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So This Is What We Do

Learn the Business

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW a little secret about large organizations? There are “front-line” employees that actually interact with customers, and then there are “back office” or headquarters employees who, well, don’t engage with customers at all. The secret is, a lot of large-company employees (including many leaders) don’t have a firm grasp on how the company really works. The organization is so large, and employees and managers are so busy with their own function or department, that they don’t take the time (or aren’t interested enough) to gain a deep understanding of how the company makes money. Oh, they know what business the company is in, and they probably know the main products or services. But ask them about specific details of customer service, finance, or manufacturing, and they might just shrug their shoulders. They haven’t taken the time to learn the business.

Now, if you work in a smaller company, you may find this somewhat shocking. You might be thinking: “How could you not know how the company makes its product or interacts with customers? How could you not know critical financial details such as profit margin, price per unit, or cost of sales?” Of course, leaders in large-company operating units probably do have a clear sense of how the company works, and the finance leaders probably have a good handle on how the money is made. But the fact is, you can get by for several years elsewhere in a large company and never be asked to really learn the business. It’s true—I’ve seen it (and even lived it). If you’ve ever worked in a large corporation, you probably know what I’m talking about.

No matter what size company you work in, if you don’t know the basics of how your company manages to stay in business, you’ve got some work to do. This is leadership self-development of the most desperate kind; you don’t want people to discover just how little you know, do you? Wouldn’t it be a bit embarrassing to be a leader in the company and not have a good grasp of how the company works? If this resonates with you, if you realize you don’t know as much as you should about your company, you need to turn this around quickly. Here’s how to do it.

Get on the Front Lines

Your quest for knowledge can start in several places, of course. First, are you actually reading the annual report, or is it just sitting there on your credenza to make you look good? Uh, yeah, this just in: You’re supposed to read it. It’s not just for auditors and recruits; thumb through it and take away some nuggets about how the company works (not to mention how well it’s doing). Second, read your company’s external (and internal) Web sites. Click all around those sites for new facts or interesting tidbits (like that new expansion or acquisition that was just announced). Familiarize yourself with the bios of the senior team and board members. The leaders above you know these people, and there’s no reason you shouldn’t know them, too. Also, check out who’s moving around inside the company; it’s a good idea to know the current organizational chart. Third, find a peer in one of the lines of business and ask him or her to tutor you on the product or customer life cycle. Ask a friend or colleague in the finance department to do the same where the balance sheet is concerned (see Chapter 36). This is an easy way to pickup some of the finer points about the business, and you’ll have the added bonus of developing relationships along the way. Another way to learn about the company is to contact administrators of the corporate university or learning center and ask about their “business fundamentals” courses. Chances are they offer some e-learning courses about how the company operates; you can take them in your spare time and start impressing people with your business acumen. Better yet, they might offer a classroom experience that’s perfect for your whole team.

These are good techniques for getting up to speed about the company, and you should use them all on a regular basis (even if it’s just to stay current). But nothing beats a visit to the front lines for a firsthand look at what your company does and how its business is conducted. That’s right—if you really want to learn how the company operates and makes money, get out of your office and immerse yourself in what life is like where the company meets its customers.

Find out if your company has an employee immersion program, where you can arrange to work alongside front-line co-workers. If so, set up a day or two for you and your team, and turn it into a shared experience and learning opportunity. In my career, I’ve been fortunate to have two such experiences. At PepsiCo, where I worked in the Pizza Hut division, we were encouraged to spend several days each year working in the restaurants. Now you can imagine how skilled and useful I was (the answers are “not much” and “not very”), but the employees graciously took me under their wings and showed me the ropes. I do feel badly for the customers who got a pizza that I prepared, but I learned more about our business from that experience than I did in a year of sitting in meetings. It was a terrific opportunity to see how our training and HR policies were working, and I brought back several good ideas and lessons learned. Likewise, when I was at Capital One, our team participated in a program whereby corporate executives could sit with customer service representatives to answer real customer calls. Talk about scary! We were petrified, but we got through it (again, with the help of some outstanding employees) and we learned a great deal about the issues facing both our customers and those terrific front-line representatives. We took away a healthy respect for what it means to know our business—and let me tell you, the customer service people in your company know your business!

If your company doesn’t have a formal program, arrange somehow to “get out there” on a route ride, a sales call, or a night in the stores. Listen in to calls with customers (the good and the bad) and visit the shop floor to see how the product is made. Talk to employees; find out the little details that explain profit margin or net income. Strive to learn what makes the company tick—how it really works. Then, use that knowledge to make adjustments in your plans, budgets and proposals. I guarantee you’ll see your own job differently once you see others’ up close. Experience the front lines of your business this month. You’ll feel better about yourself, you’ll feel more connected to the company, and you won’t have to worry about your ability to answer a business question at your next staff meeting. You’ll have facts to share and stories to tell—and that’s something every leader should be able to do.

Bootstrap Takeaways

Learn the Business

1. Do you know everything you should about your company? If not, change that with a targeted effort to learn the business.

2. Visit the front lines of the organization; find out how the product is made, how the service is delivered.

3. Bring your experiences back to your job. What opportunities did you see? Where can you and your team add more value and make a bigger impact?