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Balanced Scorecard Report
the st rate g y e x e cu t i o n s o u r c e
Article Reprint No. B1201D
Managing Projects in
Turbulent Times
By Ed Barrows and Andy Neely
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j a n u a r y – f e b r u a r y 2012 : vol 14 no 1
Managing Projects in
Turbulent Times
By Ed Barrows and Andy Neely
Strategic initiatives are major drivers of organizational progress
and are designed to transform enterprise processes or knowledge
assets. Unfortunately, many initiatives suffer from poor project
management—they are launched without clear business cases,
paid too little attention from senior leaders, and managed without
strong project governance. The costs of these and other mistakes
are significant. In this article—an excerpt from their new book
Managing Performance in Turbulent Times: Insight and Analytics—
performance management experts Ed Barrows and Andy Neely
describe four practices organizations can implement right away to
improve their project management and, in so doing, improve their
overall strategy execution.
Utter the words “project management”
to senior managers and thoughts of
detailed project plans, excruciating
milestone reviews, and painful budget
overruns are brought to mind. Although
project management is essential to organizational effectiveness, many executives shudder at the thought of digging
into the particulars of how they manage
vital projects. Top managers feel that
project management—and certainly
the details thereof—are better left to
the rank and file far from the influences
of the boardroom. But it is this attitude
that prevents many organizations from
becoming the effective project executors they need to be. In today’s environment, where conditions are changing
rapidly and in some cases unpredictably, managers need to be attuned to
their organizations’ major projects so
projects can not only be completed but
also dynamically managed to deliver
the results needed across the entire
business. In this article, we discuss
how organizations can improve project
management activities and in so doing
yield improved business results.
State of the Practice—In Need of
an Overhaul
Every year, organizations spend tens
of billions of dollars on initiatives—
high-level projects intended to transform their enterprises. Some are classic
operational improvement initiatives,
such as Lean Six Sigma applied in manufacturing. Others are truly transformational, like redesigning the new-product
development process. Regardless of the
particular type, many of these initiatives
are victims of poor project management.
These projects are poorly designed, misaligned from important organizational
objectives, and badly managed by senior
executives—to name just a few of the
challenges that major initiatives suffer
from in organizations. In fact, in a study
of more than 10,000 projects within 200
companies and across 30 industries,
consultants for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) found that only 2.5% were
completed on time, within scope, and
with the intended business benefit.
Further, PwC found that 60% of organizations said they wanted to improve
their project management maturity.1
Clearly, this isn’t great news. But with
as few as four basic changes to project
management practices, we’ve found
that organizations can significantly tip
the odds in their favor. We’ll talk about
each of these after we review the factors
for project success.
Seven Factors for Project Success
To set the foundation for improved
project management, it’s important
to understand what contributes to a
project’s success. According to researchers Richard Discenza of the University of
Colorado and James Forman of Microsoft
in a paper presented at the proceedings
of the Project Management Institute,
seven factors need to be present for
project success.2 They are as follows:
1. Focus on business value, not
technical detail.
2. Establish clear accountability for
measured results.
3. Have a consistent process for managing unambiguous checkpoints.
4. Have a consistent methodology for
planning and executing projects.
5. Include customers at the beginning of
the project and involve them as things
change.
6. Manage and motivate people so that
project efforts will experience a zone
of optimal performance.
7. Provide the project team members
the tools and techniques they need
to produce constantly successful
projects.
Source: Richard Discenza and James
Forman, “Seven Causes of Project
Failure: How to Recognize Them and
How to Initiate Project Recovery.”
Discenza and Forman note that the
seven factors can be grouped into three
broad categories: people, process, and
communication. We will keep these
categories in mind as we present the
best practices we see in project management used today.
1 A. Nieto-Rodriguez, D. Evrard, “Boosting Business Performance Through Programme and Project Management,” PricewaterhouseCoopers. Belgium, 2004.
2 R. Discenza, J. Forman, “Seven Causes of Project Failure: How to Recognize Them and How to Initiate Project Recovery,” PMI Global Conference Proceedings,
Project Management Institute, New York.
1. Show Me the Business Case
It is not uncommon for organizations to
launch projects without a clear business case. When we say business case,
we mean more than just the rationale
that explains why the project is being
started. Almost every project launched
in an organization has some rationale—
to improve the order fulfillment process,
to build employee business acumen, or
to improve internal communications
are examples. But what projects often
lack are particulars like a clear purpose,
the direct linkage to critical objectives,
the explicit documentation of intended
benefits, and a host of other information
types essential to the project’s ultimate
success.
Business cases are not developed
because, in a word, they are difficult.
For many managers, it seems easier to
launch a project and worry about the
benefits later than take the time up
front to construct the business case.
And, although projects consume large
amounts of time and energy, developing
a business case to justify the project
does not. We have never run across an
organization that has complained it is
spending too much time on business
cases. Recall the survey cited earlier that
found only 2.5% of the projects sampled
delivered the full benefits intended.
Business cases are the best tools available to tip the scale in favor of project
success.
A good business case contains a set of
critical information. An example of a
one-page business case format is shown
in Figure 1.
As shown in the graphic, a business
case contains a section that provides
the project’s basic information. It also
contains strategic information about the
project as well as basic financial information such as cost, revenue increase,
and NPV. The business impact should be
identified as well in both qualitative and
quantitative terms. If several different
options are under consideration, each
should be summarized and evaluated
at a high level. Actual costs in terms of
time and money should be described
2
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FIGURE 1: SAMPLE BUSINESS CASE FORMAT
It is always helpful to create a business case for every strategic initiative or
project. Identify the relevant strategic objective and financial benefits that the
effort will produce. Milestones help determine whether the project is on track or
whether it needs to be modified to achieve its intended impact.
over the project period along with a
high-level project plan. Risks can be discussed along with assumptions and key
constraints in the project description.
Depending on the needs of the organization, other fields can be added as well.
Business cases are not new. But many
organizations lack the discipline to
use them effectively. We find they are
essential to structuring for success in
the world of fast-paced performance
management.
2. Use Project Alignment Tools
Because it is commonplace for managers
to launch projects without the use
of business cases or other project structuring tools, the result is a proliferation
of projects throughout organizations.
From the PwC study cited earlier, 42% of
the 200 respondents ran more than 50
projects per year and 26% ran a
whopping 100 per year or more. Only
10% of organizations in the sample
managed fewer than five. This “peanut
buttering,” or the spreading of finite
resources across a large number of
R eport
projects, is a possible explanation for
why project failure rates in organizations are so high.
One way organizations improve project
effectiveness, especially in the case of
strategic projects, is by aligning projects
to strategic performance objectives.
This involves collecting projects and
matching or mapping them to high-level
objectives. In their book, The Execution
Premium, Balanced Scorecard creators
Robert Kaplan and David Norton present
what they call an initiative alignment
matrix. An example is shown in Figure 2.
What this simple matrix enables organizations to do is see where alignment
exists between major projects and critical objectives. Where there is overage,
an opportunity exists to rationalize
projects. When gaps are present, this
may indicate a need to add projects.
Although the tool won’t make the decision, what it does do is force managers
to consider where projects align to their
key objectives. Other tools similar to this
matrix exist, but this is one of the more
useful ones available.
Economic value added
financial
Some
initiatives serving
no objectives
Create new market demand
customer
Training strategic skills
Global communications
Rewards development/implem
Expert systems
No initiatives
for the Financial
perspective
Be the lowest cost producer
Pick winners globally
ISO 90002 NA resin mfg. cer
Facilities upgrade
Yield improvement program
Scarp rework process improv
IT strategy alignment
Asia reformation facilities
Communicate vision
Develop/cascade BSC
SCOP implementation
Abm
IT enhancement in value chain
Sidelam VP/partnerships
Customer complaint tracking pro
SV commercialization/facilities
Reformulation
Quality proc for root cause elim
Quality needs identification
Res sec and W&L and hurricane
Partner with the winners
objectives
Emerging markets strategy
perspective
Procurement redesign
current initiatives
Price performance
Partnering
Integrate and align resources
internal
Sales and customer development
Focused technology development
9 initiatives
serving 1
objective
Perfect manufacturing
People and change management
learning & growth
Strategic competencies
Individual and team performance
No initiatives
for this
objective
Customer-sensitive culture
Source: Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, The Execution Premium: Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage.
FIGURE 2: INITIATIVE ALIGNMENT MATRIX
Strategic initiatives should be rationalized by examining how they align with the full set of strategic objectives. In this
example there are initiatives that don’t align with any strategic objectives and there are objectives that are not supported by
any strategic initiatives. Financial objectives typically do not have initiatives assigned to them.
3. Form Executive Project Teams
In a 2006 survey of almost 800 executives, consultants McKinsey and
Company found that only 56% of
respondents track execution of their
strategic initiatives. This is unfortunate, given that the primary drivers
of progress in an organization are the
vital projects we’re discussing here.
One of the best ways to improve project
execution is through the development
of project teams staffed with key executives. Executives at the top especially
need to maintain responsibility for the
critical work of the organization, and
that critical work is many times in the
form of projects.
The vital projects we’re referring to
are most often projects tied to the
organization’s strategy. Projects like
entering a new market, accelerating
development of a second-generation
product, or deepening the bench behind
the top team can represent the most
important projects in the enterprise.
Projects of this magnitude and importance must be managed by top leaders;
otherwise, it sends the message to
employees that they aren’t very
important. Where senior leaders are not
involved, midlevel managers and rankand-file employees will quickly lose
interest, dooming the most important
projects of the organization to substandard execution—if they end up being
executed at all.
We have found that creating high-level
project teams for each major project
is a key driver of success. Usually the
team is championed by an executive
who maintains cognizance and overall
accountability for the project. But other
senior leaders can be accountable on
the project as well—for specific action
ja n uar y – februar y
2 0 1 2
items, typically. Senior executive monitoring and management of these vital
projects are important components of
overall project management success.
4. Create Project Portfolios
The final observation we have found
effective in practice is the organization
of projects into discrete portfolios
of projects with specific purposes.
Although this technique itself is not
new, its effective use is.
In June 2002, Lowell Bryan, director
of McKinsey and Company, wrote an
article titled “Just-in-time Strategy for
a Turbulent World.” In the article, Bryan
points out that in the past, managers could analytically determine a
company’s strategy and then chart a
course of action to get there. But in the
turbulent world of today, he asserts
that this approach is untenable. There
are too many variables, and the world
:
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is far too complex to accommodate a
static strategy.
“Strategy today has to align
itself to the fluid nature of this
external environment. It must be
flexible enough to change constantly and to adapt to outside
and internal conditions even as
the aspiration to deliver favorable outcomes for shareholders
remains constant.” 3
This quote provides a valuable summary
point in the area of project management: The odds are against most
organizations when it comes to
effective project execution; the data
we’ve presented bears this out. That
said, managers need to take deliberate
action to tip the scales in their favor. The
four practices presented in this article
provide a major step toward gaining
the improved project focus that many
organizations desperately need.
Bryan highlights what he calls a portfolio of initiatives approach—putting
projects into groups where they can
be managed dynamically depending
on the time frame the organization is
operating in as well as the level of risk
it is facing.
At the simplest level, projects can
be separated into two categories—
those that are strategic and those that
are operational. Further, they can be
subdivided into categories such as
high and low risk or rapid or long-term
payback. In reality, portfolios of projects
can be created using a host of different
criteria. The most important consideration isn’t the specific factors used,
but that projects are grouped using
logical criteria that facilitate better
management. In cases where projects
don’t align with the results desired by
leaders, priorities should be changed,
and the portfolio of projects should be
managed accordingly.
A Final Note on Project Management: The Odds Are Against You
Despair.com is the purveyor of demotivating posters (offering an antidote
to platitudinous success posters
found in many organizations). One of
its posters is titled “Overconfidence.”
The poster shows two skiers ahead
of what appears to be an avalanche
rushing toward them from behind. The
caption reads:
Before you attempt to beat the
odds, be sure you can survive the
odds beating you.
Ed Barrows is an authority
and consultant on business
performance. He holds
adjunct teaching posts at
Boston College, teaching
Strategic Management and
International Consulting,
and at Babson College, where
he teaches Operations and
Strategic Management as well
as executive education. Previously he held advisory positions at Deloitte, GE Capital,
and The Palladium Group.
Andy Neely is an authority on
organizational performance
measurement and management. He is Deputy Director
of the Advanced Instituted of
Management Research, the
UK’s management research
initiative. He also holds teaching posts at the University
of Cambridge and Cranfield
School of Management, where
he teaches both full-time and
executive-education courses.
To learn more
Ed Barrows and Andy Neely have just
published a new book, Managing Performance
in Turbulent Times: Insight and Analytics
(published by Wiley), from which this article
was excerpted.
Also, see:
“Rebalance Your Initiative Portfolio to
Manage Risk and Maximize Performance,” BSR
September–October 2008 (Reprint B0809D).
“Leading in an Uncertain World: Make Better
Decisions (and Make Decisions Better),” BSR
May–June 2009 (Reprint B0905C).
“Maximize Your ‘Return on Initiatives’ with
the Initiative Portfolio Review Process,” BSR
May–June 2008 (Reprint B0805C).
Reprint #B1201D
3 L. Bryan, “Just-in-Time Strategy for a Turbulent World,” McKinsey Quarterly (2002).
4
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R eport
HBR.ORG
Managing Yourself
March 2012
reprinT R1203R
New Project?
Don’t Analyze—Act
Entrepreneurs take small, quick steps to get
initiatives off the ground. You can do the same
in your organization. by Leonard A. Schlesinger,
Charles F. Kiefer, and Paul B. Brown
Managing Yourself
New Project?
Don’t Analyze—Act
Entrepreneurs take small, quick steps to get
initiatives off the ground. You can do the same
in your organization. by Leonard A. Schlesinger,
Charles F. Kiefer, and Paul B. Brown
2 Harvard Business Review March 2012
CoPyRIgHT © 2012 HARvARd BUSIneSS SCHool PUBlISHIng CoRPoRATIon. All RIgHTS ReSeRved.
Illustration: tomasz walenta
W
e all know how new projects
happen in a predictable world:
A team is assembled, a market
analyzed, a forecast created, and a business plan written. Resources are then
gathered, and the plan is set in motion.
But how do you launch new projects in
an unpredictable environment? What’s the
best way to do it in an age when the proliferation of data and opinion makes truly
decisive analysis impossible; when faraway events have immediate, unexpected
impact; and when economic malaise has
made companies reluctant to take big bets
on unproven ideas?
Take a page from the playbook of those
who are experts in navigating extreme
uncertainty while minimizing risk: serial
entrepreneurs.
We and others in the academic and
consulting communities have spent years
studying these leaders and the logic they
use to create new products, services,
and business models in situations where
the old methods of analyzing, forecasting, modeling, planning, and allocating
don’t work.
Some of the most surprising research
comes from Saras D. Sarasvathy, an associate professor of business administration at
the University of Virginia’s Darden School
For article reprints call 800-988-0886 or 617-783-7500, or visit hbr.org
of Business, whose in-depth study of 27
serial entrepreneurs revealed a number
of common behaviors. Instead of starting
with a predetermined goal, these entrepreneurs allow opportunities to emerge;
instead of focusing on optimal returns,
they spend more time considering their
acceptable loss; and instead of searching
for perfect solutions, they look for goodenough ones.
The point is that successful entrepreneurs don’t just “think different.” They
translate that thinking into immediate action, often eschewing or ignoring analysis.
Rather than predict the future, they try
to create it. We have seen this firsthand
in clients and former students who have
launched businesses in a variety of industries. And look at Starbucks CEO Howard
Schultz: Coffee sales had been steadily
declining for two decades before he came
up with the café concept that would grow
into a multibillion-dollar business.
This logic shouldn’t be limited to
entrepreneurs working outside the bounds
of traditional organizations. (After all,
Schultz first tested his café idea when
Starbucks was a small retailer of coffee
beans, teas, and spices, and he was its
director of marketing.) We believe that
any manager can—and should—follow
the same process when confronting the
unknown, because it is an extremely lowrisk way to launch new projects. It also
involves only a few simple steps:
Act: Take a smart step toward a goal.
Learn: Evaluate the evidence you’ve
created.
Build: Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you
accomplish your goal, realize you can’t, or
opt to change direction on the basis of new
information.
Reading that list, you might think, This
is common sense. And it is. Any two-yearold understands the concept of learning
through action. So do artists and scientists.
Even if you don’t know exactly where
you’re going, you get started. You make
right turns and wrong turns, learning
more about what the right direction is
as you go. You’re not flying blind; you’re
moving forward carefully, eyes wide open.
You’re alert to any looming danger—or
opportunity.
We acknowledge that action before
analysis, learning instead of predicting,
can be, well, unpredictable—and messy.
And we concede that it’s antithetical to the
way most organizations work. However, in
the long term, taking lots of small steps actually reduces risk, which makes such an
approach ideal for tackling challenges and
getting fledgling initiatives off the ground,
particularly in today’s skittish corporate
environment. And such innovation is critically important not only for companies
that want to stay competitive but also for
enterprising employees who want to feel
fulfilled in their jobs.
First Steps
Research shows that entrepreneurs
forecast, plan, and model only when they
have to. A 2008 survey of the founders of companies listed in the Inc. 500
showed that only 12% did formal market
research before they launched, while
only 40% wrote formal business plans.
In Sarasvathy’s study, not one subject
tried to gather specific information about
potential returns or predict an ideal level
of investment before getting started. But
these weren’t reckless leaps of faith. No,
these entrepreneurs and others like them
tend to move in a safe, low-risk way by
taking a series of quick, small, inexpensive
steps that follow certain rules. Adapted for
managers working within organizations,
the rules are:
1. Use the means at hand. Successful entrepreneurs, of course, gather
resources before embarking on a new
venture. For the first few exploratory steps,
however, most simply draw on their own
skills, education, experience, and expertise, along with anything helpful their
personal and professional contacts might
have to offer, quickly and at no, or very
little, cost. So instead of jumping through
hoops to get multiple approvals and
formal funding at your company, simply
use the people you know, the budget you
have—whatever tangible and reputational
resources you can muster by picking up
the phone, sending an e-mail, or reaching
out to a social media contact.
2. Stay within your acceptable loss.
The act-learn-build model is inherently
low risk, but that doesn’t mean it’s risk free.
So, with each step, consider how much
time and money (your own and your company’s) you can afford to lose should the
step result in failure. Also think about the
cost of not pursuing other opportunities at
work in order to focus on your project, and
the resulting impact on your professional
reputation and the firm’s image. Make sure
that whatever is at risk could be safely lost.
3. Secure only the commitment you
need for the next step. Through the pro-
cess we’re discussing, you’ll run into four
types of people: those who want to make
your project happen, those who will help
it happen, those who will let it happen,
and those who will keep it from happening.
Don’t waste time trying to get buy-in
from the last two types. Instead of asking,
“How do I get everyone committed to
How Managers Can Encourage
Entrepreneurial Thinking
Challenge one or two members of
your team to quietly try the act-learnbuild method on real projects, and
then protect them from your organization’s tendency to shove them back
in line.
Share the results of these experiments with other thought leaders in
your company, and encourage them to
become early adopters, too.
Throughout the process, ensure
that the real and opportunity costs
never exceed your organization’s—or
your innovators’—acceptable loss.
March 2012 Harvard Business Review 3
EXPERIENCE
Why Desire Matters
It doesn’t make sense
to venture into the
unknown unless it’s
for something you
care about.
Desire motivates you to
act, enables you to persist,
and makes you more creative when confronted with
obstacles. That doesn’t
mean you have to have a
big idea or a grand passion, at least not at first.
Most entrepreneurs
begin with a
simple interest
in a market, product, or
service—an itch they need
to scratch—and pursue it
because it feels satisfying
or because they think it
might lead to something
that does.
Very few of us work at
places like Google, where
the business model is
open, and pet projects
are expected to take up
20% of employees’ time.
Consider the goals of your
company, your division,
and your boss, and then
figure out whether you
my idea?” ask, “What’s the
least amount of commitment
I need to act?” Aim for just
enough freedom to act in
an organization designed
to push you back into
predictive thinking.
4. Bring along only volunteers. If
you’ve decided to move forward, make
sure to invest in the “make it happen” and
“help it happen” people. The former should
be made up of only volunteers—people
who share your desire. You can’t compel
others to innovate; if you try, the first
setback will send them running to their
“real jobs.” After identifying these trusted
colleagues, make sure they’re committed
to the process. “Enrollment” happens
when you show your own engagement
(inspiring your volunteers), act honestly
(giving them a complete picture of your
plan and presenting both good news and
bad), and demonstrate a willingness to
collaborate (immediately offering them
real work to do).
5. Link your move to a business imperative, and produce early results.
This is essential to creating momentum
and winning over those in the “help it
4 Harvard Business Review March 2012
can link them to what you
care about. If you have
just been handed a new
company initiative, look
for something in it that
excites you—even if it’s just
the project’s potential to
boost your career. If you
can’t find that connection,
consider stepping aside.
While it’s certainly possible
to try the act-learn-build
strategy when desire isn’t
present, it won’t be much
fun, and your chance of
success will be significantly
compromised.
happen” category—especially your boss.
Show how even your first step could make
a difference in the world immediately
around you, and build out from there. If
your boss thinks it won’t work, find out
why, and see if you agree. If she’s hesitant
because your proposed step exceeds her
acceptable loss, or her boss’s, suggest a
less significant move.
6. Manage expectations. Don’t
overpromise. Don’t make any big launch
announcements. Explain that you’re just
taking an exploratory step to generate
evidence that will inform the direction of
the next one.
To see how this process works in practice, consider the experience of Mary Jo
Cook and Suzanne Sengelmann, job-share
partners and vice presidents in Clorox’s
laundry and home care division. As committed environmentalists and mothers
of small children, Cook and Sengelmann
liked natural products and wanted their
employer to start producing them. But in
2005, when “green” offerings accounted
for only 1% of their industry’s $12 billion in
sales, it was a hard case to make with the
predictive analysis that Clorox typically
used to identify new business opportu-
nities. The company hadn’t launched a
major new brand in 20 years—much less
tried to break into a small, new market
with high barriers to entry. Still, Cook
and Sengelmann suspected the category
could be a fruitful one and had a strong
personal desire to investigate it. (See the
sidebar “Why Desire Matters.”) So, even
as they worked on extensions of Clorox’s
established, chemical-based products to
satisfy the requirements of their job, they
gave themselves a new, under-the-radar
mandate—develop an effective, marketable, green cleaner—and began to pursue
it with smart steps.
At first they simply “played around
at home” with products already on the
market, and then traded notes on how
effective the products were. They also
reached out to working-mom colleagues,
including Sumi Cate in research and
development, whose team was already
experimenting with biodegradable plantand mineral-derived formulas. She was
their first “volunteer.”
At the time, many people at Clorox
were worried that a green line would
diminish the brand’s reputation for effectiveness, generate paltry profits, and,
worse, draw unwelcome attention to the
toxic ingredients used in its other offerings. So Cook and Sengelmann kept their
interest relatively quiet. But it eventually
caught the attention of the company’s
new-ventures group, which asked them
to evaluate an existing European cleaner
the group had scouted. The two women
and the few volunteers they had by then
recruited tried it in their own homes,
while Cate’s team tested the formulation.
Unfortunately, the results were disappointing; the cleaner didn’t work well
enough to be a Clorox product. But Cook
and Sengelmann now had a stronger link
to a business imperative—namely that a
broader set of managers thought a green
line could be part of the company’s innovation efforts. The trick would be to find
an effective one.
They told their bosses about their
ambition and explained why it might be a
hbr.org
good business for Clorox, but in an informational way that didn’t require any signoffs. That gave them just enough commitment to progress. They also made sure
their potential loss during this start-up
stage was acceptably low: some time and
a small percentage of an existing budget,
with no threat of diminished reputation
because they had made no promises about
the green research and they continued to
work on other product extensions in the
traditional Clorox mold.
In the summer of 2006, the R&D team
finally found a formula that was 99% free
of petrochemicals and that worked as well
as the company’s chemical-based products. But Cook and Sengelmann still had
work to do. At that point they could have
reverted to extensive market study, models, and financial projections to figure out
how to package and sell the new line. But
Show how even your
first step could make
a difference in the
world immediately
around you, and build
out from there.
they decided that the market was still too
new for the customary in-depth analysis
and that internal concerns about the riskiness of green offerings were still too great
to be overcome without more evidence.
So they stuck with small, smart steps.
They added another “volunteer”:
their colleague Jessica Buttimer, who was
not only a marketing specialist but also
another young mother and a health enthusiast. And they began to test prototype
products with a small group of consumers
in California’s Bay Area, where Clorox is
based, again using their existing budget
and simply keeping their bosses informed.
The company learned a lot from this
low-risk research: Most users rated the
products as highly effective, and all were
excited to see the Clorox brand on a green
Words
to the
Wise
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line. It didn’t change their opinion of the
company’s other offerings—they already
knew those contained chemicals—but it
did change their views on the efficacy of
natural products: If Clorox was behind an
environmentally friendly brand, it must
work. Cook and Sengelmann now had
early results on which to build.
Build Momentum
Follow
the
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When it comes to learning from and building on our actions, serial entrepreneurs
do a better job than the rest of us in four
ways: First, they move quickly in the face
of positive results. If one step works, they
immediately execute the next using the
rules we
