Investigating Business Intelligence at Guthy-Renker

In the case study, Business Intelligence at Guthy-Renker, development of business intelligence both from a technology and process/human perspective is explored.  The IT group at Guthy-Renker tended to be more task and less strategically oriented prior to the development of the BI initiative which now focuses on three pillars: technology, business process and organizational readiness.

There are many strengths to their new approach, including the selection of proven project managers for BI team leadership along with a consultancy with over 15 years of history.  Additionally, they have established governance via a PMO with top management for their steering committee, insuring appropriate attention and collaboration.  Finally, they have selected an open architecture which allows them to integrate data from multiple sources and scale up quickly. 

However, there are a few weaknesses that make Guthy-Renker’s BI initiative challenging which include their structure as a value chain versus a supply chain.  This limits their ability to standardize both IT systems and metrics.  They have also chosen to “cherry pick” open minded individuals for inclusion in their BI discussions and roll-outs, potentially limiting their ROI.   Another area for improvement is making sure that IT professionals understand that bug-free reports are not required and that quick turnaround with good enough reports is more desirable.   

Because the business is starved for information, there is a danger of the new BI data becoming distracting.  It is important the management tempers its expectations.  The BI team must teach users to utilize and interpret the available data in order to avoid over reaction and unrealistic expectations.  . 

References

Clark, Joseph. (2010). Business Intelligence at Guthy-Renker: The Promise and Challenges of Sensing the Pulse. (1.2 version). California: USC Marshall School of Business

Can a leader be without strategy?

Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy. ~ Norman Schwarzkopf

Norman Schwarzkopf’s quote above exemplifies the heart of a servant leader. Servant leaders “…build strong relationships with others, are empathetic, ethical, and lead in ways that serve the greater good of followers, the organization, the community, and society at large “(Northouse, 2013, 248). It is through their astringent value system and beliefs that they demonstrate their character. Deep and supporting relationships with their subordinates, allow them to achieve superior results. 

While I agree with Schwarzkopf’s premise that character is the more important factor for a leader, I do not believe that sustainable leadership can be accomplished without some measure of technical or strategic skill.  The skills approach to leadership from Katz supports that while human and conceptual skills are of greater importance for top management, there is still a minimal level of technical skill which is required (Northouse, 2013).  When looking at the three components of the skills model, strategy would appear to be synonymous with competency.  Specifically, this skill encompasses problem solving, social judgment, and knowledge.  “When leaders move into middle management, it becomes important that they have all three skills: technical, human, and conceptual” (Northouse, 2013, 57). 

Finally, even the servant leadership model seems to conflict Schwarzkopf’s bold assertion that leaders can be without strategy if they have sufficient character.  Conceptualizing is listed as required behavior for servant leaders.  A leader’s ability to conceptualize allows them “…to think through multifaceted problems, to know if something is going wrong, and to address problems creatively…” (Northouse, 2013, 227).  While his statements are well intentioned, I believe it is clear that leaders cannot be effective without both strategy and character.  Perhaps, his intention was to highlight that strategy without character can have grossly negative impacts on individuals, corporations, and society. It is thus critical to have leaders with impeccable character and perhaps only average strategic skill.