Groups Discussion Reference Template Document proposing starting point for global cross-industry discussion about a new way forward for companies and people in today’s emerging post crisis global economy.

1. Dear Group Member,<br />I wanted to thank you for accepting my invitation to be connected on Linked In. As well as you, I invited various other members from the following discussion groups that I am involved in to be “LinkedIn”:<br /> Eurodisney Opening Crew 1992 - CEO Dilema & HR Dilema - Bilingual Professionals (French/English) - EAPT (European Association of Psychological Type) - Global Leader 2.0 - MBTI Professionals - Corporate University and Learning & Development - Old Stamfordians - Sociocracy - The MBTI/Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Assessment - L’Observatoire des Tendances - Organisation and Development Network - The Walt Disney Company Alumni - Toplinked HR Professionals. <br />To date over 400 plus group members have accepted my invitation; all of whom have consequently received this communication. To date (updated 01 03 11) the reach of our cooperation has the following potential in terms of regional and industry access. Networks reach as of 01 03 11<br />My objective is to share the fruit of 24 months of independent research that I have completed and which I feel offers a new way forward for organizations wanting to succeed in today’s new global environment. My reason for sharing is twofold; firstly I want to share the passion for human resources and employee engagement & storytelling that I learned from my 13 years with the Walt Disney Company in both the US and Europe; secondly, I wanted to share with you the findings of my work and the concept that I have come up with, “Human Sigma Made in France that I am honored to share with you today.<br />Presented as an animated video with written comments, Human Sigma Made in France, http://slidesha.re/bqRrbL uses modern technology to bring to life the culmination of different lessons learned from the various work experiences I’ve had across the world and in very different companies and cultures. Human Sigma Made in France also integrates the many lessons learned from The Hertz Corporation where I used the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or MBTI tool as a potent means of bettering cross-cultural communication, self understanding and teamwork and as an engaging way of accompanying the transformation of a non-English speaking corporate culture; a transformation orchestrated globally by the Hertz Corporation, headquartered in Park Ridge, New York. <br />You see for the employees at Hertz on the 14 September 2005, their car rental company changed forever when the Ford Motor Company confirmed its intent to sell its Hertz rental car subsidiary to a group of private investors in a deal valued at €15 billion ($US 19 million). The sale made was one of the largest ever to a group of equity firms and allowed Ford to cash in on one of its most valuable assets as it faced falling profits in its manufacturing operations. Ford received $US 5.6 billion in cash for Hertz which was at the time the largest car rental company in the US as well as being the only global car rental company – a laureate that Hertz has maintained to date.<br />This sale put Hertz, a company that had been owned by public corporations for much of its 87 year history, under the control of three private equity investment firms: Clayton Dubilier & Rice, the Carlyle Group and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity. To finance the deal, the investors used $US 2.3 billion in cash and assumed the remaining amount as debt. <br /> <br />The Hertz Corporation is the world's largest general use car rental brand, operating from approximately 8,100 locations in 147 countries worldwide. Hertz was the number one airport car rental brand (RAC) in the U.S. and at 69 major airports in Europe, and operates both corporate and licensee locations in cities and airports in North America, Europe, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand. In addition, the Company has licensee locations in cities and airports in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.<br />Hertz also operates one of the world's largest equipment rental businesses, Hertz Equipment Rental Corporation (HERC), offering a diverse line of equipment, including tools and supplies, as well as new and used equipment for sale, to customers ranging from major industrial companies to local contractors and consumers through more than 360 branches in the United States, Canada, France and Spain.<br />Hertz has a 90+-year old company with a rich legacy of industry leadership and service and with<br />a “new mission” to be the most efficient, high quality, customer focused company in the rental markets the company serves and moves into. In support of this mission, the company has undergone a 3+year worldwide reorganization program (which commenced at the beginning of 2007) in order to operate more efficiently, as well as further improve customer service and employee satisfaction.<br />As part of the overall global reorganization of Hertz, departmental functions were transformed into global centers of excellence, whereas previously the functions operated on a country or US or other regional basis. The HR function is a key example of this initiative. Previously, the HR teams in each of Hertz's company owned (corporate) countries had previously operated fairly autonomously, each with country-driven approaches to their own markets, and with RAC and HERC teams operating separately. Now, however, as a result of the reorganization of the global HR function, all HR employees from all countries across both RAC and HERC are part of one global HR team, which is organized into closely linked, pan geographic HR disciplines.<br />Hertz’s new CEO, Mark FRISSORA, (appointed July 2006) communicated 14 December 2006 by global webcast to all Hertz employees worldwide and presented, for immediate implementation, the new corporate Vision, Mission and Values and corporate objective of becoming a best-in-class Corporation and an employer of choice. Marching orders were clearly given to transform the Corporation into an quot;
Employer of Choicequot;
- in order to both attract and retain the best talent in the industry. Hertz consequently implemented on a global scale, a number of far-reaching initiatives to develop the company as a ' best in class' employer, and carefully measured employee views of progress through bi-annual employee pulse surveys. Furthermore, a specialist task force within the HR group completed a Global Employee Retention Project to address seven key areas relating to employee retention: Attracting new employees; Recruiting new employees; Integrating new employees; Rewarding employees; Growth & Career Opportunities; Managing & Engaging employees; and Separating from employees. <br />I was very fortunate to have been part of this incredible Corporate and HR Transformational process, firstly as Hertz France’s Training & Development Director and later as Hertz Europe’s Mobilization, Communication and Learning Director - responsible for integrating both Human Resources team & Employer of Choice branding initiatives with Global Customer Experience Branding initiatives. Using the balanced scorecard concept and new Corporate vision, Mission and Value statements to lead, guide and inspire local workforces my objective was to create one common identity; a common identity closely aligned with the overall identity of the global organization: an identity which helped conveys to both internal and external audiences worldwide that Hertz is indeed an exciting and rewarding company to work for. <br /> <br />This experience nourished the building of my new Human Sigma Made in France storytelling concept that I am honored to share for with you and other group members as a starting point for discussing together globally a “new way forward” as to just how corporate governance and employee engagement are integrated into real-time operations in order to drive discretionary effort and employee “best place to work” initiatives; all by creating win-win experiences kindled by the intrinsic motivation of all involved. (http://slidesha.re/gUJuGL)<br />Human Sigma Made in France uses storytelling skills to integrate the balanced scorecard concept and new 21st Century Corporate Vision, Mission and Value statements and uses Linda Beren’s “Interstrength Method” (http://www.interstrength.com/) to provide the “self discovery” & dynamics necessary to unanimously engage and integrate stakeholders into a constant employee/customer process of “live learning” (http://slidesha.re/gUJuGL); an experience often referred to as the reality of our daily lives or more rationally as the day to day in and outs of “Customer Experience” & “Work life”. The same work life that employee engagement research informs us that “the actors” in the experience are screaming out to be a part of and that managers at all levels now have a new and vital role to play in engaging employees to increase their intrinsic motivation and the resulting discretionary effort. An article I wrote for a recent Portfolio International Newsletter will give you further information on this subject http://slidesha.re/f0tjAA.<br />There are some very interesting new paradigms being proposed around the world by different schools of thought that address the change that is needed in how we can run our companies (governance) in the emerging, post-crisis “new global economy”. Remember what Thomas Friedman said about Globalization 3.0 (which started 11 years ago with the millennium bug) in his book “The World is Flat? (http://slidesha.re/dIRr6a) Tom said that Globalization 3.0 is all about “the individual”; individuals can for the first time sell their skills and achievements and work anywhere in the world by cooperating with whomever they want by creating a win-win situation and by cooperating a little more and competing a little less. Human Sigma Made in France is my vision and my ideas that I offer as a starting point (http://slidesha.re/eOqDbU) for some form of global discussion amongst a broad representation of Group Members or stakeholders.<br />What I have presented here is an example of the employee engagement theory that I was building for the Hertz Corporations Customer Experience - my approach as to just how does one actually engage a global workforce? Guided by the Research on quot;
Best in Classquot;
Customer Experiences across several different industries - a study commissioned by the London Business School Summer School 2008 for Hertz - Storytelling was the methodology that was to be used to integrate the customer and employee into one experience; a concept known as Human Sigma as presented by Professor John Fleming of the Gallup Organization is his book Human Sigma. The Gallup Organizations work on Behavioral Economics (http://slidesha.re/hXFhxX) was also a key business approach that inspired my concept Human Sigma made in France.<br />The desired final state (modeled after the Hertz Corporations recent transformation) was a new and transformed agile and global organisation that had metamorphosed itself into a quot;
Best in Class Companyquot;
and an quot;
Employer of Choicequot;
both on the inside and the outside. We are Hertz, they’re not – a company where the engagement, sheer passion and incredible storytelling skills demonstrated by employees all around the world, fuels discretionary effort and engages a “global workforce” in the constant and often mundane process that can be everyday life…….a true example of doing more with less by creating a win-win situation for all involved. <br />As said David Wasserman, a partner at Clayton who negotiated the terms of the sale of the Hertz Rental Car Company with Ford back in 2005: “I think there’s no doubt at the end of the day that this was a win-win-win transaction. It demonstrates the power of private equity in helping corporations restructure their balance sheets”. Human Sigma Made in France assures the integration of people (employee and customer experience) and internal processes by engaging them in corporate strategy which is rolled out in real-time as a story.<br />Thank you for taking the time to read this mail and to look at my presentation. If your interest is sparked and you desire to learn more please visit my LinkedIn Profile Page where different aspects of my concept are presented along with my credentials (http://slidesha.re/9yxdbw) as well as those at the source of the various ideas and approachs that I have closely studied and integrated into my concept “Human Sigma Made in France” - Holacracy (www.holacracy.org) - Dr. Linda V. Berens (www.interstrength.com/blog/7) – Sociocracy (www.sociocratie.unblog.fr/) - the MBTI tool and Jungian psychology (www.osiris-conseil.com), Gallup’s Human Sigma and Behavioural Economics concepts (http://slidesha.re/hXFhxX) & Daniel Pink and his best-seller “A Whole New Mind” (www.danpink.com). I look forward to further discussion and exchange with you at a future date.<br />Best regards and warmest greetings from Paris, Simon PENNY<br />