An Incisive Look at the Value of Creative Disruption
By Wayne Holden
As every CEO would agree, one of the toughest parts of being a Chief Executive is discerning the leadership skills of a large workforce for succession planning purposes. Yet, an equally difficult task once these future leaders have been ascertained is determining how to cultivate their leadership skills.
I began thinking about this conundrum prior to becoming CEO in May 2012, when I headed up our largest division, Social, Statistical, and Environmental Sciences (SSES). My goal was to determine among the youngest generations who might be this organization's leaders well after I have moved on. What was tougher was figuring out how to hone their leadership abilities going forward—to start them leading now.
This is not as easy as it seems. There are already many individuals in leadership roles from my own Baby Boom generation in the SSES division, as well as a few in their early late-30s and early 40s. I certainly did not want them thinking their roles were jeopardized by a group of "rogue" future leaders. That was one impediment. Another was the fact that we, like most organizations, have a structure in place governing how projects are funded and led. Handing over a major initiative to someone a few years out of grad school is highly unlikely.
How then could we help develop the nascent leadership skills of these younger, future leaders? We came up with what we consider is a novel idea, one that is achieving our aims—and then some.
The Creative Disruptors
First a bit about RTI International: We're a 55 year-old independent, non-profit research institute founded by three universities in central North Carolina that is focused on solving complex scientific and societal challenges facing the world. Our mission is to conduct wide-ranging research and provide technical services with a singular, laudable goal—to improve the human condition. Our 3,700 employees include world-renowned scientists, statisticians, psychologists, economists, epidemiologists and many others who are organized into five major business units.
Our overarching goal was to identify tomorrow's future leaders and somehow task them with leadership opportunities that did not upset our hierarchical workforce and infrastructure equilibrium. We achieved this by pinpointing 10 leaders in the SSES division, whom we have tasked with brainstorming innovative, atypical ways for the organization to drive profitable business growth in future.
This bold strategy has assisted our future succession management needs. But, it also has inspired these future leaders to think outside the box without fear of criticism—hence the name they chose for themselves, the Creative Disruptors.
Not only have we as an organization been successful in obviating the above-mentioned territorial and structural issues, we have been blessed with the fruits of these young individuals' inventive thinking. Three unique initiatives are currently underway. Each is led by a Creative Disruptor, and all have successfully passed several staged gates on their way to commercialization. At least one of these projects is expected to become a new RTI service before the end of the year.
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