Many large businesses

suffer from short-term management thinking. Some

companies are more concerned about the welfare of their

stockholders than the welfare of their employees.

When trying to keep the

business afloat the first response should not be to throw

the crew overboard.

Not all corporations are

led by shortsighted executives who only think about their

stock prices and annual bonus checks. They are some

excellent organizations that are led by responsible

people like Rubbermaid, for example.

Rubbermaid is one of the

most innovative and profitable companies in the world

today.

Rubbermaid is faced with

all the same problems as other large corporations like

cutting costs, global competition, quality and changing

trends. However, compared to other large corporations,

they lead using a more innovative management philosophy.

They view their people as assets, not liabilities.

The proof is in the

pudding.

Consider the following.

They generate 400 new products a year-almost one new

product a day. Products from the past five years

contribute to 33% of their sales.

They own 5,000 different

products and do business in more than 100 countries

around the globe. A few years ago earnings broke all

records totaling $1.8 billion.

Not too shabby when you

think all that money comes from mundane stuff like mop

buckets, bird houses and mail boxes.

Innovate Not

Exterminate-Success rarely comes from luck. Rubbermaid

combines a mixture of science, creativity, innovation and

good old-fashioned intuition.

Capture Ideas-Rubbermaid is

a literal innovative hotbed of ideas. They send their

workers to off-the-wall places, like museums to study the

Egyptians to get new product ideas.

The CEO,Wolf Schmitt, once

visited a kitchen in China

and discovered they were using ordinary rubber spatulas

to stir fry food.

Subsequently, they went

back and created a heat-resistant plastic spatula that

withstands 500-degree heat.

They are working on a

special bird feeder that uses a microchip to broadcast

bird chirps into the owner's house.

Every year they look at

2,000-4,000 new ideas sifting them down to the ones that

can make money.

Team Approach-Their

organization is designed like a plant or tree. Instead of

the usual departmental approach, they structure

themselves based on process.

They have approximately 20

teams responsible for coming up with new products. One

team may only look at commercial/office products and

another team responsible for bathroom products.

Each team consists of five

to seven people (one each from manufacturing, R&D,

marketing, finance, and other departments)

This team structure

minimizes delays, approvals and the bureaucracy normally

associated within the traditional style organization.

Pressure from Wall Street:

Like other companies, Rubbermaid feels the pressure Wall

Street generates to cut costs and improve earnings.

Several years ago, when

Wall Street put pressure on Rubbermaid to cut

costs,Schmitt's approach was radically different.

Instead of firing his

employees, he decided to hire an additional 300 people.

So they went about and started hiring culturally diverse,

young managers, mostly from foreign countries-going

after the global market.

The reason-Greater

diversity leads to better ideas. New ideas ideas lead to

new products. New products create more profit. Greater

profits create job security and everyone lives happily

ever after.

Schmitt realized that the

best way to improve profits is not to cut the workforce

but to improve productivity and innovation. He said if we

cut out people "we would give up our future."

I guess that's why

Rubbermaid has made the "most admired company"

list over the years. In conclusion, I can't help but add

one of my own maxims.

"If you want to

innovate, you can't exterminate."

Free by e-mail/fax: If you

would like a free article on how to make your company

more innovative, please fax us your name on you

letterhead with the words, "Innovate" to

770-760-0581 or e-mail us at [email protected] .

Gregory P. Smith speaks at

conferences, leads seminars and helps

organizations solve

problems. He leads an organization called Chart Your

Course International

located in Conyers, Georgia. Phone him at

(770)860-9464 or send an

email at [email protected] .More information

and articles are available

at www.chartcourse.com .

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Gregory P. Smith is the

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The New Leader, and How to Attract, Keep and

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