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Challenges for Readers

Why You Should Care About Behavioral Differentiation

1. To what extent does your organization think about behavior as an element of competitive strategy? Are you self-conscious about your behavior toward customers, employees, suppliers, partners, and other stakeholders? Are you using behavior as a competitive tool now? What more could you do to make behavior a source of competitive advantage?
2. The “C” level executives in a company normally include the CEO (chief executive officer), COO (chief operating officer), and CFO (chief financial officer). Many companies today also have a CIO (chief information officer), CTO (chief technology officer), or CLO (chief learning officer). What about a chief behavior officer (CBO)? Although we don’t want to be accused of proliferating the C’s, behavior is an increasingly important source of competitive advantage. Who in an organization should have oversight for behavior?
3. Review our list of lessons learned from the companies that exemplify BD. How does your organization compare to them? Do you have a governing principle that drives BD? Are you thoughtful about your behavior? Do you invest more in education and training than your rivals do? Do you have systems and processes that promote and support exceptional behavior? Do you give your frontline people the authority and responsibility to behave exceptionally? Do you have a culture that dignifies and respects employees? Do you tell stories about your behavioral heroes? Do you explicitly follow the Golden Rule? If your answers to any of these questions is no, then what can you do about it?
4. We have argued that you should care about behavioral differentiation because it can have a profound effect on your business and is a great source of competitive advantage. Do you care?

^[6]Steven Greenhouse, “Suits Say Wal-Mart Forces Workers to Toil Off the Clock”, The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/2002/06/25/national/25WALM.html?todaysheadlines (June 25, 2002).

Taken From : Winning Behavior-What the Smartest, Most Successful Companies Do Differently