Some principles to lead and operate by
Tags: Corporate Innovation, Team Building, Agile Methodology, Innovation, Mindset

Posters which I used for the team at News Corp Australia, to provide reminders on the principles which underpinned the team culture within Digital and Innovation.

These have developed over the past 10 years from my leadership experiences and have also evolved since, but still provide the foundations to team norms, values and behaviours which drive a digital & data mindset, plus thread a culture of innovation within an organisation.

Customers

Everything starts with the customer

Conceive, design and develop with customers in mind, solving customer problems then get out of their way

Consider all customers (in the context of News Corp/media)

There are always two customers, consumers and commercial partners. Commercial outcomes take priority from day one

(this second principle was a reminder for the team, that products and experiences needed to solve for the customer problem AND be able to sustain and drive and commercial outcome for the business)

Process

Start small, then scale

Less features, less people involved, less time, less money

(this is the principle driving a small, diverse team to deliver a ‘minimum loveable product’ and also work within incremental financial constraints …and yes, it should be fewer actually)

Move fast and smart

Make it real, be quick to market and iterate to get it right. We will learn and use this process: 1. Set goals / 2. Launch / 3. Measure / 4. Learn / 5. Iterate

(start of an evolution towards Discovery/Development and Lean/Agile operating models for the team)

Everything is a work in progress

Simple, effective and quick always trumps comprehensive, complex and late. Iterate by default

(very pertinent in corporate contexts, as the power to complexify is strong)

Embrace and be inspired by constraints

Creativity happens when people are solving problems

(this was also a reminder by the teams to work and be creative within the financial, people and time constraints, plus look to use technology to solve problems to therefore allow patterns to emerge across platforms and experiences)

There are no sacred cows (except those in India)

If there is a different, better way of doing something, look into it and do it

(always challenge the status quo and avoid the 7 most expensive words in any business ‘we have always done it that way’)

Make decisions quickly and then move on

We are empowered, we make lots of little decisions, and are prepared to kill things if they’re not working

Outcomes

Think big picture

Work from the top-down, big picture/vision first, customer proposition, then details

(reminder to operate at 100k, 10k, and 100m levels in everything and connect the dots of vision, strategy, themes, epics and outcomes)

Be data-driven

Learn from customers, look for patterns in real data to find actionable insights

(speaks for itself and now has developed to become central for all businesses)

Think about the value and impact

What value and impact does what you are working on have for the customer and the business

People

Listen and respect others

By listening and considering where others are coming from we can all together move in the same direction

(leading with emotional intelligence (empathy, respect, self-awareness and inclusion) is key to how I lead, and should be central to all teams and how they operate)

Work together, collaborate

Be open with your knowledge, generous with your time and energy, and expect the same from your peers

(diversity unleashing greater possibilities then a singular view/perspective/context, so continually be curious)

Celebrate success and learn from failure

It’s OK to get thing wrong, as we fail fast and learn from the experience. Not everything will succeed, be honest about success and failure

(both of these are team norms which ensure that there is openness and also a celebration of a collective outcome culture and learning)

Thoughts

As I outline, these have evolved and been sharpened over the past 5+ years since these posters were on the walls at News Corp, but they still stand well in today’s world of disruption and the need for corporates to innovate, become ‘future-ready’ and become digital-first.