THE
STAR ORGANIZATION
How to conquer and retain a podium position Jack Korsten
FOREWORD This book is about entrepreneurial dreams. About formulating, following, and realizing those dreams. What you can do for them and what you have to forgo to make them a reality. Ultimately, everything that has any meaning in this life starts with a dream. You can choose to dream small or dream big. The choice is yours. One thing is certain. Small dreams, small sacrifices. Big dreams, big sacrifices. But usually also significant rewards. I’m a big believer in big dreams. They take you further. They make you grow as a person, professional, and entrepreneur. Dreaming big requires guts and belief in yourself. Or, as the eccentric serial entrepreneur and billionaire Richard Branson of the Virgin Group once put it so beautifully, “If your dreams don’t scare you, they are not big enough.” Here’s to big dreams! Jack Korsten
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“IF YOUR DREAMS DON’T SCARE YOU, THEY ARE NOT BIG ENOUGH.” Sir Richard Branson
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword 2
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When Being Good Is No Longer Good Enough 6 Towards a 7-Star Organization
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About the Usefulness and Necessity of Big Dreams 9 four essential lessons from John F. Kennedy
Surviving in a World of Abundance three challenges to which you must have an answer
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The 7-Star Principle 87 about Dubai and the race without a finish line The 7-Star Framework 119 seven dimensions for a future-proof organization
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7-Star Acting 193 about moonshot goals, breakthrough decisions, three boxes, Next Practices, sprints, and more 7-Star Leadership 233 leadership on all levels The 7-Star Dashboard your plan at a glance
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Inspirational Resources 270 The Team 272 Photo Credits
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This book enables you to: • better see how commodification and extreme market forces necessitate a new view of competition (Chapters 1-2); • shape your competition-free 7-Star Organization (Chapters 3-4); • immediately plan and execute the necessary steps in your organization (Chapters 5-7).
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WHEN BEING GOOD IS NO LONGER GOOD ENOUGH Markets are becoming increasingly challenging, and continuous change is the new normal. Sometimes the changes are small, and sometimes they are far-reaching. Organizations that want to survive and lead in this new context must be prepared to reinvent themselves constantly. Continuously innovate and transform. In their search for answers to the new reality, many entrepreneurs and managers focus on building a 5-star organization, which performs well on all fronts. This may seem like the best answer at first. But ultimately, this is a zerosum game; what one person gains now, the other loses. And then vice versa. To be relevant and therefore successful in today’s world, tomorrow, and the day after, you have to lift your leadership, your team, your organization, and your execution to a significantly higher level. To do this requires serious ambition, clear starting points, and a fundamentally different set of skills than most organizations possess and demonstrate today.
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ON THE WAY TO A 7-STAR ORGANIZATION How can you build an organization that not only keeps up with the many changes in our world but stays ahead of them? An organization that resonates with your employees and with your customers and supports excellent performance? This shift to a future-proof organization is less challenging than you might think. Above all, it is an ongoing, systematic, and dynamic process that you can start today. The 7-Star Framework, as presented in this book, is an excellent starting point for building your 7-Star Organization. An organization fueled by an inspiring higher purpose, designed for improved performance, speed, and agility in an unpredictable world. An organization that not only helps you compete successfully but, most importantly, to win. Today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow. That is the promise of the 7-Star Organization. With this book, we want to help you realize that promise.
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CHAPTER 3
THE 7-STAR PRINCIPLE about Dubai and the race without a finish line
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GET ACQUAINTED WITH:
SHEIKH RASHID BIN SAEED AL MAKTOUM the man who unknowingly laid the groundwork for 7-Star Thinking
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VALUABLE LESSON FROM THE PAST Dubai, today part of the United Arab Emirates, was a relatively prosperous emirate in the Middle East at the dawn of the last century. Its strategic location on historically significant trade routes between East and West and the trade in pearls that were unearthed in the region lay at the basis of its success. This prosperity came to a rather abrupt end when Japan developed a process to cultivate “the mother of all jewels” artificially. Dubai and her sister emirates desperately needed to find an alternative source of income. With the discovery of oil in the 1950s and 60s of the last century, this was literally tapped into. In no time at all, the emirates became one of the most important and wealthiest oil producers globally. Dubai was ruled at the time of the oil discoveries by Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum. Of the seven United Arab Emirates, Dubai had the smallest oil reserves. The history of pearls was still fresh in the Sheikh’s mind. This soon made him wonder what the future of Dubai should look like. He did not want to improve the quality of life of his subjects only in the short term. He, therefore, wondered how he could prevent history from repeating itself if the oil wells dried up in the future.
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A VISION FOR THE FUTURE Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed al Maktoum, a descendant of the family that has run Dubai since its declared independence in 1833, faced a significant challenge: securing the future prosperity of his emirate and its subjects. He developed a master plan around his 3Ts strategy: Trade, Transport, and Tourism. Dubai would have to make much more strategic use of its unique central geographical location; some two-thirds of all countries in the world are within 8 hours by plane from Dubai. Dubai’s trade, transport, and tourism activities should become world-class so that nobody could ignore them anymore. The Sheikh made a big bet. Among other things, enormous investments in infrastructure and real estate laid the foundation for the development along the three Ts. These investments made Dubai an increasingly strong magnet for many national and international investors and companies. Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the son who succeeded his father in the early 1990s, continues to pursue this strategic line unabated to this day.
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THE DIVIDEND OF GOOD LEADERSHIP The 3Ts strategy was implemented in a very disciplined way starting in the 1970s and constantly updated and sharpened based on new developments and insights. The result? Today, Dubai is one of the fastest-growing and most prosperous areas in the world. It is a hub of the first order for transportation, trade, and finance and one of the top 10 tourist destinations in the world. Oil revenues now account for less than 1% of national income. And in creating an economy that is much less dependent on its oil revenues, Dubai is far more successful than its sister emirates. Dubai’s recent success can thus be traced not to its oil reserves but primarily to visionary leadership. Consistently thinking and acting from a serious and relevant ambition is the motto. Even if others keep telling you, as they did for Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum for a long time, that it is much too big and impossible to realize. A fourth T has now been added to the 3Ts strategy: technology. Based on this, Dubai has also made a name for itself in recent years as a hotspot for technology start-ups. For this, it has appointed a “Minister of the Future” who, with a serious budget, pursues this new strategic pillar ambitiously. An excellent example of “putting your money where your mouth is.”
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7-STAR THINKING
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On December 1, 1999, the Burj Al Arab hotel opened in Dubai. When an English journalist visited the hotel during a press trip, he was so impressed with the splendor, the level of amenities, and the service offered that he described the hotel in his article as “the world’s first 7-star hotel.” The international media quickly picked up this classification. Thus was born the myth of the Burj Al Arab as the world’s first 7-star hotel in the world. Even though there is no international hotel qualification accepted worldwide, the trade press and more traditional hotels quickly rebelled. They foresaw an “unfair advantage” for the Burj Al Arab because it was placed outside the regular classifications. After all, most hotel classification systems have a rating from 1 to 5 stars or similar. But the genie was out of the bottle. A new, unofficial outside category for hotels had emerged. Although the Burj Al Arab has never flaunted itself as a 7-star hotel, there have been over time a limited number of ultra-luxury hotels that do position themselves as such. Even a hotel in Milan made a serious attempt to establish and get accepted a certification scheme for 7-star hotels. Though in vain so far.
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Inspirational Leadership
High Performance
Passionate Teams
Disciplined Execution
Agile Business Model
Sales Excelleration
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Remarkable Experiences
THE 7-STAR FRAMEWORK The 7-Star Framework consists of seven Domains that together form the foundation of a future-proof organization: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Inspirational Leadership Passionate Teams Agile Business Model Remarkable Experiences Sales Excelleration Disciplined Execution High Performance
Each of these Domains has four so-called “Drivers.” These are the “buttons” that you can turn to raise the Domain in question to a higher level. And thus to become more future-proof in that area. The seven Domains have a hierarchy. Thus, within the 7-Star Framework, we first look at the first Domain, that of Inspiring Leadership, to see what we can do to strengthen it. Experience shows that this Domain has the most significant potential impact on making an organization future-proof. Then we look at the second Domain, Passionate Teams. This Domain has, after Inspiring Leadership, the most significant potential to make a difference. This logic is then continued, clockwise, to the five remaining Domains. In the remainder of this chapter, the seven Domains and their Drivers are explained in more detail. If you wish, you can also directly fill in the scores and the most critical points of improvement for your organization per Domain.
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DOMAIN 1
INSPIRATIONAL LEADERSHIP
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“IT ALWAYS SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE UNTIL IT’S DONE.” Nelson Mandela (1918-2013), political activist and first black president of South Africa
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INSPIRATIONAL LEADERSHIP deepening on the subject
Nelson Mandela is one of the most inspiring leaders in modern history. In his younger years as a lawyer, he fought for the freedom and rights of black people in South Africa. The personal price he paid for this was enormous. It cost him 27 years of his life in captivity, including 18 years on Robben Island. Shortly after his release, he became the first black president of the country for which he had sacrificed his freedom. Nelson Mandela had an enormous drive and power of persuasion and managed to inspire people all over the world on that basis. During his time as president, he was a living example of good leadership. He encouraged and supported the people around him to make concrete contributions to the dream of a free, equal, and prosperous South Africa. Nelson Mandela’s leadership had all four elements that the Inspirational Leadership in a 7-Star Organization distinguishes. For example, a 7-Star Leader provides a clear direction for the organization in the short(er) and long(er) term. Being a good example himself, he inspired and supported people to participate in an entrepreneurial way to achieve the agreed (higher) goals.
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Driver 2 Leadership by example Driver 1 Purpose-driven
Driver 3 “Lean” intrapreneurship Driver 4 Commitment to people
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INSPIRATIONAL LEADERSHIP Leaders within the organization provide clear direction. They inspire and support employees to take action for positive results in line with the organization’s higher ambition, strategy, and goals.
THE 4 DRIVERS
To what extent does this apply to us on a scale of 1 (not at all) to 7 (entirely accurate)?
Most crucial improvement and action point for the next 90 days to work toward the 7-Star Level?
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Driver 1 Purpose-driven
Driver 2 Leadership by example
The leaders of the organization have a strong drive to make a difference in the lives of their employees, customers, and society as a whole. What the organization does delivers value to its shareholders and society.
The leaders are a shining example for the way of thinking and working within the organization. They are also clear about their expectations of the rest of the organization.
Current score 1
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Desired score 7
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Current score 7
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Desired score 7
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Driver 3 “Lean” intrapreneurship
Driver 4 Commitment to people
The leaders of the organization activate and support their employees to behave as “intrapreneurs” (i.e., as entrepreneurs within the company).
The organization leaders are genuinely committed to actively supporting their employees in developing and utilizing their maximum potential.
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Desired score 7
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Desired score 7
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BUILDING YOUR OWN 7-STAR ORGANIZATION The ambition, direction, and goals of an organization are, in most companies, expressed by top management in a vision, a mission, and a strategic (annual) plan. The same is true for the planning and building of a 7-Star Organization. Subsequently, in many cases, the top management assumes that the management of business units or departments will take care of implementing the corresponding plans. But practice is stubborn. The middle managers often insufficiently understand what is expected of them in this context. Or they have too many other, mostly operational, challenges on their minds. As a result, the speed and impact of building a 7-Star Organization leave much to be desired. Consequently, the results fall short of expectations. By following the seven steps in this chapter, you can prevent or close the implementation gap when building your 7-Star Organization. The steps are based on a combination of extensive literature review and some 30 years of minds-on and hands-on experience in designing and implementing successful transformation projects.
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7. MANAGE Stand-Ups
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Day Cycle
6. MEASURE Success indicators
5. ACT 3x30-day sprints
1. THINK Moonshot goals
2. DECIDE Breakthrough decisions
360 Day Cycle
3. ORGANIZE Three boxes
4. DESIGN Next Practices
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CHAPTER 6
7-STAR LEADERSHIP leadership at all levels
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“SUCCESS ISN’T ABOUT HOW MUCH MONEY YOU MAKE. IT’S ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE YOU MAKE IN PEOPLE’S LIVES.” Michelle Obama (born 1964), maiden name Michelle Robinson, was the first black first lady of the United States. Coming from the black working class, she eventually managed to go to law school at Harvard University. Michelle went to work for the prestigious law firm Sidley Austin in Chicago. When Barack Obama came to intern there, she became his mentor, and they soon had a relationship. Michelle Obama was one of President Obama’s key advisors during his two terms of office. She is considered a role model, as a working mother, through her healthy lifestyle and social commitment. For example, in 2010, she launched the “Let’s Move” initiative to help families adopt a healthier lifestyle. In 2018, she and her husband founded the company Higher Ground Productions, which has a multi-year contract with Netflix to produce films and series that “speak a different voice.” The company won an Academy Award and an Emmy Award in 2020 for their work on the documentary American Factory. In 2019, she wrote her autobiography, “Becoming,” which she launched with an impressive (inter)national book tour. The biography is structured in three parts and provides a personal glimpse into her life. In Part 1, Becoming Me, she tells of her childhood in a working-class black family and how, through hard work, she was admitted to Princeton’s “Ivy League” University. In Part 2, Becoming Obama, she tells of her relationship and marriage to Barack Obama and the challenges of being a working mother. In Part 3, Becoming More, she explores the “greater” contribution she can make to the world from her position. With her autobiography, Michelle Obama also wanted to inspire women to look for their “inner voice” and follow their own “north star.”
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“TO ME, LEADERSHIP IS ABOUT ENCOURAGING PEOPLE. IT’S ABOUT STIMULATING THEM. IT’S ABOUT ENABLING THEM TO ACHIEVE WHAT THEY CAN ACHIEVE – AND TO DO THAT WITH A PURPOSE.” Christine Lagarde (born 1956) was part of the French national synchronized swimming team as a highly disciplined teenager. There she learned to act as a team player. She spent her high-school years at the Holton Arms School in America. This school is known for actively encouraging women to develop their self-confidence and self-esteem. As a young student there, she was regularly confronted with the school’s motto: “I will always find a way to do things, and if it doesn’t exist, I’ll create it myself.” After graduating from law school in France, Christine Lagarde worked successfully as a lawyer for the multinational law firm Baker McKenzie. She became the first female board chair at the international headquarters. In 2005, she was asked to join French politics, where she held several ministerial posts. From 2011, she was the first woman to lead the International Monetary Fund (IMF), focusing on global monetary stability. In 2018, during the 10th anniversary of the 2008 financial crisis, she alerted the world to group think among men in the financial sector and called for more diversity. In the fall of 2019, she became the first woman to head the European Central Bank. There she was soon tested by internal European politics and the significant impact of the corona pandemic on the European economy. In that context, she made the following statement: “I have a theory that women are generally given space and appointed to jobs when the situation is tough. I’ve observed that in many instances. In times of crisis, women eventually are called upon to sort out the mess, face the difficult issues, and be completely focused on restoring the situation.”
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THE 7-STAR DASHBOARD Once you start building your 7-Star Organization, it helps to have a guiding and up-to-date overview of where you are going, how you will get there, and what your personal share in this is. A kind of GPS to arrive at your 7-Star Organization. In the 7-Star Organization, you don’t work with extensive market studies, reports, or business plans. We choose a pragmatic approach. An approach in which the knowledge, experience, insights, and energy present in and around your organization are activated to find the answers, make decisions, and develop the needed initiatives. We do what we know, or suspect, will work. And we do that, as much as possible, under our own steam. In support of the 7-Star Building Process, and to maintain an overview at all levels, the 7-Star Dashboard has been developed. No more than two pages to get you, your organization, your teams, and individual employees on track and keep them on track.
7-STAR DASHBOARD NAME:
DATE:
ORGANIZATION: A. Review last period Top 3 positives
Top 3 negatives
Top 3 challenges for the next period
1.
1.
1.
2.
2.
2.
3.
3.
3.
B. Strategic Orientation 1. Business Purpose:
2. Business Mantra:
3. Key Differentiator(s):
4. Moonshot Goal:
5. Critical Decisions:
C. 7-Star Calculator 1. Inspirational Leadership Current + Desired Score: Key Growth Driver: Next Practice: Priority: 7. High Performance Current + Desired Score: Key Growth Driver: Next Practice: Priority:
2. Passionate Teams Current + Desired Score:
7
Key Growth Driver:
6 5
Next Practice:
4
Priority:
3 2 1
6. Disciplined Execution
Current + Desired Score:
Key Growth Driver:
Key Growth Driver:
Next Practice:
Next Practice:
Priority:
Priority:
5. Sales Excelleration
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3. Agile Business Model
Current + Desired Score:
4. Remarkable Experiences
Current + Desired Score:
Current + Desired Score:
Key Growth Driver:
Key Growth Driver:
Next Practice:
Next Practice:
Priority:
Priority:
D. Next Practices 7*
3 W’s
DOT’s
KPI
Period:
What: Why: Way:
1. 2. 3.
KPI (Goal #):
What: Why: Way:
1. 2. 3.
KPI (Goal #):
What: Why: Way:
1. 2. 3.
KPI (Goal #):
What: Why: Way:
1. 2. 3.
KPI (Goal #):
Period:
Period:
Period:
E. KPI’s
(Date)
(Date)
Status per date:
DoD:
DoD:
DoD:
The 7-Star Dashboard consists of six components: A. Looking back and ahead; a brief look back at the past period and a look ahead to the upcoming period;
DoD:
(Date)
B. Strategic Orientation; where you are heading, how you want to get there, and what critical decisions you need to make;
(Date)
KPI 1: Goal: Per date: KPI 2: Goal: Per date:
C. 7-Star Calculator; an analysis of your current and desired scores on the seven domains of the 7-Star Organization;
KPI 3: Goal: Per date:
D. Next Practices; the (next) breakthrough initiatives that will make the difference in building and successfully operating your 7-Star Organization;
KPI 4: Goal: Per date:
F. Personal Impact Plan (Leadership Roles and Growth Accelerators) Leadership
Actual score
Growth Accelerators
1. Focus on the higher goal
5. Next Practices
Concrete improvement decisions/actions: A. B. C.
Concrete improvement decisions/actions: A. B. C.
2. Leading by example
6. Use of KPI’s
Concrete improvement decisions/actions: A. B. C.
Concrete improvement decisions/actions: A. B. C.
3. Promote Lean intrapreneurship
7. Effectivity of stand ups
Concrete improvement decisions/actions: A. B. C.
Concrete improvement decisions/actions: A. B. C.
4. Commitment to my people
8. Use of 7-Star Dashboard
Concrete improvement decisions/actions: A. B. C.
Concrete improvement decisions/actions: A. B. C.
Actual score
E. KPIs; the most crucial management indicators that you use to determine whether you are doing well; F. Personal Impact Plan; your share in building and keeping your 7-Star Organization working well. In the remainder of this chapter, each of the six components of the 7-Star Dashboard will be explained in more detail.
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The 7-Star Organization
How to conquer and retain a podium position Many entrepreneurs and managers focus on building a 5-star organization: one that performs optimally on all fronts. But to be relevant and successful, you must take your organization to the next level. Beyond the competition and the many changes in the world around us. A level at which you resonate with customers and employees and support excellent performance. Where you capture and maintain your podium position. This is what I call a 7-Star Organization. The shift to such a future-proof organization may not be as challenging as you think: It requires continuous, systematic, and dynamic work. With this think-and-do book, I want to help you realize your winning organization. The 7-Star Framework, as presented in this book, will help you every step of the way. With “The 7-Star Organization,” you will: • fuel your ambition and turn it into concrete goals and action; • see where the pain is and where the growth is with the help of Power Questions; • learn how to build a winning organization with concrete examples and tools. Jack Korsten is the founder and owner of GrowthPartner. He helps entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial managers be successful today, tomorrow, and the day after by building future-proof organizations. His previous book, “The Growth Spiral,” was nominated for Management Book of the Year.
Inspiring Insights Insights from the world stage and many (inter) national cases clarify why you should always strive for a podium position.
Practical Framework The 7-Star Framework helps you build your 7-Star Organization step by step, with practical tools.
Power Questions Each chapter concludes with three powerful questions - Power Questions - to reflect on your ambition and situation.