4th gmd conference dubai 2013

16 News National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netWednesday, July 19, 2011

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netA2 Thursday, April 4, 2013

THEME: THE CORPORATE MANAGERS AND THE BURDEN OF CRISES IN TURBU-LENT TIMES

This time in history has being predict-ed and we know it will happen and it is happening. What can we do? When

knowledge is becoming a challenge to re-ality, constant changes are challenging traditional rules of Operations; iconic companies are becoming irrelevant not withstanding long years of enduring lead-ership principles of loyalty and the appli-cation of management rules.Conference DirectionJim Collins (1994): The Silent creep of Im-pending doom. Pages 1 – 44. The Theory of the Business. Pages: 45 – 52 of the Workshop Manual.

What do we do?Theodore Roosevelt speaking in Paris in 1910 said:

“It is not the critic who counts nor the man who points out how strong man stumbles or where

Energy Group brainstorms on management challenges at Dubai Conference

AYO OLESINDEPUTY EDITOR (BUSINESS)

The Group Managing Director of Energy Group, H.E. (Dr) Jimoh Ibrahim, OFR will on Sunday, April 7, open the 4th Energy Group

GMD Conference holding in Dubai, United Arab Emirates with senior managers of the group and eminent resource persons including tested academ-ics, top public servants and corporate leaders in at-tendance.

The five-day “Dubai 21013” conference, with the theme: “The Corporate Managers and The Burden of Crises in Turbulent Times, is one of the Energy Group’s initiatives in developing and nurturing in-novative leadership talents that will provide ground breaking solutions to some of the recent challenges confronting private corporations and public sector managers against the backdrop of an uncertain global environment.

Over the years, the Energy Group, which is com-prised of companies operating in oil and gas, man-ufacturing industry, hospitality, banking, insur-ance, media and educational services, has placed emphasis in the development of intellectual capac-ity by organising a series of in-house retreats and seminars for its managers and other ranks, which has contributed to the accelerated growth of the conglomerate thus placing it in a vantage position to deliver superior cutting edge solutions within its operational space.

The Dubai conference is being held in continua-tion of this tradition and will also feature presen-tations from eminent guest speakers including Dr Ibrahim, Prof Taiwo Ajayi, Visiting professor of Geology, Osun State University and Fellow and former Vice-President, Nigerian Mining and Geo-sciences Society; Prof Sunday Oladeji, Prof of Eco-nomics, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife and

former Provost of the OAUI Postgraduate College; Dr. A.A Idowu, Professor of Law at the Obafemi Awolowo University.

Others invited include the Governor of the Cen-tral bank of Nigeria, Mallam Lamido Sanusi; Min-ister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Minister of In-dustry, Trade and Investments, Mr. Olusegun Agan-ga; Governor, Bank of Ghana, Dr. Kofi Wampah; Group Managing Director, UBA Plc, Mr. Phillips Oduoza; the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Fola Daniel; Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde and Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Mr. Ekpo Nta.

According to Dr. Ibrahim, the conference falls within the period when the group’s parent company, Global Fleet, will be celebrating 10 years of exis-tence and that taking the conference to Dubai is a fulfilment of one of his great ambitions.

He said the theme of the conference was to help managers address some of the issues still lingering from the global financial crisis of 2008.

Some of the issues that will be examined include how to handle uncertainties, role of institutional failures, why employees resist change, preparing to-day for tomorrow’s problems, decision making, role of special interest groups, indirect influence, crisis management and performance measurement.

Discussions will also be held on the knowledge gap and the challenges of leadership.

Members of the Energy Group attending the conference include Global Fleet Oil and Gas, Nicon Investments, Nicon Insurance, Nicon Properties, Nigeria Re, Nicon Hotels, Air Nigeria, Global Fleet Industries, Energy Bank, Ghana, Energy Bank, Sao Tome, National Mirror Newspapers, Newswatch Magazine and Newswatch Newspapers.

Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim, OFR Olorogun Michael Ibru

THE VISITING CROSSWIND OF

2008 (I MEAN THE GREAT RECESSION)

IS STILL HERE WITH US AND I

AM QUITE CERTAIN A LOT OF YOU ARE BATTLING

WITH TURBULENT CORPORATE

MANAGEMENT THAT COMES WITH IT

‘

‘

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the doer of deed could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthu-siasms, the great devotion, who spends him-self for a worthy cause; who, at best knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worse, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know nei-ther victory or defeat”Conference DirectionJim Collins & Mortes T. Hansen: Thriving in Uncertainty; (Harvard Business Review) Pag-es: 53 – 60 of the Workshop Manual.It will be so painful if the result of a great de-votion, daring greatly in corporate navigation cannot guarantee success. When the result will be the same like that of a timid soul who knows neither victory nor defeat. In all prob-ability it is most likely, as it appears that it is one in thousands of cases that such great de-votion will guarantee success.

Corporate success is not equal to failure and once corporation fails nothing useful appears to be associated with efforts or devotion or great enthusiasm (apology to ROOSEVELT)

It appears nothing compares with corporation success and we do not have a choice than to make success of our corporate adventures. The pilot of a crashed plane is not remem-bered for the efforts made by him to prevent the accident or the first class result and train-ing he made in aviation college: the story is “the plane crashed!”

What can be of great news is the number of those that survive, no matter the great devo-tion, great enthusiasms he made, he will be blamed for the accident. How do we explain the general saying that “80% of plane crash-es across the world is due to pilot error” so

his “ triumph of high achievement” or “daring greatly” is in fact worst in place than those “cold and timid souls” who neither know vic-tory non defeat.

WHERE DO WE GO?

Yes! There is no effort without error or short-coming, the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deed could have done better but the debit (not credit) now belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, who face is marred by dust and sweat and blood who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again because of “human error” or “knowledge gap” or “some sort of shortcom-ing” has made him to fail.Conference DirectionOrganizational Roots – The Role of Institution-al Failures. Pages: 284 – 295 of the Workshop Manual.Today Corporation appears to foreclose any such simple mistakes and this appears to be the consequences of dangerous wind called CHANGE and it appears all have change.

All have changed?

Like the pilot of an aircraft, the fact that he is constantly used to a particular route, (Lagos to London) where the wind is always calm does not mean that on another day when the pilot is flying the route, applying the usual speed, maintaining the same height, same latitude or altitude will be all that is required when the plane is on a head on collusion with the sud-den change of head or crossing winds, which may result to either a sudden crash or call for emergency landing or that the passengers will have a story to tell if they ever landed safely.Conference DirectionPaul Strebel: Why Do Employees Resist Change? (Harvard Business Review) Pages: 60 – 70 of the Workshop Manual.The pilot cannot prevent the winds just like corporate managers cannot stop the change (These are not certainly internal factors within the control of the manager or the pilot). When the plane is on collision with the head wind or crossing wind, disaster is inevitable as this can lead to an immediate crash or call for emergen-cy landing or that the staff of a corporation will have a story to tell on the combined cumulative effects of reforms, restructuring, mergers or ac-quisition as solution adopted by the company in crises time, if they survive lay off.

What should the corporate manager do in such a situation? How will they take the corporation through the head wind? What strategy is to be adopted for successfully navigating the inevitable crossing wind? In such turbulent time, what advice is there for corporate managers?Conference DirectionJohn P. Kotter: Leading Change – Why Trans-formation Effort Fails. Pages: 86 – 135 of the Workshop Manual.

The conference will attempt a successful

strategy that will guarantee a safe landing ap-proach.

One view is that if the plane is working to full capacity with guarantee for maximum fuel endurance, the pilot is likely to make a more comfortable decision that can ensure safety, and like a corporation with time tested endur-ing principles of loyalty and visible leadership; integrity stands a better chance in the land-ing approach to safety. If you agree with this view, it appears to us to have suffered a great set back. For instance, it is our working view that no matter how sound a plane may be, like sound management principles, how will a pi-lot withstand a tornado wind or, what can a manager do with a geometric decline in the stock value that severely affects the capitu-lations of the corporation in the face of new regulations that pushed for increased capital. When all appears to have changed, the reality appears to be of good standing in the face of moving hurricanes or what? Conference DirectionStrategy – Necessary but not sufficient. Pag-es: 163 – 178 of the Workshop Manual.

What nature of wind or change?

Some CEO shares their views but do not know what to do in turbulence time.

“The focus on performance is finer, when you are growing at 35 % everybody benefits; when your growth goes down to 11% or 12%, the separation between the poor and best performer increases, and when you need to figure out how to handle it, because of the en-vironment, you cannot afford the risk, so have had to let some of those poor performances go”.Should this be the right approach? What sud-denly makes the staff become a poor per-former? Ralph Waldo Emerson holds the view that “bad times have a scientific value, these are the occasions a good learner would not miss”

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Sanusi Lamido

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Is this also the case of handling incompetent staff (apology to Sao Tome 3RD GMD annual conference). The conference in Sao Tome in 2011 had recommended some significant ap-proaches and development in the respect of the management of incompetent people. Re-member the key issue is whether the organi-zation should keep incompetent people in the face of the recession, which requires the significant development of intellectual capac-ity. Also, remember the view of our friend Jim Collins about the right people and that a cor-poration transformation from Good to Great requires disciplined people, who are the only people that can build the corporation on dis-cipline Thoughts and Action. Where does the poor performer stand in all these?

Other CEO speaks in the same vain

HertzOver the last three recessions in 1981, 1991, 2001 Hertz, a car rental company, maintained a minimum of 3.5% annual sales contact in any given recession. In November and December 2008, it saw a 20% fall in January 2009. Hertz announced a reduction in its global workforce by 4000 employees and has further reduced its work force by 22% in the last two years.Conference DirectionHillel J. B and Robin M. H: Decision Making – Going Forward in Reverse. Pages 338 – 345 of the Workshop Manual.

CEO ICIC BANK OF INDIA“When I got into this business in 1996 as a CEO, main frames ruled. The Internet was just happening and nobody believed distribution processing would be as powerful as main frame in years to come.”Conference DirectionAvoiding the Avoidable – An Ounce of Preven-tion. Pages 347 – 354 of the Workshop Manual.

CEO of Fuji firmThe environment has changed so much, es-pecially in the financial sector, that some of

the old rule does not apply “the old orthodox-ies will not serve us well in the future”Conference DirectionPolitical Roots – The Role of Special Interest Groups. Pages: 297 – 298 of the Workshop Manual.World Leaders worriedGordon Brown, Formal British Prime Minister speaks:For business leaders and people who are on the track to leadership, this will have a perma-nent impact on the way they do business, the level of trust has been diminished and I think it will take years and decades to build that back, in terms of how people are going to do busi-ness, I think there is going to be a lot more skepticism.Conference DirectionWhere Minds Meet. Pages: 141 – 163 of the Workshop Manual.

More CEO shown more concernEdward Dolman at G20:The auction business is unique; we are deal-ing with high-value, totally subjective assess-ments. In a market that fluctuates widely, it is difficult to think that government and political climate matches commercial reality.Conference DirectionContingency Planning – Preparing Today for Tomorrow’s Problems. Pages: 353 – 362 of the Workshop Manual.

So what nature of wind or change is this head wind?

No one is certain, as per the nature of head-wind and everyone is talking what they know just like the pilot keeps saying to himself and perhaps the passage at the beginning of the turbulence, this wind is strong, the more he keeps flying into it, all appears not well. In 2008, Boston Globe reported a loss of $50 million, the recession in 1981 saw New York Times into bankruptcy, and the media ap-peared too unprepared for the headwind. If you are a newspaper for example, imagine how you feel about GOOGLE and YOU TUBE; newspapers appear to be struggling with the force of change.Conference DirectionStrategy – Necessary but not sufficient. Pages: 163 – 178 of the Workshop Manual.

What will this wind of change do beyond the present?

Some are of the view that nothing is too special about this headwind. It is a fixture and has come to accept that change (headwind) has come to rule, Charles Darwin holds the view “it is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives, it is the one that is more adaptable to changes”Do you agree? And if you do, is there any specific factor that presents the stronger or the most intelli-gent species not to adapt to change? Why should a pilot know what to do to prevent a crash and fail to do it? If that appears to be the new develop-ment, how will the CEO or the Managers start the change adaptation class?

Conference DirectionRight versus Right! Pages: 298 – 305 of the Work-shop Manual. All hands must be on deck.

Every hand must be on deck and every one must be involved if we must have solutions to: safe landing the co- pilot, the in- flight engi-neer, the cabin crew, to calm the passenger, liaising with the control tower. The pilot can-not do it alone, and in the case of emergency landing, the air port, the safety department, the fire department, airport hospital depart-ment, the emergency evacuation department, the red cross, must be told to get set as no one can do it alone! If you agree that effec-tive communication cannot be compromised, we can no longer sustain the attitude of not communicating every thing in the corporation to managers and all the stakeholders and we cannot be doing that when it is NOW clear that the situation is above us. Conference DirectionPreparing to Coach – Keep Your Eyes, Ears, and Mind Open. Pages: 136 – 141 of the Workshop Manual.

Navigating corporation in turbulent time re-quires effective communication and when the information is received voluntarily there will be free flow of ideas, knowledge, and energy to overcome. This perhaps is the spirit that makes football more exciting when every one knows what to do; the level of energy brought to bear is unequal (apology to Stevens Cov-ey). The purpose of having a co-pilot just like managers in corporation is to assist the lead-ers or the chief pilot. If the pilot refuses to communicate with his co-pilot or if leaders fail to communicate with managers, life will be dif-ficult in the organization or during the duration of the flight as in the case of the pilot.

Fola Adeola

Bill Gates



(Imagine in a football game how life would look like if the goalkeeper does not know that he has to prevent the ball from entering the goal post and in fact was sleeping when the ball was approaching the net or, when the de-fense player did not know that his job is to prevent any goal coming to the defense area. So it is, when a pilot does all his best to crash land safely in an emergency landing only for the fire- fighters to claim that there is no wa-ter to douse the fire; as a result, the passen-gers were eventually consumed by the fire outbreak) Can any meaningful turbulence be resolved without communication within and even outside of the corporation? How can all hands be on deck without effective communi-cation?

This and other matters will be discussed in Group One:

ACHIEVING EFFECTIVE COMMUNICA-TION IN TURBULENT TIMES WHAT NEW DEVELOPMENT IS THERE FOR MANAG-ERS

Conference DirectionWhen Direct Approach Backfires, Try Indirect Influence (Six tactics for getting your point across with subtlety). Pages: 400 – 473 of the Workshop Manual.

At this year’s conference, managers are en-couraged to show interest in this group.

No immunity in business?

There is no immunity in business, also is change universal to life.One area identified with CEO, which appears undisputed, is, leaderships concern in corpo-ration management. Any leader who refuses to accept that change is inevitable in turbulent time is in denial, so what should the leader do?

Leadership challenge again? Leadership has generated much discussion in past studies that one should by now think that discussion on this interesting topic ought to have rested.

Maxwell is of the view that leadership is a journey and not a destination (apology to our 2012 London leadership conference)

Conference DirectionDrucker P.F: The Information Executives Truly Need. Pages: 179 – 191 of the Workshop Manual.

Interest is renowned with a common saying that 70% of plane crashes around the world is associated with pilot error; pilots are the flying leaders of the planes.One view is that leadership is the problem and our leaders always commit the same error do-ing the same thing all over again and never in-volve people until the problem is above them and a clear indication that all is not well with the corporation.Pilots always inform their passengers of the need to say their last prayers at the point where the plane is about to crash. These lead-ers (Pilot or manager) think wrongly too, that they have all the knowledge and answer to all issues and like corporation leaders (manag-ers) compromise Board major decisions and rules of operations, so also is the full disclo-sure principles.

Kris Gopalakrishman, CEO and co-founder INFOSY speaks on this:

“We need to be more flat, creating a colle-gial team-based leadership style so that you leverage a lot more of people’s intellects and capacities and make them participate in deci-sion making”

This year’s conference will examine this against the background of the requirement of knowledge management. The break away session will raise some key issues as it relates to leadership “knowledge- gap”.

The break away session for this year will be on: KNOWLEDGE GAP AND THE CHALLENG-ES FOR LEADERSHIP IN TIMES LIKE THESE

An investment in knowledge pays the best inter-est. The initial view is to raise leaders who can buy knowledge, God gives GRACE but knowledge is bought in the market. The question is from which market can we buy knowledge? Who can tell, what our competitors are going to do before they do it? How long should we stay in the comfort zone of our day-to-day activities when change is approaching us?

These are serious issues in which we need to have your contributions. We are interested in knowing the approach you adopt when you are confronted with this type of problems. I look for-ward to sharing your experience in this direction.

Navigating a new route, any possibility?

If these problems are this major, can’t we navi-gate a new route? The usual question any one will ask, why course this long route? Why can’t the pilot change the route or leader change the business or, what is the matter? Conference DirectionA Transformation Navigator: A Step-by-Step Guide for Managers. Pages: 121 – 133 of the Workshop Manual.

Group two will discuss:NAVIGATING OUT OF CRISES: THE OUT OF RADAR APPROACH

The Chinese word “WEIJI” means DANGER, weiji connotes two things WEI means CRISIS, JI means OPPORTUNITY.“In every crisis there is the opportunity, which is what the Chinese weiji explains. To some peo-ple, in every crisis there is the opportunity. Time after time, people have told us, any crisis has to be viewed as an opportunity; an opportunity to learn, an opportunity to change, an opportunity to restructure, an opportunity to change person-nel, but always an opportunity”. People are more interested in finding new op-portunity.A brewery CEO once gave the experience of the crises according to him “without any ques-tion, last year was a difficult one. This one is not going to be any easier, but I’m convinced that a crisis opens doors to new opportunities. For instance, we’re working on increasing our pres-ence in Mexico and international markets, to strengthen our previous platform and, to focus on being more competitive”Conference DirectionCognitive Roots: The Role of Human Biases. Pages: 272 – 295 of the Workshop Manual.

To many people it is not about new route but the

Fola Daniel

Stephen Covey



power of focus.

FocusNever give up CEO insists that in crisis, is the new opportunity and, no matter the turbulence that the crisis comes with; they will confront it with equal determinations. They insist, that there is solution in the power of focus and like pilots it is no solution giving up the flight during turbulence for as long as the plane is still flying. The opportunity appears in the power of focus on the destination, which is the long-term goal.

A CEO once said, “We don’t execute or do any-thing on just short-term action, we have a clear goal”. Some simply say, we are prepared to confront it for every day we define our destiny in some way, but by maintaining what has made us successful, maintaining our traditions, and al-ways keeping in mind that change is constant”.Conference DirectionAdam M.B & Barry J.N: The Right Game – Use Game Theory to Shape Strategy. Pages: 317 – 335 of the Workshop Manual.

If we think well, hold firm and be positive, we are likely going to see the turbulence as an op-portunity, but how do we act and think this out? The conference will take managers through and beyond the radar approach in navigating out of the crises.

Living with turbulence?

There appears not one clear solution to turbu-lence navigation. Nothing guarantees that it will be a one-off. The fact that we just left one tur-bulence, does not mean that we may not enter another one soon. It may be when we are ap-proaching landing. This is true, of a pilot who just left turbulence an hour after takeoff into a six-hour flight and approaching a more difficult one, just half an hour into landing. The radar is also indicating another wind crossing in another fifteen minutes into landing. A corporation who just survived a major banking reform of moving the capital base to $200 million from $15 million (regulatory requirement) has no guarantee of any more turbulence.Conference DirectionCrisis Recognition: Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Pages: 363 – 384 of the Workshop Manual.

The same corporation is approaching global re-cession with massive deposit withdrawal, arising from over leveraging, loan default, uniform ac-counting standard, risk of loan diversion. There is also no guarantee for good management knowledge of the new development, which is key to effective navigation. What should we do? One solution is to agree that we are going to stay in the recession for a long time.

Group Three will lead us on what to do. The group will discuss:

LIVING WITH TURBULENCE: WHAT LIFE STYLE OR CORPORATE CULTURE.

If we have to live with turbulence, how do we take care of our selves? Are we going to give all in, or is it a matter of life and death in today’s corporate world” or a matter of passion? Group three will balance all conflicting interest against triumphing corporate management.Conference DirectionCrisis Resolution – The Road to Recovery (Har-vard Business Review) Pages: 376 – 384 of the Workshop Manual.

Setting the stage for great performance

Resolving all the issues in this conference will not only lead us to safe landing but will prepare the corporation for great performance in years to come. It will make sense to start the prepa-ration for the performance since in every crisis there is the opportunity. Everybody has gone through turbulence.Conference DirectionRobert G. Eccles: The Performance Meas-urement Manifesto. Pages: 199 – 201 of the Workshop Manual.

What team do we put together for higher performance? How do we grow the effective team? What criteria do we put in place to se-lect the new leadership? What condition do we create for effectiveness? What should the compelling direction look like? The real team, who should be there? How do we breathe life to the new team structure? What sort of sup-port do we give the new team? What reward system? Will the new team require a coach? What likely obstacles are there to effective-ness? What are the corporate obstacles in-volved?Conference Direction

Kaplan, R.S & Norton DP: Putting the Bal-anced Scorecard to Work. Pages: 203 – 220 of the Workshop Manual.

Group four will discuss in detail how to resolve problem areas so as to prepare the organi-zation to greater performance. Two leading papers will be discussed at the group level along major recommendations of new prac-tice direction for the group adoption from the second quarter of 2013.

Group four will discuss:BUILDING PERFORMANCE IN TURBU-LENCE TIME: THE NEW TEAM AND THE REWARD SYSTEMConference DirectionKaplan R.S & Norton D. P: Using the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management System. Pages: 222 – 247 of the Workshop Manual.

Group four is key for all managers that recorded successful performance in other group related participation; it shall be an especially dedicated group this year.

Conclusion

It will be my great delight to see you in Dubai this year, to resolve all the key issues on how to navigate corporation in turbulent times. We look forward to your active participation; we promise to share our views on what to do in navigating a corporation through turbulent times. It is our hope too, to prepare you on how to set the or-ganization for great performance.

I do know you will want to have fun and see the beautiful city of Dubai in the hand of the third alternative manager.The good news is that our office in the United Arab Emirate is open and our country manager Tolu and his staff- Amina, Hussain and Bola have made good arrangements for touring the city. Those that intend to do the boat scene should complete the attached form and return to our Dubai office as indicated. Selected arrange-ments can also be made to visit our Middle East office in Dubai and our major investments. Those who intend to visit the 34-floor hotel site and 37- floor park towers must indicate to the Dubai office on time as required by the domes-tic construction laws.

We would like to encourage you to take your group work very seriously. We are also keen to see your sharp views in all the issues raised and like my Harvard friends Kevin and Hayes put it, what we are doing to some, sounds superficial, but it’s not just about doing good, it also has to make sound business sense. We wait to see you in the United Arab Emirate.

HE Jimoh Ibrahim OFRGroup Managing Director

Chief Michael Ade Ojo



GROUP ONEMy Dear Manager,It is with great pleasure to welcome you to group one and once again accept my greet-ings of a Happy New Year and a great wel-come to the United Arab Emirate.

The GMD’s theme paper has introduced cur-rent issues that are largely unresolved in glob-al corporate practice, every day is affected by those issues and most CEO’s have demon-strated a lot of frustration in these new areas such that the life of the corporation is largely at risk.In-group one, our focus is to see how effective communication can be used to navigate cor-porate crisis and to see how we can achieve better performance. We expect your practical experience to stim-ulate discussions in this area particularly on new developments.Conference DirectionCompulsory Read: Pages: 401 – 474 and 431 – 432 of the Workshop Manual.

Two key fundamentals are of great concern for our studies in group one as follows:

1) The general acceptance level of the oc-currence of crisis in corporation and the re-action pattern of CEO to such sudden crises show a high level of neglect to effective com-munication, otherwise how will one explain the cases of HERTZ, FUJI, LIMAN BROTH-ERS. The CEO of those companies reacted to corporate crises arising from turbulence as follows:

Hertz “Over the last recession in 1981, 1991, and 2001, Hertz a car rental company main-tained a minimum of 3.5% annual sales con-tract in any given recession. In November and December 2008, it saw a 20% fall. In Janu-ary 2009 Hertz announced a reduction in the global work force by 4000 employees and has since further reported a reduced work force by 22%”.

Fuji “The environment has changed especially in the financial sector”

ICICI INDIAN BANK “When we got here as CEO in 1996, The Internet was just happen-ing…and no one believed distribution pro-cessing would be as powerful as in frame in years to come”

Edward DOLMAN at G20 lamented that not even the Government or the political class will help the CEO. According to him “..It is diffi-cult to think that Government and political cli-mates match commercial reality..” So Govern-ment creates more problems for the CEO!The class has no difficulties in accepting the facts that managers have to live with crises.

There is no denial of the fact that corporate turbulence is a common occurrence in man-agement building. Just like the crises of global recessions of 1991, 2001 and of recent 2008, much is still to be expected, is the fresh financial crises in 2014 and 2018.

In those crises, where is the effective usage of communication in navigating the crisis pos-ited. The group will review a preliminary report on some great concerns (A total number of twenty cases will be reviewed). Conference DirectionTeam Concepts: Understand These First (Harvard Business Review) Pages: 405 – 410 of the Workshop Manual.For instance, the Hertz reaction of lay-off has generated so much litigation. The group will review DECISION NO20/2008. THE APPEAL COMMISSION conducted a public inquiry, while the Supreme Court had to clarify diver-sity jurisdiction, a decision that generated a lot on issues of federal contracting. Still, on the HERTZ CASE Ibilola Adefope. General Counsel Newswatch, will consider effective communication as it relates to the decision in Hertz Corporation .v. Workers compensation of 16 Dec 2008.What effective communication is to be ar-chived in post litigation and would HERTZ still take the same approach if confronted with the same situation.Conference DirectionEssential for an Effective Team: The Founda-tion of Success (Harvard Business Review) Pages 411 – 416 of the Workshop Manual.

How will the CEO of Hertz react in 2014 or 2018 when the fresh financial crises arrives? A LAY OFF AGAIN? Conference DirectionForming the Team: The Crew and Its Charter (Harvard Business Review) Pages: 417 – 474 of the Workshop Manual.(This is a compulsory read for participants).

2) Can effective communication neutral-ize change? What is the nature of the change that is caus-ing the crises? Is there a need to diagnose the change to ac-tually know what it is made of?

The attitude of the change in most cases is capable of eroding the corporation existence. The change brought by the recession of 1981 took New York Times newspaper to bankrupt-cy. While that of 2008 saw Boston Globe lose $50m dollars and left the entire newspaper in-dustry with the virus of YAHOO, GOOGLE and YOU TUBE.Conference DirectionA Transformation Navigator: A step-by-Step Guide for Managers. Pages: 121 – 133 of the Workshop Manual.

In 2008, corporations like Lehman brother, Merrill Lynch, had their corporate existence challenged for the change that came with re-cession.

One study clearly shows that it is not in all cases that a change comes with a strong wind and that there are times when there will be warning signals that come before the change (wind), that would have prevented the occur-rence of the change when properly guided; those type of warning signals are in form of systemic risk living with corporation. Conference DirectionHamel G & Prahalad C K: Competing for the Future. Pages: 307 – 315 of the Workshop Manual.

Brandenburger A.M. & Nalebuff B.J: The Right Game – Use Game Theory to Shape Strategy. Pages: 317 – 336 of the Workshop Manual.They are of the view that if managers attended to those warning signals, even with the strong and the crossing wind arriving, there would have been the possibility of some form of es-cape. They posited that not all corporations are taken away by the strong wind and that there are corporations that are still around even when the wind is over. Conference DirectionAvoiding the Avoidable – An Ounce of Prevention. Pages: 344 – 354 of the Workshop Manual.They concluded their views that effective commu-nication like other factors is key to proper naviga-tion and failure to address this may put the cor-poration in the decline stages that could almost make the corporation appear like a desert before the coming of the wind; which may move the cor-poration to irrecoverable stage of death. Do you agree?Conference DirectionSpecify Tasks. Pages: 431 – 432 of the Workshop Manual.

What does effective communication mean to the management of those corporations. The group will come out with clear-cut solutions and develop a mantra on change that requires effective com-munication in cases of systemic risk and change that occurs suddenly.

We shall conclude this year’s discussion in our group with the time frame to arrest the possibil-ity of either change, more importantly against the worries of the World Leaders particularly Gordon Brown- British Prime Minister who expressed con-cern on the way we do business and the rise in people skepticism. Conference DirectionIntroduction (The Nature of Face to Face Com-munication) Pages: 377 – 399 of the Workshop Manual.Craumer M: When the Direct Approach Backfires, Try Indirect Influence (Six Tactics for getting your point across with Subtlety) Pages: 400 – 402 of the Workshop Manual.

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GROUP THREE

LIVING WITH TURBULENCE: WHAT LIFE STYLE OR CORPORATE CULTURE?

There is no guarantee that once a corporation sur-vives a particular turbulence, that the corporation would be free from future occurrences. Conference DirectionCognitive Roots: The Role of Human Biases.


Pages 272 – 295 of the Workshop Manual.

It is recommended that participants be advised to attend group two classes to have a better un-derstanding of the working of this Group.The GMD has predicted two major events start-ing from 2013. According to him,

“If any one tells you that you are gradually out of the present recession he must be playing. The reports on systemic risk coming from the federal reserve bank in Chicago and some of the studies I carried out recently on the statutes of the ongo-ing 2008 recession, clearly shows an indication of fresh financial crises, arising from home equity line of credit in 2014. For instance, those who took out mortgages for home financing on terms of interest repayment only in 2003 for ten years will have the principal repayment due in 2014.The poor economy activities currently show no indication of any improved job creation, the stock market shows no hope; even the property value (unlike before) is 25% below the purchase price. The only question to ask is where is the repay-ment coming from?Regrettably, the banks need money not keys to the houses and as much as it is the keys that are coming without the money, banks with good ex-posure in this area will either restructure or make provision for the principal loans from share-holder’s fund from their balance sheet. The end result is that more banks will go under in 2014. The consequences, with over 35% of American houses affected, is clear to all”

The GMD further predicted that it is not only in America the fresh financial crises are coming from. According to him in an-other studies

“The position of our finding as per systemic risk is even more dangerous in England. For in-stance, a report from Bank of England indicated that about 700 billion pounds of British money placed in European Banks by commercial banks in England is trapped. The European banks have indicated no plan for immediate return, notwith-standing that placement has matured for a long time now.The crisis in Europe appears to have made things difficult beyond the contemplation of the bank-ers. The amount trapped represents about 50% of the total money printed by Bank of England during the 2008 recession, under the monetary policy of quantitative easing. Combining this with the problem associated with home equity line of credit shows that the dates of celebration in Eng-land is far with lending going quiet.”

Still predicting into the future, the GMD gives no indication when the financial cri-sis will be over. According to him:

“To say the exact time these financial crises will be over is to embark on an exercise in futility, a voyage of discovery, further studies shows indi-cation that even, when we survive the 2014 fi-nancial crises there is another fresh one in 2018. Again, in respect to the home equity line of credit, for instance those who got mortgages for home

financing in 2005 at the peak of the boom, will have their 15 years principal amount due for re-payment in 2018. And with the glut to be created in 2014 in the property market, it is only left for us to wait for Government policy on how to mop up the glut.If the 2014 approach is right, there may be some indication as to when 2018 will be over. I guess all the mess created before 2008 recession will need to be cleared before we receive signals…” Conference DirectionCrisis Recognition: Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire. Pages 363 – 376 of the Workshop Manual.

The above are quotes from the GMD paper pre-sented recently to the Harvard 2009 Reunion Tax class in London. Titled “SYSTEMIC RISK, SOME DANGERS ON THE WAY”. The group has invited the GMD to make a remark, and participants will have the opportunity to interact and share their views on the way forward.Conference DirectionBower J.L & Christenser C.M.: Disruptive Tech-nology-Catching the Wave. Pages: 346 – 362 of the Workshop Manual.

On the material facts, most CEO’s have indicated a knowledge gap in matters relating to turbu-lence management and this lack of knowledge keeps the turbulence around us beyond our con-templations.

Again regulators do not want to take any blame. They roll out more difficult regulations, as if that is all we need to keep the recession away. Things like full disclosure, uniform accounting standard, increased shareholders fund, know your customer, more regulations at the stock exchange, electronic tax assessment and self reporting have lead in re-cent times to massive cash withdrawals, over lev-eraging, massive loan default and loan diversion.Conference DirectionHamel G & Prahalad C.K.: Competing for the Fu-ture. Pages: 307 – 315 of the Workshop Manual.

Regrettably, no one has asked for improved man-agement knowledge of the present happening.

What area of movement do you suggest in this direction? Who will teach whom, what when and how? Conference DirectionSetting Goals that others will pursue – Committing to an Outcome. Pages 244 – 263 of the Workshop Manual.

The group will attempt to provide new knowledge in this regard.

If this must be done, a new style and a new set of corporate culture must emerge. Do you agree? If yes what should it look like?We look forward to your practical and honest view in respect to all the issues raised Conference DirectionThe Right Game: Use Game Theory to Shape Strategy. Pages: 317 – 336 of the Workshop Manual.

GROUP TWO

NAVIGATING OUT OF CRISES: THE OUT OF RADAR APPROACH

Participants in Group two will make practical suggestions to the main issue of navigation in crises.Conference DirectionCramer M: When the Direct Approach Back-fires, Try Indirect Influence. Pages: 400 – 403 of the Workshop Manual.

We have come to accept that the crisis is here. Not fearing the fact that the turbulence is capable of causing some damages, the group is to make participants believe that in the Chinese tradition, every crisis comes with opportunity. The group will stimulate discussions on the opportunities and how to achieve it.Conference DirectionCrisis Recognition: Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Pages: 363-375 of the Workshop Manual.

The Chinese word weiji means danger. Which traditionally means two things:Wei means crises.Ji means opportunity.Conference DirectionAvoiding the Avoidable. Pages: 347 – 362 of the Workshop Manual.

A study shows that the opportunity in any crisis is in the power of focus and develop-ing a new route.How do we discover new opportunity in the face of crises? One view is to study the crisis and the oppor-tunity it presents. Another view is to remain focused on the existing platform and never to be worried about new opportunities. The group will treat specific cases on how strong determination presents alternative routes.Conference DirectionContingency Planning: Preparing Today for Tomorrow’s problem. Pages: 354 – 362 of the Workshop Manual.

Participants’ are to prepare for some little test on specific cases of how they will react in a given situation and this will be presented in the form of an assignment at the end of each session.Conference DirectionA Transformation Navigator: A Step-by-Step Guide for Managers. Pages: 121 – 133 of the Workshop Manual.


Pages 272 – 295 of the Workshop Manual. financing in 2005 at the peak of the boom, will

KNOWLEDGE GAP AND THE CHALLENGES OF LEADERSHIP

God gives grace but knowledge is bought from the market. Any investment in knowledge pays the best interest today. The first chal-lenge to be discussed at the break-away session is how do we raise leaders who can buy knowledge? If we do that successfully which I think will be done, the other issue is from which market do we go and buy knowl-

edge.Conference DirectionAttempt the Simple Test on Page 308 and Page 313 of the Workshop Manual.

Who can tell, what our competitors are going to do before they do it or should we assume that we have sufficient knowledge and stay in our comfort zone when the crossing wind is approaching.Leadership is a journey and not a destination

and the more we close the knowledge gap the better the journey. Or, what do you think?

The break-away session is going to ask one simple question this year in which we need your honest view: DO YOU HAVE SUFFI-CIENT KNOWLEDGE TO WITHSTAND THE PRESENT TIME? Think about it till we meet.Conference DirectionBecoming a Leader: The Final Challenge. Pages: 257 – 269 of the Workshop Manual.

BREAK-AWAY SESSION


GROUP FOUR

BUILDING PERFORMANCE IN TURBU-LENT TIME: WHAT REWARDS EXIST FOR THE NEW TEAM?

Every one has gone through turbulence in some way or the other. So also is the cor-poration; one clear lesson is the need for greater performance. Who will do it? A new team has to emerge, how do we put in place the new leadership.The new team, who should be there? Who will coach them? What should the new struc-ture look like? One CEO suggested:Conference DirectionUsing the Balanced Scorecard as a Strate-gic Management System. Pages 22 – 338 of the Workshop Manual.(To discuss and make special presentation from Pages: 224 – 226 of the Workshop Manual).

“We need to be more flat, creating a colle-gial team-based leadership style so that you leverage a lot more on people’s intellects and capacities and make them participate in decision making”

Do you agree? If true, can it be done with-out discussing and make people to agree on the reward system?Conference DirectionTapping the Full Potential of ABC. Pages: 202 – 221 of the Workshop Manual. (Special Attention to Page 206 of the Work-shop Manual).

Group four will receive the manual of opera-tion of each of the participating companies within the group and discuss the operation manual along side the reward system and the new team.

It is recommended that all CEO and both the head of administration and human re-sources or peoples managers must attend this Group.

The group will work for a minimum of five hours per day for six days and it is expect-ed to be busy. Comparative studies of the manual of operation will be discussed and each participating company’s manual of operation will be distributed well ahead of time.

Participants should contact the secretariat of the conference to collect participating company’s manual of operation ahead of time because of the volume of those docu-

ments. Intensive studies of the participating company’s manual of operation and ot her materials is recommended before the confer-ence.

Burj Al-Arab Hotel, Dubai


Ayorinde

Chukwuma

Folayan

Olubanwo

Ayininuola

Babatunde

Jinadu

Agboola Esiemokai

Jegede

Jegede

Henry-Iyasere

Jolaiya

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DELEGATES TO THE CONFERENCE

Adewunmi

Tunji

Imoekor

Osikoya Uwadia Mintah-Afful Fatuase Arogundade

Okeni

Adefope

Oyebanji

Ukeje

Vanderpuije

Isola

Olujobi

Ajayi

Akintemi

Attobrah Bayode Ewuai

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Thursday April 4, 2013 A11wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.na.n.............. tionalmirroronline.net Thursday April 4, 2013 A11


MarioOsosanya

AdjamilaOlumide

LemichiGerdimila

ApanisileEsanola

GracaRasheed

JoseOgunlusi

GoncaloWaridunizia

NzegwuAnthonio

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National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net A13Thursday April 4, 2013wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.na.n.............. tionalmirroronline.net A13Thursday April 4, 2013


Bayode

Afolayan

Famodu Makinde Yarboi Oloyede

BabaTawose

Adesina

Beyioku

Ugal Olubobokun Fadayomi

Ajudua Oladosu

AkataobiOluwakayode

Owatemi Olatunji

AdeboyeDosunmu

AkiyodeUtong

JegedeAdekanye

AremuFaboyinde

FabunmiAkibon

InegbedionLawal

LeighAkinyoola



Famodun

Ekwere

Uche Mintah-Afful Inegbedion Osemeka

Osikoya

Adebiyi

Idowu

Onifade Akinkunmi

Adewole Ikolo

ObakpolorArthur Ojo

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net A15Thursday April 4, 2013wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.na.n.............. tionalmirroronline.net A15Thursday April 4, 2013


Balogun

Esiemokai

Adeagbo

Okocha

Obiora Ogundeji Sodipo

Mandy Fatoba Ogunjobi

Shedowo

Ndubuisi

Olatuja

Udeh Adenusi

Dagadu

Onyene

Ajasa

Ngozi

Adetunji

Okoji



4th gmd conference dubai 2013

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