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Winning isn’t reflected in profits or market share, according to Jeff Rodek, executive chairman of Hyperion, Inc., makers of performance management software. “Those traditional measures are the result. Winning is all the steps along the way that lead to success.”
Rodek shared his views with dean Edward Snyder at an event cohosted by the student-led High Tech Group and GSB Operations Management Group October 10 at the Hyde Park Center.
Since the winning steps are undertaken by the people who make up an organization, he said, “if they believe what they’re doing is the most important thing, profits will go up. Honoring the process that leads to profit is the key. You need to get people to focus on input, not just output.”
Rodek’s leadership philosophy has several components: culture, customer satisfaction, profit, good citizenship, and social responsibility. “At Hyperion, we went green when we didn’t have to. We recognize the competitive advantages to offering employees benefits outside the traditional ones. Working for a company that is socially responsible gives employees something to be proud of.”
So does enabling them to make decisions. “Get people throughout the organization to make decisions,” Snyder said. “The lower down the totem pole people get to make decisions, the better.” Rodek agreed. Sharing Hyperion’s vision, talking and listening to employees, and being honest about priorities helps people get excited about their work, he said. “You can’t over-communicate,” Rodek said.
—Carmen Marti