Message from Mikee Johnson, Cox CEO
There are literally thousands of quotes regarding both the positives and negatives of change; however, I have found many fewer on what to do about it. In essence, most pundits simply aver that we accept change as an inevitable force in the universe. Many tout the only way to live and grow is through change and others characterize change as a destructive force usually leading to constructive results. While these insights are all acceptable, may I suggest that as business people, we refer to the great business authority Peter Drucker who once said of change, “We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.” I could not agree more. Whatever change brings we are better for it if we are prepared and adaptable enough to address it.
In 2009, our Cox Industries team decided to take action in regards to dealing with the ever rapidly evolving change in our industry. We wanted to provide more than just a high-quality treated wood product to our customers; we wanted to add value to our relationship. Now, in today’s advertising world, the statement may sound cliche, but we approached this effort from the marketing prospective and instituted market-based action as our insight for learning. Our first step was a focused customer survey on each market channel we service. We learned that change was not the issue concerning most of us, but rather the rate of change. With this real-time market-based information we began developing an outreach program to help our customers and ourselves with the learning process of our now rapidly changing industry. This outreach effort has a three-pronged approach including education outreach, core strategic partnerships and internal development.
Much in the fashion of the famous United States Air Force Colonel John Boyd (I recommend the biography Boyd by Robert Koram and the analysis, Certain to Win by Chet Richards), we recognized the importance of developing a decision-making framework of rapid response actions based on our observations and subsequent orientation. Boyd called this the OODA Loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act). Our first action was to develop a comprehensive outreach program to not only provide market information to our customers, but also learn from our customers what they were experiencing in the marketplace. You provided actionable feedback that laid the groundwork for our architect education programs, our safety programs and our customer event programs. As these programs were maturing in 2010, we began our second phase of our outreach effort – strategic partnerships. (If you would like to learn more about these efforts, and our results, contact Keith Harris at kharris@coxwood.com or go to our website at http://www.coxwood.com.)
Our second phase involved the development of a new level of strategic partnership. While we have long maintained partnerships with our traditional core suppliers (wood and chemical) we first elevated these relationships by calling a meeting of our core suppliers and sharing your concerns and outlook for the future. Since then, we have been able to institute some significant risk-reducing initiatives that have quietly benefitted all parties involved. We also expanded our definition of strategic partnerships to include collaborative efforts beyond the norm. Most notably, we have recently partnered with Simpson Strong Tie to not only better understand the rapidly changing world of fasteners, but to also begin development of improved products as well as bringing their knowledge into our outreach programs. (If you would like to learn more about these efforts, and our results, contact Matt Yaun at myaun@coxwood.com or go to our website at http://www.coxwood.com.)
Finally, with an eye on the future, in 2011, we are beginning a formal leadership development program for our own team members. We are currently selecting eight team members for our first class to begin in March of 2011 and eight team members for our second class to begin in early 2012. (Should you know one of the Cox team members selected, congratulate them on this honor). This program will include Cox team members at all levels and provide an intensive curriculum on building better leaders. The 18 month program will be intensive and provide a vast exposure to leadership models of all types and expanded knowledge about a broader prospective of our industry. While you may be wondering what this has to do with you as customers, vendors or stakeholders, I have two responses. First, the long-term view and planning of our business should provide you with an added measure of insurance of our commitment to you, our industry and our communities. Second, upon the successful development of this program, we hope to offer you access to the program for your respective teams. There will be more information about this program as it develops, but I am most excited about its infancy and wanted to share it with you.
Finally, in closing, 2010 has again challenged our industry, but again we have all survived on our own terms. I have not once ceased to be amazed by the resiliency of our industry. As many of us are family businesses, I should not be surprised. With that, I wish you, your teams and your families, a successful New Year.
Cox Industries Inc. Blog 