The unedited transcript of Phalana Tiller's interviews with Gail McGovern and Scott Keller for the July 2011 episode of Drucker on the Dial entitled "Beyond the Comfort Zone." First, Gail McGovern, president and chief executive officer of the Red Cross, shares the advice she always tells people starting out on their career paths. McGovern advises them to learn how to be uncomfortable, because if you are not uncomfortable, then you are not learning. She explains that she decided to join the Red Cross because of the opportunity to give back, and to meet new challenges. McGovern says when she first arrived, she did a lot of listening, and talked to employees, executives, volunteers, and board members, and basically started having town hall meetings. She talks about being accountable to donors and the organization's use of metrics. McGovern discusses the power of the Red Cross brand, the use of social media, and what the organization has done for the military. She says that she loves big, complicated, and even bureaucratic institutions. McGovern shares her belief in the importance of staffing great people who are not only lined around the mission, but who also have good chemistry with each other, yet have diversity of thought. She emphasizes the importance of communication, and believes that communication has to be a two way street, almost as a way of life, for a leader of a large organization. McGovern goes on to say that the Red Cross has created a best practices system, and that before something is launched, chapter executives are brought in to test it. Next, Scott Keller, a director of McKinsey and Company, begins by talking about performance and long term success. Keller explains that alignment, execution, and renewal are the elements of a healthy organization. He says that a group from McKinsey did a study on the organizational health of Toyota, around 2005 or 2006, and projected that the company would have quality problems. Keller explains the "five A approach" and says that the same degree of rigor is brought to the health side of those questions as the performance side receives. He says that when people step out of their comfort zones, they learn, and that management as a whole, is continuously learning. He goes on to talk about the response to his book called Beyond Performance: How Great Organizations Build Ultimate Competitive Advantage, co-authored with Colin Price.
Interviews McGovern, Gail, 1952- Keller, Scott, 1972 American Red Cross Learning Volunteers Nonprofit organizations Leadership Decision making Measurement Branding (Marketing) Armed Forces Communication Authorship Banks and banking Lafley, A. G. (Alan G.) McKinsey and Company Toyota Motor Corporation
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