event with speakers and panelists who were clearly above average.
Two panelist however get extra kudos. Kudos not for what they brought to the table, which was very insightful, but rather for how they described what they do.
Tim Perek, Head of Customer Experience for Schneider Electric North America and Elissa Tomasetti, Senior Vice President, Marketing Scholastic Publishing, when asked to introduce themselves described what they do in terms of what their firms are aspiring to, not just in terms of title and function.
Why is this noteworthy?
In Playing to Win, How Strategy Really Works, A.G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin map out how business strategy can be developed by working through an “integrated cascade of choices.” The first choice that must be tackled is “what is our winning aspiration?”
“Winning aspiration” defines the purpose of an organization and is the context that all future strategy building decisions are built on.
While I don’t know if Schneider Electric or Scholastic Publishing have this built into their overall strategic efforts, it is a hint. Regardless, Tim Perek and Elissa Tomasetti describing themselves in terms what their organizations aspire to is a good thing.
By the way (and I am paraphrasing here) Schneider Electric believes that electricity is something that everyone in the world should have access to while Scholastic Publishing is out to help and inspire students.