Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch
— HP/Compaq merger, cultural weaknesses
Speaker: Jim Arena, Senior Director, Juniper Networks
Meeting Date: Thursday, May 5, 2011
Time: 6.00 pm Networking; 6:30 pm Management Forum/Guided Networking; 7:00 pm sandwich dinner; 7:30 pm Presentation
Location: RAMADA Silicon Valley, Sunnyvale
Summary:
Management Forum / Guided Networking: Bring Your Management Challenge; Arrive by 6:30 PM to join this exciting Management Forum. Following informal networking is a guided discussion typically related to the topic of the evening’s after dinner talk, or of general Technology Management interest.
Light Dinner: This month we’re continuing with our light dinner format — typically sandwiches, salad, drinks, and cookie or similar light dinner.
Presentation: Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch
You know you have a good strategy. One that should allow the company to add distinctive value and win. But, some organizations seem to be built for speed, built for quick decisions, built to not revisit decisions over and over. But, typically that’s not the case. Culture is far more powerful than a brilliant strategy. But, situations are created where companies have to execute and execute well. In the HP/Compaq merger, HP was literally competing on all fronts. When the acquisition was announced, its sub-scale PC and Enterprise business was second string to well funded competitors. It had to execute, and in the most difficult climate – a merger with an entirely different culture at Compaq computer. Or an engineering team that relied on dive and catch to stay one step ahead of the competition. But, it knows this cannot be sustained when engineering team had grown well in excess of several thousand. The story of overcoming deeply embedded cultural weaknesses has been played out many times in the fast changing valley.
Come to this meeting and learn lessons through hard fought experiences. Specific strategies in:
– Describing the culture – a way to talk credibly in an analytical environment
– Organizing and mobilizing – build the rigor that pays off for change
– Highlighting the leadership defining moments that tip the balance
Bio:
Jim Arena, senior director at Juniper Networks, is currently leading Junos Transformation. This is Juniper’s 2 year initiative to scale its co-wide core operating system for high performance network routers, switches and security products. Jim has spent over 20 years leading large cross company or cross organizational initiatives. He was a member of the 4 person leadership team that led the HP/Compaq merger across 23 workstreams affecting 165,000 employees. He was accountable for the Decision Accelerator, a methodology for driving decisions that stick. These are just two of the initiatives that he’s had a significant role as an transformation leader in medium and large sized companies. Prior to Juniper he’s done this work SAP, Business Objects and HP.