July 2, 2002

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HONOLULU — On July 2, 2002, a rapper made an appearance at JAIMS' 30th Anniversary Alumni Conference, entertaining the audience with her lyrical skills. What was unique about this rapper was that her song was not related to pop culture, but about the guidelines for a company's success. Dr. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School professor and award-winning author, entertained and enlightened the audience with a rap summing up the ideas she presented during her presentation, "How to Evolve: Succeeding in the Digital Culture of Tomorrow."

Dr. Rosabeth Moss Kanter

While Kanter's rap was both informative and amusing, her presentation was what had everyone talking. Kanter clarified the big picture of business' roles, values, and strategies needed to succeed in today's business climate.

In today's environment of exposed corporate corruption, Kanter made it clear that companies should not place their value solely on the numbers and making huge profits.

"I do believe that those of you who lead businesses today and will continue to lead businesses in the future have a vision not only to create wealth but also to create well-being," she said.

"By opening opportunities for prosperity to people in all the countries in which you do business, you play a very important role in creating a peaceful world and a world that will indeed leave a legacy for the future."

In this era of change, Kanter says there are some key elements companies should consider in order to survive. She suggests that as global companies grow their international presence they will have to localize to fit the culture, the context, and the infrastructure of the countries in which they do business.

The new ideal, according to Kanter, is realism and accountability, where companies hold true to their projections. And where revolution was once the mantra of many companies, Kanter believes that you should not ignore the lessons of traditional knowledge, but use it to evolve the company in new directions.

One of the more popular topics that Kanter spoke about was her concept of improvisational theatre as being a metaphor for innovation.

"When you're in new territory, when you're developing new products, when you're working on new technology and you can't yet know what the customers will buy, what will work, it has to be like improvisational theatre where a CEO sets some themes and the actors go to work in interaction with their audience to produce a drama that the CEO may not have even envisioned."

"If the audience likes it, they become the co-producer. In fact, increasingly, we have to think of customers as the co-producers because it is their reaction fed into the drama that helps us develop new things."

Kanter stressed that a "perfect plan" is not important for a company. It is more important to have innovators willing to improvise and to let strategy emerge from the customers. That way customers can help shape and improve the company's products.

She also emphasized that while it's important to have people improvising and innovating, the strategies must be tied to the needs of the business. The result would be companies who can cope with surprises.

People make the companies, and Kanter reminded the audience that relationships are key factors in the success of businesses. She recognizes the need for companies to have direct relationships all across their supply chain. They must know their supplier's supplier and their customer's customer.

Also, according to Kanter, not only do the external relationships play a role, but so do the internal ones. Divisions within company departments should be done away with, she says. Everyone should view the enterprise as one and should do their work accordingly without rivalry.

In closing, Kanter offered her own thoughts on what an ideal company should be.

"Companies should help everybody make a living, " she said, "but they also have to help people in the company make a life, feel connected to the community, have quality of life outside the company as well in; and they need to help people know that what they're doing, ultimately, is connected to larger missions, higher purposes - that it makes a difference."