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Selling a Shared Vision is Key to Leadership Success, Says Intuit's Bennett

Steve Bennett, Intuit

Bennett

November, 2003

STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS—Think you've made some big switches in your career? After 23 years at General Electric and with little software experience, Steve Bennett decided to take on a new challenge and move to Silicon Valley to run software company Intuit. "I wanted to prove that I was more than a one-trick pony," he said. "I didn't know how much of my success was me and how much was GE. Second, I believed I would learn more hanging around this group and being out in Silicon Valley than I would have if I stayed at GE."

So far, his decision is paying off. Since Bennett arrived in 2000 as president and CEO, Intuit's sales have grown to almost $2 billion for the firm that now has 7,000 employees. In a student-organized View From the Top speech Nov. 18, Bennett explained his leadership "road rules" (make sure you have a shared vision), described his belief in "bullet train" thinking (shoot for big change), and told students to have courage (most people overestimate risk and focus on what they're doing wrong). Bennett also stressed the importance of time management. One of his priorities: playing 100 rounds of golf a year.

It might seem logical that Bennett's management style would have changed when he moved from a large, established company to a relatively young, innovative Silicon Valley firm. But his leadership playbook remains the same.

When he arrived at Intuit the company was struggling unsuccessfully to push sales past $1 billion. It was full of "smart employees who didn't know how to get to where they wanted to go," said Bennett. Another problem: Because Intuit was so focused on creating a congenial office culture, many people had become passive-aggressive instead of talking about their concerns. Bennett's mission soon became to convince employees a company "could be high performance and a great place to work" and that constructive criticism and open dialogue lead to stronger execution.

But bringing change to a company is anything but easy. "People are natural learners but companies aren't. They have learning disabilities," said Bennett. "Leaders who are successful are great at continuing to learn and have the courage to direct change." At Intuit, Bennett looks at change in terms of a "bullet train." Employees shouldn't aim to make a train go just 10 miles faster per hour but 500 miles faster per hour. Only "bullet trains" lead to "quantum change."

To implement change, leaders need to be effective teachers, Bennett added. Being able to articulate values and priorities—or having a "teachable point of view"—is especially critical. He encourages leaders to develop that point of view on paper and to take a full day to explain it to employees so everyone is on the same page.

For Bennett, having critical players commit to a shared vision is the key to leadership. "You could have an 80 percent strategy that you get commitment on that gives you a much better outcome than the perfect strategy you don't get commitment on." He learned this firsthand in 1987 while working as a marketing manager at GE. When his manager asked him what his group's strategy was, Bennett replied it was "in his brain," compiled from several presentations. The manager strongly reprimanded him for expecting to be able to mobilize 3,000 people without a concrete plan. Bennett recalled thinking he might be fired on the spot. "It was a seminal moment for me," he said. "If you don't get shared vision, you don't get execution."

Never make a decision unless you have shared vision with your critical stakeholders—business or personal, he advised. And, he cautioned, don't simply assume others share your vision because they say so. Behavior, not words, is often a better clue to how people are feeling. Keep them talking and draw them out into an environment where constant debate is encouraged. And lastly, don't let differences fester.

"You've got to draw them out and you can't let it go until you get shared vision," said Bennett. "It will gnaw at me like you can't believe if I don't have shared vision. It's something that is so critical."

Sticking to hard decisions once they are made can be especially hard for young leaders. "The smartest people I know spend their time thinking about why they're wrong, not about why they're right," he said. "Most people way overestimate risk and underestimate reward." He added, "You need courage on big business decisions and on day-to-day decisions—saying no to a meeting, or giving candid performance feedback."

Turning to Intuit, Bennett said that its most easily recognized product—Quicken—accounts for about 70 percent of brand awareness but only 5 percent of company revenues (and that's decreasing). The company focuses on five businesses: QuickBooks and TurboTax, Small Business Services, Professional Tax, Vertical Business Management, and Accountant Central.

Intuit, started after founder Scott Cook's wife was struggling to balance her checkbook, remains focused on customer-driven innovation. "We're focused on change that is so profound customers would never think about going back to the old way."

Early on the firm realized that accountants were an underserved opportunity and sent teams out to watch how accountants work. With new software, "we took what was a two-hour job per client per month to 10 minutes one time and then 30 seconds a month for the rest of their lives," said Bennett.

As for the future of Intuit, Bennett thinks the company is moving up. "We like industry-specific solutions because we think that's what customers want." Competing with Microsoft remains a challenge. "We're not complacent about it. It's tough. We'll focus more on customers. If we can do a better job, we'll win."

by Sarah Robertson