Applying the Classic Virtues to your business, organization, teams and individuals for innovation and growth

Copyright © 2012 Mills-Scofield, LLC
www.mills-scofield.com
DEBORAH MILLS-SCOFIELD
Mills-Scofield, LLC • dms@mills-scofield.com • @dscofield
Partner: Glengary, LLC. – Early-Stage Venture Capital
Visiting Scholar – Brown University • Adjunct Professor – Oberlin College
Applying the Classic Virtues to
Individual Professional Development

ARISTOTLE’S CLASSIC VIRTUES
•  Application of the Virtues:
–  General Business
•  Aligned with specific strategies, tactics, projects
–  Innovation - Process
•  Aligned with overall Innovation processes and/or individual Innovation projects
–  Innovation – People/Mindset
•  Team Development
•  Individual Professional Development
•  Based on the work of Alan Kolp & Peter Rea :
–  Integrity is a Growth Market (book)
–  Igniting Innovation through Integrity (to be published, with co-author
Pierre Everaert)
–  Collaboration on developing applications
2

VIRTUES
&
APPLICATIONS
Virtues (Integrity) Application
Love
Passion
Friendship
Compassion
Passion
Passion for people and solutions
Social Capital: Teams & Partners
Servant Leadership & Customer Service
Courage
Fortitude, Heart, and
Mind or Soul
Manage Risk
Risk & Rescue Mgmt: Tangibles/Intangibles
Smart Failing - Culture
Faith
Fiduciary
Trust
Authenticity
Economic Value of Intangibles
Reputation – Macro & Micro
Teams, partnerships – internal/external
Clear roles & responsibilities
Justice
Fair vs. Equal
Enlightened Self-Interest
Sustainability
Triple Bottom Line & Bottom of Pyramid
“I-Thou”
Prudence
Wisdom
Reasonable
Disciplined
Talent Management
Acquiring, developing and retaining talent
Adaptable, Agile, Resilience
“Bright Spots”
Temperance
Moderation – Greek Middle Way
Balance
Tempus
Money/Meaning & Profit/Purpose
Balance: Today &Tomorrow; Life & Work
Lens-Shifting
Balanced Scorecard – stakeholders
Hope
Forward looking – future not yet realized
Possibility
Moral = root of Morale
Smart Failing
Real-Win-Worth
Economic value of Learning
Best Practicing

WHY, HOW, WHAT WE CREATE
Virtue
Why
Art (Disposition – Right Brain)
How
(imagination, commitment, creativity)
Science (Skills– Left Brain)
What
(competency, skill, knowledge)
Love Passion: Customer Create/Add customer value
Courage Recognize Opportunity & Lead Change Risk & Rescue Management
Faith Manage Intangibles (People, Process) Create & Protect Wealth
Justice Triple Bottom Line Brand Reputation
Prudence Empower & Engage Talent Agile, Adaptable High
Performance Organization
Temperance Balance Manage Competing Interests
Hope Smart Failing “At Bats” and RBIs
Awareness
Current State
Attention
Desired State
Action
Close the gap
DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Love
Ερος (Eros)
Passion, Desire, Devotion
Ex: Zappos, Apple, Nordstrom's
•  Passion to add value to
customers, employees,
stakeholders
•  Smart Risk-Increased Returns
•  Customer Service
•  Customer Experience
•  Customer Jobs-to-be-Done
Passion to create, to improve,
to refuse “just because”
What are you passionate about?
5
Φίλος (Philos)
Friendship, Respect
Ex: Google, USAA, Intel
•  Earn & Keep Trust -> Attract,
Retain, Develop Talent
•  Teamwork, Open Innovation
•  Collaboration & Cooperation
•  Whole Employee (health,
volunteering, ‘idea’ time,
sabbaticals, etc.)
•  Before cut staff, identify root
cause (e.g., process, wrong
markets, customers)
Engaged Employees = value:
great products/services,
customer service, sense of
urgency and shared purpose
How do you excite your people?
Αγαπη (agape)
Compassion, Sacrifice, Humility
Ex: AFLAC, Southwest Airlines
•  Voice of the Customer; Jobs-
to-be-Done; Day-in-Life
•  Customer Co-Create/Design
•  Customer Valuable Solutions
•  Customer Service
•  Align organization to Delight
the Customer
•  Employees’ Issues > My Issues
•  Human Capital is THE Asset
Is it really about Them, not
You?
How do you put your customers
and people first?

Courage
French: Heart (coeur) and Latin: Mind/Soul (cor)
Reflexive: Visceral, Autonomous, Involuntary: rush in to save v stand by & watch
Reflective: Cognitive, Analytical, Voluntary: Weigh Risk/Reward
6
Culture
•  Status Quo-Philic/Phobic
•  We are wired for stability
•  Risk is culturally defined
•  Ethnicity
•  Prestige (“Corner Office”)
•  Reputation/Peer Pressure
•  Risk is individually defined
•  Definition of Self
•  Values (“Look in the Mirror”)
•  What’s at “Stake”
•  Externally Influenced
•  Economic
•  Global
What are your cultural inhibitors
and accelerators?
Management/Resilience
•  Identify Real “Manageable”
Risks: Tangible & Intangible:
Reputation, Market Validation,
Financial, Life, Execution,
Operational, etc.
•  Identify Real Risks beyond
your control (e.g., Acts of G-d)
•  Willing to speak up and out
•  Delighting Customer > R&D,
Engineering, Sales, Supply
Chain, Shareholders, etc.
•  Balance Risk Mitigation and
Rescue Management
Do you take Smart Risks?
Process/Tools
•  Open Innovation
•  Inter-disciplinary/geographic/
cultural teams
•  Innovation Mgmt Processes
•  Incentives, Recognition,
Reward for success & failure
•  “Blame” process, not people
•  Root cause analysis
•  Obsolete your own ‘stuff’
•  S-Curves
•  “Lean Startup” tools
•  Business Model Innovation
•  RWW
Can you mitigate AND “Rescue”

Faith
Latin: fides (trust) in something or someone, usually intangible
7
Corporate Reputation
•  Direct impact on Market Cap:
Walmart, Netflix, BP…
•  Direct impact on ability to
attract and retain talent (esp.
Millennials)
•  Related to Hope
•  Balance Protecting & Creating
Wealth
•  Broken by Corruption, Greed,
Breaking implicit/explicit
promises to customers,
employees, shareholders
How do you protect/enhance
your Brand & Talent?
Imagination/Worth
•  Ability to imagine the future
and make it happen
•  Assume Future = better
(incremental and disruptive)
•  Better = for customers,
employees, communities,
environment, suppliers…
•  Beyond compliance
•  Trustworthiness – Worthy of
Trust
Are you really capable of imaging
the future & worth trusting?
Culture
•  Align & resource organization
to Delight the Customer
•  Clear vision, mission, strategy
with how everyone fits in and
contributes
•  Execution Model – who & how
to get things done with power
and authority
•  Behavior: incent smart risk-
taking, don’t punish smart
failure
•  Stories, Myths, Symbols
Does your culture make it easy to
trust & execute?

Justice
Old French: justitia (righteousness & equity); Latin: justus (upright and just)
8
Fair vs. Equal
•  Easy -> Equal: everyone is
treated the same; no judgment:
e.g., compensation
•  Hard -> Fair: ‘equal’
opportunity can have different
results; subjective
•  Legal vs. Ethical/Moral
•  Equal vs. “Right”
Do you treat people equally or
fairly?
“I-Thou”
•  Do “I” matter more than
“Thou”? (customer, employee,
stakeholder)
•  My needs/wants > Yours
•  Organization’s reaction to
injustice
•  Means justify the Ends?
•  Short term vs. Longer-term
gratification (pay it forward)
Does your culture value others
vs. self?
CSR
•  Triple Bottom Line: People,
Planet, Profits
•  Outputs vs. Outcomes: Money &
Profit as way to provide Meaning
& Purpose
•  Leaving things better than you
found them
•  Talent acquisition & retention
•  Customer acquisition & retention
•  Beyond compliance – Reputation
results in growth
•  Reverse Innovation (BoP)
How do you ‘account’ for your
organization’s total impact?

Prudence
Old French: prudence (wisdom to see what is virtuous, suitable, profitable)
Latin: prudentia (foresight, sagacity; contraction of providentia (providence))
9
Wisdom
•  Capitalize/Monetize investment
in People
•  Increase Employee Engagement
•  Repeat, Repeat -> Habit
•  Remove Obstacles, Barriers
(tangible: processes; intangible:
politics)
•  Reliable
•  Mutual Trust
•  Shared purpose and goals
•  Faith in the ability to accomplish
•  Balance Responsibility and
Authority
How engaged are you and your
people?
Foresight
•  Willing to learn from others
•  Willing to look at things
differently – Lens Shifting
•  Reframe challenges &
opportunities
•  Perseverance
•  Suspend Disbelief
•  Shared purpose and goals
•  Faith in the ability to
accomplish
How adaptable and resilient is
your organization to change?
Talent Development
•  “Bright Spots”
•  “Can’t build on broken”
•  Manage to strengths & passions
•  Social Capital/Networking
•  Education
•  Experiences – outside the
comfort zone
•  Mentors/Mentoring
•  Community Service
Do you look at what’s working or
what’s broken?

Temperance
Anglo-French: temperaunce (moderation)
CAUTION: Temperance ≠ quest for EVENness which can support status quo
10
Balance
•  Work-Life
•  Time for everything/season
•  Balanced Scorecard: tool vs. idol
•  “Spirit” vs. Letter of the Law
•  Delight the Customer vs.
Shareholder interests
•  Team makeup
How well do you balance
competing interests?
Discipline/Habits
•  Policies
•  Accountability
•  Responsibility & “Authority”
•  Healthy & Unhealthy Habits
(wellbeing, cultural, etc.)
•  Inner-Self
•  Public-Self: work & community
•  Confirmational Bias
•  Long vs. Short-term
•  Reality vs. Delusion (Dilution)
What are your barriers for
temperance?
“ROI”
•  Innovation Process
•  Numbers Game: 1000->100->
10->1
•  Vetting: Internal “VC”, Markets
(Rite-Solutions), Whole Foods,
RWW, etc.
•  Failure = learning process: learn,
apply, iterate, learn, apply, iterate
•  Experimentation
•  “Lean Startup”
Do you allow time and space for
innovation & learning?

Hope
11
Realistic/Facts
•  Not fantasy
•  Based on VOCs, real customer
‘pains’
•  Team
•  Technology
•  “Smart Risks”
•  Possible vs. Probable
•  Fail Fast, Fail Cheap
•  Make new mistakes
•  Failure – learn, apply, iterate…
•  Learn, Discover, Uncover, Create
How do you learn what’s possible?
Tools
•  Lean Startup
•  Business Model Generation
•  People/Planet/Profits
•  Real-Win-Worth
•  Best Practicing
•  Time for innovation
•  Encourage vs. Coerce
How do you decide what’s possible?

VIRTUES DEVELOPMENT PLAN
•  Select A Virtue
•  Examples of that Virtue at work within you
•  Examples of that Virtue at work within your organization
•  Rate yourself and your organization on that Virtue:
–  1-6 scale
–  Reasons & Evidence
•  Assess yourself on that Virtue
–  Art & Science
–  Strengths, Weaknesses, Bright Spots, Barriers, Challenges
•  Development Plan
–  Each “Area”: Self, Home, Work, Community
–  Specific tactic, date, status
12

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