HANDWRITTEN NOTES FROM THE CEO
In addition to putting in lots of steps, Conant did something else that’s unusual for a CEO. He hand wrote up to 20 notes a day to employees celebrating their successes and contributions. "I was trained to find the busted number in a spreadsheet and identify things that are going wrong," he says. "Most cultures don’t do a good job of celebrating contributions. So I developed the practice of writing notes to our employees. Over 10 years, it amounted to more than 30,000 notes, and we had only 20,000 employees. Wherever I’d go in the world, in employee cubicles you’d find my handwritten notes posted on their bulletin boards."
Conant’s notes were not gratuitous. They celebrated specific contributions. And because the notes were handwritten, they seemed to be treasured more than an email message might be.
What’s the point here? Messages matter. Repetition matters. Clarity matters. And personal touch matters. In fact, Conant has co-authored a bestselling book on the subject. It’s entitled TouchPoints: Creating Powerful Leadership Connections in the Smallest of Moments.
At a time when the information age has morphed into the interruption age, great leaders like Doug Conant learn to look at daily interactions through a fresh lens. Every interaction—whether it’s planned or spontaneous, casual or choreographed, in a conference room or on a factory floor—is an opportunity to exercise change-friendly leadership.
What measurable effect did this kind of leadership have at Campbell’s Soup? Conant and his team achieved extraordinary results. By 2009 the company was outperforming both the S&P Food Group and the S&P 500. Sales and earnings were on the upswing. Core businesses were flourishing. And employee engagement was at world-class levels: the company now had 17 people who were enthusiastically engaged for every one who was not.