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Inside Caterpillar's culture of transformation

The following is an edited excerpt of "Headwinds of Opportunity: A Compass for Sustainable Innovation" by Tim Lindsey (Routledge, Taylor & Francis, 2017).

Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires.

- 詹姆斯3:4

作为一种创新的业务战略,可持续性倾向于在许多组织就其兼容性和复杂性特征方竞彩足球app怎么下载面提出挑战。鉴于许多组织主要由短期财务绩效驱动,因此将其优先事项更改为同等重要的环境和社会方面可能是有问题的。尽管他们可能认识到这些方面的重要性,但给予他们同等的重点与短期财务绩效与大多数组织的文化不兼容。幸运的是,许多组织已经将最重要的重要性分配给了一些可以利用的非财务方面,以提高可持续性绩效状况。竞彩足球app怎么下载

Even leaders of the most conservative organizations regularly make decisions for the good of the enterprise that do not demonstrate strong short-term financial benefits. They recognize that certain decisions are in the organization’s best interest in the long term even if it is not possible to justify them through the calculation of a short-term return on investment (ROI). Safety and quality are good examples of performance aspects that require long-term focus and commitment. Even though they are difficult to connect with short-term financial performance, most organizations recognize their importance for achieving enduring success. No responsible leader would disregard their organization’s safety or quality performance. The same rationale can be used with respect to other dimensions of sustainability.

Making sustainability compatible with culture

In February 2012, I was hired by Caterpillar Inc. to serve as their global director of sustainable development. Caterpillar is the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. Caterpillar leaders made sustainability part of the enterprise strategy in 2005, identified it as a growth area and launched their first sustainability report.

当道格·奥伯赫尔曼(Doug Oberhelman)在2010年成为卡特彼勒(Caterpillar)董事长兼首席执行官时,他显然对可持续发展充满热情,并专注于将其融入业务。竞彩足球app怎么下载许多毛毛虫高管凭直觉知道,可持续性运动为公司提供了强大的机会,因为它制造的产品和它所服务的市场,但他们并不同竞彩足球app怎么下载意如何利用这一机会。我通过过去为他们指导的项目认识了他们的一些领导者,他们招募了我担任这个具有挑战性的职位。

从一开始,我就在卡特彼勒(Caterpillar)进行了可持续性作竞彩足球app怎么下载为创新— an创新的业务方式。我的两到三名人员团队开始研究我们认为可以与可持续性良好联系的文化的关键方面。竞彩足球app怎么下载我们研究了业务模型,质量系统,制造运营,物流,人力资源系统,产品开发,供应链,客户关系,沟通,战略和公司价值观。我们得出的结论是,所有这些方面都为提高企业的可持续性绩效提供了巨大的潜力。竞彩足球app怎么下载

During my first day on the job, I noticed that the company placed considerable emphasis on its four core values: integrity, commitment, excellence and teamwork. These values formed the basis of Caterpillar’s Worldwide Code of Conduct and were considered in all major decisions. Posters that describe and emphasize the values were displayed throughout the company’s facilities. As I was making the rounds and meeting with various Caterpillar executives during my first days there, one of them asked me what I thought we needed to do to "raise our game."

如果我们真的很认真,我们应该考虑使其成为核心价值。竞彩足球app怎么下载这样的变化有可能是变革的。

我回答说:“如果我们真的很认真,我们应该考虑使其成为核心价值。”竞彩足球app怎么下载这样的变化有可能是变革的。这意味着可持续性将不再是我们所做的重要竞彩足球app怎么下载事情it would become part of who we are.

To be effective in this change, I would need to enlist the influence of key leaders who could help champion the new emphasis on sustainability to their respective business units and help drive the transition. I was extremely fortunate when Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman assigned a special leadership development team to investigate sustainability opportunities for the enterprise and develop recommendations for elevating Caterpillar’s sustainability commitment and performance. The leadership development work was part of a program with Stanford University and the team was comprised of eight very accomplished leaders representing diverse aspects of the organization, including marketing, investor relations, logistics, manufacturing and product development.

I was assigned the role of serving as their subject matter expert. Over nine months, we met multiple times and spent many hours together. After several months of benchmarking other companies, information gathering and study, the team had developed a deep understanding of the topic. They recognized Caterpillar’s unique opportunity to lead in solving some of the world’s most pressing problems, ranging from access to energy, transportation, water and sanitation, to restoring degraded lands and sequestering greenhouse gases. After some thoughtful discussion, the team reached consensus.

如果卡特彼勒想成为全球可持续性的领导者,那么将可持续性视为核心价值是有意义竞彩足球app怎么下载的。使可持续性成为核心价值的建议以精心制作的视频的形式提出竞彩足球app怎么下载了最高管理。该视频还在情感层面上连接,并强调了世界对毛毛虫领导力的需求。高层管理人员同意,更改已提交给支持和批准该措施的董事会。

The fifth core value

An implementation team was then formed to carefully craft the language to support the value while maintaining compatibility with the other values. We developed compatible messaging regarding the meaning and importance of sustainability to the enterprise. In addition, an internal steering committee was formed with management representatives from strategy, quality, product development, human resources, communications and purchasing to develop a coordinated approach for embedding sustainability from the top down throughout all aspects of the enterprise.

During this time of rapid transition, the company doubled its commitment to aggressive energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction goals (50 percent reduction by 2010) and implemented sustainability principles in ways that began to drive innovation and improved competitiveness throughout the corporate value chain. Discussions also began about how to incorporate sustainability into corporate roles (research, product development, strategy and risk) and operational functions (supply chain, manufacturing, quality, logistics and customer processes).

The corporation officially recognized sustainability as the fifth core value for the enterprise in 2014 and incorporated it into the employee Code of Conduct in 2015. We developed a training module to help employees understand how to embed sustainability principles into their daily work. A "Sustainability Advocates" program was also established with open enrollment for all employees to facilitate sustainability innovation, education and implementation from the bottom up.

2015年,卡特彼勒(Caterpillar)报告的销售和收入中有18%来自产品,服务和解决方案,这些产品,服务和解决方案表明可持续性优势比现有产品获得了改善。竞彩足球app怎么下载

在接下来的两年中,实施了许多变革变化。结果,2015年,卡特彼勒报告的销售和收入中有18%来自产品,服务和解决方案,这些产品,服务和解决方案表明,与现有产品相比,可持续性益处改善了。竞彩足球app怎么下载最新的添加包括由太阳能电池板和与CAT发电机集成的电池存储组成的微电网技术,为世界的偏远地区提供了电源,以及使用机器的液压系统来存储和部署先前浪费的能源的混合挖掘机。

该公司还与非政府组织,工程公司,金融机构和同行公司合作,开发了一项旨在恢复自然基础设施的计划(Lindsey,2015年)。当我在2016年初离开卡特彼勒时,该公司因其可持续性成就而获得了精英认可,其中包括:竞彩足球app怎么下载

  • 道琼斯可持续发展指数中其领域排名最高的4%(在我到达的那一年被从该指数中删除之后)竞彩足球app怎么下载
  • Runner-up status for circular economy achievements ("The Circulars") at the 2016 World Economic Forum
  • The Keep America Beautiful 2015 "Vision for America" award

人们经常问我如何在相对较短的时间内实现这种变革变化。我将我们的成功归因于三个方面:1)我们以勇气和影响力来推动变革。2)我们找到了使可持续性改善与现有文化兼容的方法。竞彩足球app怎么下载3)我们使用商业驱动力来催化变化。

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