Silicon Valley business takes public along on 2018 company transformation.
50/50 is pleased to announce an agreement with top Silicon Valley IT staffing and consulting firm, Vivo, for a complete corporate strategy and transformation project. “We’ve got a 50/50 chance of getting it right and a 50/50 chance of making the same mistakes we have in the past, so we’re keeping a realistic, 50/50 mindset but making change with 100% transparency,” said Marilyn Weinstein, CEO of Vivo, which she founded in 2006. “I can’t say this job pays well (or at all) or that it involves working with an easy executive,” sheadded, referring to herself. “But it has to be done.”
Charged with getting to the core of issues surrounding the company’s flat sales in 2016 and the need to re-inspire and reinvigorate staff, 50/50 is proud to have won its uncontested bid to conducted this difficult but necessary undertaking. Led by Weinstein herself, the 50/50 project is already forcing the CEO to face her own and her company’s stumbling blocks with more honesty than ever.
Total transparency
Noting one of Vivo’s core values – Accountability – Weinstein explained her team will conduct the year-long 50/50 project with absolute transparency. “We’re going to put video cameras in every conference room,” she explained. “With the exception of our clients’ confidentiality, nothing will be kept secret. We need to be completely open-book to see where we’ve gone wrong, where and how we can improve.
If that means followers of this company transformation will see Weinstein in her workout clothes, messy hair and no makeup as she attends an after-lunch meeting with her top management team, so be it. “We are who we are and that part isn’t going to change,” said Weinstein. “What’s going to change is the way we address and respond to issues.”
Weinstein explained that several factors led to 2017’s flat performance, the greatest of which were her own willingness to make excuses for or ignore breaches in performance, accountability and excuses. “We have reinvented this company twice before with great success and this time will be the best yet,” said Weinstein, noting the problem areas she and her team have already discovered. Each category of mistakes was inextricably intertwined and happened in no particular order:
- Political Hangover: The company, and particularly Weinstein, suffered from what might best be described as a political hangover.
- Coast Mode: The strong economy of 2016 put the company in “coast” mode; leadership did not ignite course-correcting measures immediately upon each indication that goals may not be met.
- Too late filing for divorce: The company hired an advisory board that did not share leadership’s vision and didn’t divorce the board quickly enough despite lack of value.
- Better to let them see you sweat: Weinstein let her, “never let them see you sweat” mantra prevent her from reaching out and asking for help, when she was sweating it. In 2018, she is doing the opposite.
- Goal-setting and accountability fail: “You can’t take a ‘pass’ retroactively when you didn’t meet your goals because they were unachievable in the first place,” explained Weinstein, retroactively.
- Poor hiring: The company failed to hire enough of the right kind of talent.
- Core value deviations: Weinstein ignored or failed to notice deviations from the company’s core values. Instead of holding herself and her team accountable for deviations, excuses were made; passion decreased.
“This list undoubtedly doesn’t cover all our mistakes, but it’s a start,” said Weinstein, noting that while other mistakes uncovered will probably tie back to the initial list, she is open to the idea of noticing other fallibility.
Been there, done that – but not like this
Weinstein went on to describe previous company overhauls at Vivo, which was founded just two years before the economic meltdown of 2008 and not only sustained, but thrived during that period.
Founded in 2006, Vivo (then known as iTalent Solutions) grew steadily under Weinstein’s leadership. In 2013, however, Weinstein and her team noticed that although the company continued to grow, they weren’t achieving the kinds of scalable, sustainable growth they envisioned. That year, Weinstein and her team hunkered down, worked hard on strategy and company culture, leading Vivo to hit a new stride for the following three years.
How then, less than 2 years later, can the company be in need of a turnaround? What did Vivo and CEO Weinstein do wrong? “That’s what we’re going to figure out in 2018,” said Weinstein, noting that she’s resisting her strong aversion to cutesy catch-phrases by referring to project as “The Year of Living Changefully.”
The first challenge for 50/50 Hindsight is not new to Vivo or to 50/50, but no company turnaround ever is easy. How does a consulting company tell the CEO of a consulting company that the stagnation of the business was caused by failure to focus and a void in leadership?
“It’s a delicate balance,” said Weinstein of the Vivo-50/50 partnership. “A company needs its executive to have an ego; leadership is not for the weak.” She added that self-doubt, while helpful for analytical purposes, is a barrier for executives who need to move swiftly and make decisive change. “Consequently, it’s no easy task to tell the Ego in Chief that she’s the one to blame,” she jokes.
50/50 and Vivo are therefore taking an overt approach to unearthing, analyzing and making change for the better. Accountability and transparency? You bet. Stay tuned. “We hope to shock our audience and even ourselves,” said Weinstein.
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Created in 2017, 50/50 combines the enterprising wisdom and alternately compassionate or snarky insight of veteran Silicon Valley CEO, Marilyn Weinstein, who in 2018 is testing a daringly raw, public approach to business transformation. For more information about Weinstein and 50/50, visit 5050hindsight.com.
