Lenovo is a good illustration of the strong lure of brand, opportunity, and purpose. Its acquisition of IBM's personal computer operations, in 2005, made it the third-largest personal computer company in the world. In 1994 the founder of Legend (as Lenovo was then known), Liu Chuanzhi, forecast that it would be a great company-an astonishing leap of faith in the early 1990s. "At the time, there were very few great Chinese companies, so Chuanzhi's vision stood out," Chen Shaopeng, president of Lenovo Greater China and senior vice president of Lenovo Group, told us. "In China, the biggest draw is Lenovo's ambition and vision." The IBM acquisition produced something of a halo effect for Lenovo, and Chinese workers felt pride that China had been able to buy part of an American business icon. Lenovo's brand was and is attractive to ambitious young workers with dreams of their own-people who are building careers and not simply looking for jobs. Lenovo was an early standout for these rising stars.
Lenovo also built a global perspective into its brand promise; to become a great company it would have to expand beyond its home market. That meant opportunity. President and CEO Bill Amelio describes his company as a "stage without a ceiling for every employee"- worldwide. In a truly global spirit, Lenovo's top-team meetings rotate among Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, Paris, and Raleigh, North Carolina. "Instead of having everyone travel to me, I travel to them," Amelio says. Lenovo's brand promise credibly communicates that nationality doesn't matter; if an employee demonstrates capability and vision, there are no limits. The playing field is level.
TCS Iberoamerica, a $160 million unit of Tata Consultancy Services (itself a division of the $28.5 billion Tata Group), provides software and technology services to clients in Latin America, Spain, and Portugal, while also contributing to other TCS endeavors worldwide. It's easy to understand why an Indian would want to work for Tata Group in India. But what motivates a Uruguayan software engineer to work for an Indian company in Brazil? The combination of a strong brand and opportunity. TCS Iberoamerica's president, Gabriel Rozman, told us, "When people in our region read about Tata buying Jaguar or making a $2,000 car that will change the industry...they get excited."
The Tata brand stands for technical excellence, so when expanding into Brazil and Uruguay, Rozman started by hiring engineers- not salespeople-and sent them to India to observe firsthand the company's core strengths and standards. They returned energized and eager to recruit their compatriots. One Uruguayan engineer saw working at Tata as an opportunity to help his country make its mark; he said, "I wanted to work at TCS because I wanted to show the world what Uruguay was all about. Even though we're a tiny country, we have value to add." Rozman also emphasized the appeal of having local Brazilian and Uruguayan leaders who are well connected and admired in the community heading up operations, rather than expatriates.
Many other managers spoke of the pride they felt in working for companies with strong brands that were also contributing to their countries' economic development. Novartis's sense of purpose, for instance, is a major draw for talent. Its Project Arogya, one of Novartis's socially conscious business operations, provides services to some 10 million villagers in 24 territories of India. Arogya's leader, Olivier Jarry, joined because of the brand promise to make lives better around the world. "We improve the health and health education of the villagers," he says. "We provide a source of revenue for local talent working with us on the ground. We are helping local doctors and pharmacists. This is a tremendously exciting mission."
How do brand, opportunity, and purpose come together as a promise made at Standard Chartered Bank? The company's CEO, Peter Sands, explains, "We are serious about being a force for good in the world. It's not an add-on for us. We are leaders in microfinance, supporting fledgling entrepreneurs in some of the world's poorest regions. We seek out, as a part of our strategic intent, opportunities to support renewable-energy businesses. By design we are among the world's most diverse organizations, so top talents from all walks of life are attracted to us because they know they will be embraced as central to our mission, not peripheral."
Lenovo also built a global perspective into its brand promise; to become a great company it would have to expand beyond its home market. That meant opportunity. President and CEO Bill Amelio describes his company as a "stage without a ceiling for every employee"- worldwide. In a truly global spirit, Lenovo's top-team meetings rotate among Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, Paris, and Raleigh, North Carolina. "Instead of having everyone travel to me, I travel to them," Amelio says. Lenovo's brand promise credibly communicates that nationality doesn't matter; if an employee demonstrates capability and vision, there are no limits. The playing field is level.
TCS Iberoamerica, a $160 million unit of Tata Consultancy Services (itself a division of the $28.5 billion Tata Group), provides software and technology services to clients in Latin America, Spain, and Portugal, while also contributing to other TCS endeavors worldwide. It's easy to understand why an Indian would want to work for Tata Group in India. But what motivates a Uruguayan software engineer to work for an Indian company in Brazil? The combination of a strong brand and opportunity. TCS Iberoamerica's president, Gabriel Rozman, told us, "When people in our region read about Tata buying Jaguar or making a $2,000 car that will change the industry...they get excited."
The Tata brand stands for technical excellence, so when expanding into Brazil and Uruguay, Rozman started by hiring engineers- not salespeople-and sent them to India to observe firsthand the company's core strengths and standards. They returned energized and eager to recruit their compatriots. One Uruguayan engineer saw working at Tata as an opportunity to help his country make its mark; he said, "I wanted to work at TCS because I wanted to show the world what Uruguay was all about. Even though we're a tiny country, we have value to add." Rozman also emphasized the appeal of having local Brazilian and Uruguayan leaders who are well connected and admired in the community heading up operations, rather than expatriates.
Many other managers spoke of the pride they felt in working for companies with strong brands that were also contributing to their countries' economic development. Novartis's sense of purpose, for instance, is a major draw for talent. Its Project Arogya, one of Novartis's socially conscious business operations, provides services to some 10 million villagers in 24 territories of India. Arogya's leader, Olivier Jarry, joined because of the brand promise to make lives better around the world. "We improve the health and health education of the villagers," he says. "We provide a source of revenue for local talent working with us on the ground. We are helping local doctors and pharmacists. This is a tremendously exciting mission."
How do brand, opportunity, and purpose come together as a promise made at Standard Chartered Bank? The company's CEO, Peter Sands, explains, "We are serious about being a force for good in the world. It's not an add-on for us. We are leaders in microfinance, supporting fledgling entrepreneurs in some of the world's poorest regions. We seek out, as a part of our strategic intent, opportunities to support renewable-energy businesses. By design we are among the world's most diverse organizations, so top talents from all walks of life are attracted to us because they know they will be embraced as central to our mission, not peripheral."
No comments:
Post a Comment