- Moon shots are bold,
and top-down mandates must be as well.
They're examples of executives stating big goals
publicly in a manner that rallies the troops,
and clearly communicates the willingness
to invest and commit in ways necessary
to reach the stated destination.
In our case, that destination is a digital operation.
Let's begin by looking at two clear examples
of top-down mandates that caught my eye.
In May of 2017, Wells Fargo, the huge U.S. bank,
publicly announced a goal to reduce annual expenses
by $2 billion by the end of 2019.
In the analyst day presentation,
the CEO stated that these savings would partially
be as a direct result of using, quote, unquote
digital technology to automate manual processes.
And second, in April of 2015, the CEO of Wipro
publicly stated that its investments in automation,
artificial intelligence, and digital technology
would bring about a headcount production
of 30% in three years.
Now, this list goes on.
CEOs of Nordea Bank, Lloyds Banking Group, Deutsche Bank,
Zurich Insurance Group, and numerous others
have declared bold cost-saving mandates
for their organizations that are predicated on automation.
And while many of these examples are from banking,
I expect we'll be seeing similar mandates
coming in healthcare, manufacturing,
logistics, entertainment and more.
No matter the industry, the future is clear.
Become a digital operation or else.
The real winners will do so boldly,
and with a view towards creating
an integrated single office we discussed earlier.
So, as a leader of such a change,
what should you consider in your top-down mandate?