Speak Up
Fostering Exploration
Successful companies with rich histories exploit their current business situation and simultaneously explore new opportunities. Think Amazon, Corning, and Blackstone.
Most companies find it much easier to have tunnel vision and focus on exploitation, from improving current products and services to changing distribution patterns. Those that only focus on exploitation often miss the point, and inevitably face extinction. Think Kodak, Howard Johnson’s, Digital Equipment Corporation, and many more. In my experience, I have found three simple rules of thumb can powerfully enable exploration, yielding creative solutions for seizing new opportunities.
Remove the Barriers. When I first joined Quest Diagnostics (then known as Corning Clinical Laboratories), the culture was inwardly focused. As a newcomer to the clinical testing business, I was viewed as hopelessly uninformed about the industry by many on my senior management team. At an early leadership meeting, I questioned why we were having difficulty complying with Medicare billing regulations. The immediate response was shocking: “Ken, since you aren’t a laboratorian and don’t understand our industry, you can’t possibly understand that no one expects us to comply with the law.” That was a highly disconcerting and defining moment. It convinced me that explaining away circumstances and creating “rule of thumb” barriers to thinking about better ways of doing business (in this case, complying with the law in all respects) was holding us back. I proceeded to change the senior management team, bringing in proven transformational leaders from the financial services, transportation, and computer infrastructure industries to inject much-needed oxygen—new ideas that would dramatically challenge conventional wisdom. And it paid off. We had successes and yes, failures, along the way, by taking risks beyond just tweaking our traditional business model.
Encourage. Don’t Disparage. Great organizations don’t automatically say “no” to new ideas. They say, “Let’s try it!” Organizations that think brilliant, transformative ideas come from just one or two people are missing the boat. At the same time, some individuals are naturally more creative and inquisitive than others. As leaders, our job is to identify those who see things differently and want to make change happen. They need to be given space, and have their thinking legitimized by leaders. Sometimes that means providing a separate sub-organization structure.
Embrace “No idea is a bad idea.” The most important form of encouragement is to actively seek ideas while accepting the fact that there will be many more failures than successes. At Quest Diagnostics a number of years ago, some colleagues said, “Let’s completely change the patient experience. Let’s directly provide patients what they need to help manage their own health care decisions.” I provided financial resources and visible support for the efforts of these pioneers. We were ahead of our time. Now, more than 10 years later, that concept has finally become a reality, yielding new insights, new revenue streams, and most important, the prospect of improving human health, one patient at a time.
At Questrom School of Business, we strive to foster exploration among our students, faculty, and staff as we develop leaders who will create value for the world.
