“Monitoring cultural attitudes is key to business success, Ford Motor Co. futurist says - MLive.com” plus 1 more

Monitoring cultural attitudes is key to business success, Ford Motor Co. futurist says - MLive.com

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 03:01 PM PST

Published: Thursday, January 20, 2011, 6:06 PM Updated: Thursday, January 20, 2011, 9:40 PM

KALAMAZOO — Sheryl Connelly's primary job with Ford Motor Co. is to predict the future as it relates to the continued good financial health of her employer.

She told an audience of community leaders from the business, education and non-profit sectors gathered Thursday at the Radisson Plaza Hotel & Suites in downtown Kalamazoo that no one can predict the future.

But they can pay attention to trends and changes in consumer attitudes which will keep their businesses and organizations relevant.

Connelly, whose titled is futurist, was among several speakers at the second annual Catalyst University presented by Southwest Michigan First, Kalamazoo County's economic development agency.

"In today's world we all have so much to do and so much responsibility," Connelly said.

"We become extremely focused and don't see what's around us. This is a problem Ford has had" beginning with its founder, Henry Ford.

Ford apparently was so focused on bringing transportation to the masses and producing an automobile to fulfill his goal that he insisted on only using black paint because it dried faster.

"While he was focusing on efficiency, our competitors were focusing on styling and we lost a share of the world market because of that," she said.

Similar hiccups in the company's history happened in the 1970's when the first energy crisis occurred and the bigger, wider, longer vehicles Ford had been producing after World War II to satisfy consumer demand weakened the company's position in the world market.

"We weren't paying attention to what was going on around us," Connelly said, during her talk, "Charting the Course."

"There were things going on in the world we had no control over," she said.

This is what Connelly focuses on. She studies consumer and social trends and demographics and spends a lot of time talking to individuals who represent a broad cross-section of what she needs to know to help the leadership at Ford make good decisions.

Connelly's definition of a trend is a long-term shift in consumer values, attitudes and behaviors. She said the United States' aging population will have major implications for Ford which will have to consider designing a vehicle for the consumer who has issues such as reduced response time and limited range of motion.

In addition to an aging population, Connelly said she has been paying attention to other areas, such as an attitudinal shifts, which finds consumers feeling extremely vulnerable and seeking out products which will give them greater peace of mind. Many of these products use technology such as GPS, which at one time was only available to the government and businesses.

"Technology is becoming more accessible and you can buy it at your local spy store," Connelly said.

Many of these same consumers are showing a movement toward ethical consumption, which involves pushing accountability off of the individual and onto the organization.

"There's a desire from consumers to take back control and the idea that something which happens locally has global implications," Connelly said. "They want to make sure these larger organizations are doing their part."

In 2008 colleagues of Connelly's approached her about the continuation of ethical consumption. Her response was that the era of excess had come to an end and consumers would be balancing practicality with passion, in other words, living within limits.

As a result consumers are seeking out avenues which provide experiences, entertainment and escape.

Connelly said focusing on areas such as the ones she cited where the company has no control makes good business sense.

"It all goes back to strategy," she said. "It's understanding who you are, where you want to go and the environment where you want to execute your plan."

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured site: So, Why is Wikileaks a Good Thing Again?.

What color are your (cultural) shades? - Philadelphia Daily News

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 05:10 PM PST

Posted on Thu, Jan. 20, 2011

By LINDA S. WALLACE

EVERY DAY, we look at people on the street, and make up stories about them in our minds. The well-dressed man in a dark suit appears to be successful, the pretty girl in slacks might be a secretary, the tall muscular black kid might be in a gang.

Unless we take time to stop and ask questions that challenge these automatic assumptions, we'll be locked in a narrow prison by our own beliefs. As we probe further, we just may find that the well-dressed man is long-term unemployed and facing life on the streets. The pretty young woman in jeans has a $50 million company and the young black kid is a candidate for a master's degree.

Competent decision-makers identify their hidden filters and question their beliefs before they attempt to analyze or interpret evidence. But the vast majority of us do not.

Over the years, diversity researchers have found that people tend to focus on the strengths of those who look like them and the weaknesses in those who look or act different. A Muslim might find it more difficult to see kindness in a Christian, and vice versa. Conservatives and liberals can find a lot of bad things to say about each other, but seldom good.

This helps explain why recent coverage of School Superintendent Arlene Ackerman's intervention in the contracting process on behalf of a minority firm has tended to focus on her actions, rather than the actions of her staff. If the staff had found a minority contractor, as the policies ask them to do, Ackerman would not have felt a need to get involved. Yet I can't find a single mention of possible staff deficiencies or biases in the news reports.

We find a similar situation in coverage of ex-Sheriff John Green. The articles have nearly always focused on his office's accounting and finances, rarely on its exemplary record with court security and prisoner transport.

In 2008, the Wall Street Journal published a front-page story about Green's groundbreaking efforts to protect the rights of local homeowners in foreclosure, but the Daily News and the Inquirer ignored those efforts. The Philadelphia newspapers focused their light so intently in one corner, they missed the rest of the room. Michael Morris, a professor in the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University, has focused on cultural shades and their effect on workplace decision-making.

During one research project, he showed executives in Asia and the U.S. a photo of a person standing in front of a group. The American execs concluded the person was a leader. The Asian executives concluded the person was an outcast.

Why? American culture celebrates individualism, while Asian culture celebrates community or collectivism.

When the light is off, and the room is dark, individuals automatically draw on past experiences, beliefs commonly held by their cultural community and prejudices or biases. Thus, to ensure fairness, we must work in diverse groups. Put an Asian and an American executive together, and they'd likely do a better job of figuring out who the person standing outside the group might be. By exploring both cultural views, they are less likely to make a serious mistake.

In Philadelphia, the lack of media diversity has made it more difficult for minority officials like Ackerman and Green to get a fair hearing. The cards are stacked against them.

A predominantly white media is more likely to zero in on weaknesses, and decline to report achievements, as happened with Green. So citizens lose faith in government and learn to distrust media. Everyone loses.

PHILADELPHIANS must sit at a common table to talk, but the dialogue must go beyond race or religion. Leaders must identify the 21st century skills citizens need to make diversity work and ensure that the media, government and businesses have the tools that support inclusion.

Cities that do not learn to pull together are the ones that will pull apart quickly when tensions arise.

Linda S. Wallace headed former Sheriff John Green's task force on foreclosure prevention and publishes a blog, My FAIR Philly, at theculturalcoach.typepad.com/fair_philly/.

Cultural

Thursday, January 20, 2011