Bob Galvin, Former CEO Motorola

by Praveen Gupta on 3rd January 2006

In 1988 the Leadership section of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) guidelines was based on Bob’s leadership practises when he was CEO of Motorola. His exemplary performance as a leader is still recognised as sought after worldwide. He has a reputation as a visionary. Although he’s retired and spends time learning to play cello and maintaining his energy through athletics, Bob continues to provide leadership advice on various aspects of business and to various sectors, including the U.S. government. Bob is involved in several projects to keep his ever-learning mind active in providing value for society and guidance to Motorola.

I sought Bob’s thoughts about Six Sigma Business Scorecard and corporate performance in the current business environment. His personal vitality, the depth of his convictions, and his enthusiasm for sharing ideas are evident in his reflections.

Leadership must provide direction in bits and pieces in such a way that it stimulates activities. Leaders must often engage in anecdotal, relevant and contributory activities. For example, Motorola developed a team competition (TC) that was adopted from Miliken & Company. It created the same type of mentality that permeates a football team competing in the Super Bowl. The TC provided an opportunity for teams to get together and showcase their winning attitudes and successes. These events are large sessions where people really get excited about sharing their work and are enthusiastically led by their CEO.

Such sports-like competitions provide reward and personal stimulation and encourage employees to achieve superior performance. Leaders cheering for their teams demonstrate their commitment to competitive and superior results throughout the corporation.

On the CEO's role in achieving the desired corporate performance:

Achieving superior performance is personal. The CEO and other high level executives must commit themselves to improving their personal quality and the people they influence. For example, a phone company executive who attended a Motorola briefing (to share the experience of winning the MBNQA) decided to improve his personal quality and performance. He enhanced the way he did his job by speaking more nicely to people and becoming punctual for meetings. As a result of these personal changes, in one of his next meetings, meeting attendees all got together and finished the meeting one minute before it was supposed to start!

Quality is translatable. Whether it is a vice president, a manager, a crew supervisor, or a supervisor, personal vitality must be demonstrated in a way that appeals to the employees. Therefore, once the improvement initiative is in motion, it is unstoppable because of the vital sprit of everyone involved. For example, Bill Smith at Motorola, who taught me the concept of Six Sigma, demonstrated this principle well in how he communicated Six Sigma. I would invite people and ask what they were doing only to discover that a lot of neat things for process improvement were occurring that I could learn (from employees such as Bill Smith).

As for the sceptics, we do not need to do anything with them. They discover for themselves that if they are left out, they will not longer be vital members of the team. At a personal level, these concepts are simple to implement. We must teach employees how to map jobs, determine the time needed to do them, identify opportunities for improvement and apply statistical thinking and simple tools that have been embraced by people like you and me.

As for the link between quality and profitability, I firmly believe that the link is evident. It must be absolutely clear that when we make fewer mistakes and prevent latent defects from being shipped to customers, the savings are directly transferable. The improvement must lead to lower costs, faster delivery, and higher customer satisfaction. In the Motorola corporate auditing department, when the process was mapped and understood better, auditors realised that the audits could be done in 10 to 20 percent of the time they previously took.

Regarding COE’s or executives who do not see the direct link between poor quality and profitability, I say they must be blind. They may need a little arm twisting. If they do not work out, they must leave the company. The disposition process must be clearly communicated. The boss must evangelize Six Sigma or the improvement process; otherwise it will not be successfully initiated.