Philadelphia, PA May 19, 2016 — Executives today are turning to non-traditional modes of developing and positioning their organization for the 21st century business. Overwhelmingly, executives are addressing their respective corporate cultures as an avenue for producing measurable business results. In response to this paradigm shift, Insigniam, an international management consulting firm, called a one-day executive summit, the ninth of its kind, to address the question of: “how can we leverage the corporate culture (the way people think, feel, and act towards their work) of our respective organizations to produce measurable, breakthrough results?”
The summit’s keynote speaker, Sir Ken Robinson, an author, speaker, and internationally recognized authority on creativity and innovation, spoke on “Leading a Culture of Innovation.”
The summit also featured two interviews with senior executives at two disparate organizations. The first with GNC (General Nutrition Centers, Inc.) who are at the outset of a cultural transformation. The chief human resources officer, Daisy Vanderlinde, was flanked by the vice presidents of field operations, marketing, and purchasing, Beth Kitchen, Amy Davis, and Steve Cherry.
The second interview was with Cone Health, a North Carolina based healthcare group consisting of physician offices and major hospitals who have been transforming their culture for over six years. Chief operating officer, Judy Schanel was joined for the interview with the EVP of transformation and innovation, Joan Evans, and chief clinical officer, Dr. Mary Jo Cagle.
The result of the day was a set of business principles executives can immediately apply to their work:
• We are living in revolutionary times and many of the challenges we face are without precedent. They are being driven by two major forces: technology and demography. Sir Ken Robinson then urged attendees to think introspectively about what they are relying on today that could be the source of their own demise.
• To meet these challenges, we have to think very differently about talent, creativity and human resources. Sir Ken Robinson went on to say that the life you live is a function of finding your talents and then applying them.
• Like all living organisms, the companies that thrive longest are those that adapt best to their changing environments. For that, they need a culture of innovation. Cone
Health’s chief clinical officer, Dr. Mary Jo Cagle, said there was a clear gap between where they were, and where they aspired to be in the healthcare sector, and they viewed their corporate culture as the best way to close that gap.
• Innovation is the life force of all great organizations. Most companies have new ideas from time to time. For companies to survive and thrive now, innovation has to become a habit not an accident.
• A culture of innovation depends on creative leadership. Leading for innovation is not the same as leading only for for efficiency. Sir Ken Robinson further underscored steering someone toward something is a falsehood, since life is lived in an improvised way.
• The role of a creative leader is not command and control: it is climate control. The role of a creative leader is not to have all the good ideas: it is to facilitate a culture where everyone has good ideas.
About Insigniam
Insigniam has over 25 years of experience working with large, complex organizations in generating breakthroughs in their management results—whether that be in topline growth, strategy implementation, improving profitability, or culture change. Our innovation consulting enables enterprises to innovate through identifying new strategic frontiers, generating creativity, and executing growth opportunities on those frontiers. Insigniam pioneered the field of organization transformation by marrying breakthrough performance and innovation, thus creating services and solutions that are unparalleled in their potency to quickly create dramatic growth. Clients have documented, in aggregate, more than 50x ROI in management results considered critical and essential to the success of their enterprises. Insigniam solutions include Enterprise Transformation, Breakthrough Projects, Transformational Leadership, and Managing Change. Offices are located in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Hong Kong.
