Stanford LEAD Quarterly
June 26, 2018

Dear LEADers,

Together, we have pushed the boundaries of online education to build a community that transcends virtual interactions to create real, meaningful connections among people who are committed to positive change. As Stanford LEAD matures, we will continue to see our community grow. We look forward to welcoming new participants as we expand our global footprint, while simultaneously deepening the already strong relationships we have forged within this community. Inspired by your energy, discussions, and feedback, we are piloting this newsletter to provide a platform for LEADers to share their stories, celebrate one another’s milestones and transformations, and elevate our shared vision to change lives, change organizations, and change the world. 

Welcome to the first issue of the LEAD Quarterly! 

Peter DeMarzo, The Staehelin Family Professor of Finance, Faculty Director, Stanford LEAD. 
Community Spotlight
LEAD Alumni Are Changing The World 

Whilst LEAD is focused on building skills for intrapreneurs, being connected to a global, cross industry and diverse skills community, really opens the mind to what change could mean. At the end of my program, it dawned on me that if there was any community that could really give the GSB tagline “Change lives. Change organizations. Change the world.” meaning it would be LEAD. The Transform the World group was born, and some design thinking sessions later, we formed Match4Action.org. Match4Action is a social enterprise focused on accelerating social impact globally. We do this by matching good people to good causes using the latest technology. All initial founders, and a large part of the board are LEAD trained which gives us a unique edge and our own language and workstyle. Through LEAD we have gotten used to working virtually so that is how we work. Every weekend we Learn and Engage. We apply Design Thinking, we tweak our business model, we work on our stories and use the Power to lead. We are already accelerating social impact and making some headway into changing the world. True LEAD style, we aim for true Disruption: 1 Million Matches in 2 Years’ Time! 

-- Saskia Verraes , LEAD Alum, GM Responsible Management at Tourism Holdings LTD & CE/Founder at Match4Action.org. 
LEADer @Work
  LEAD Tools Helped Create 5 New Products

Prior to joining LEAD, I was not aware of the importance of strategy or how to design an organization’s innovation capabilities. I also had very little understanding of the importance of culture and its role in productivity. Having completed Strategy course and the Designing Organizations for innovation (DOCI) course, I realized the importance of aligning the teams with the company’s strategy. A few years ago, as a result of a merger, I inherited a new team of over 60 people, working on some niche products for several years. This team takes products developed by other teams and customizes them for specialty markets. It has been a productive team. When I inherited the team, I was enthusiastic about continuing the growth with this well-established team. One of the challenges I quickly faced was that, we have a new strategic direction for the group and I needed the team to switch from customization to new product development for the same niche markets. So, I made some process changes and they promptly backfired. It was a combination of several LEAD courses that helped me in this case. I applied what I learned from the Strategy, DOCI courses. I re-organized the team, creating an architecture that better suited the culture. I promoted people that not only fit the culture but also are fully engaged in promoting open culture and values. I introduced new communication tools and a new process based on the lessons from Mobilizing for successful change course. There are several other concepts from Innovation Playbook, Negotiations, Design Thinking & Power courses that I use regularly. I am happy to report that the team has developed 5 new products in the past year and two of them became hits, beating out the nearest competing product by generating twice as much revenue. “In the search for increasing the mean, we will reduce the variance. If you want genius, look for systems that create foolishness.” – Prof. Bill Barnett. 

-- Keshav Pitani, LEAD Alum, Executive Director at Sci Games. 
Relevant Reads
Want A Successful Business? Build An Effective Strategy

Do you ever wonder why some companies are successful and perform better than others? Or why some are hard to beat and others are not? Well, if a company wants to stay competitive in the industry, it must create and execute a strategy that is good ...

Read more
www.forbes.com
  -- Contributed by Nirmala Reddy , LEAD Alum, Business Coach and Contributor to publications at Forbes. 
Get to Yes

Remove the internal roadblocks to corporate innovation. The default internal answer to a corporate innovative project is often "no". Let's get to

Read more
www.linkedin.com
-- Contributed by Andy Howard , LEAD Alum, Director at The Village of Useful.  
Book Buzz
  Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl 

 Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl provides helpful frameworks and context for meaning and purpose which are significant themes across LEAD courses since passion and engagement are so closely correlated with career satisfaction and success. 
 Frankl was a Holocaust survivor and went through a harrowing experience but learned to find happiness and gain insight in the face of adversity. The empathy he elicits anchors the book and his writing is a great example of strong storytelling. 

-- Recommended by Lauren Krasny , Stanford LEAD Course Facilitator. 
Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans

This book uses design thinking methodology typically applied to product development to focus the reader on designing their ideal life - where they live, what they do for a living, how they spend their free time. It's an innovative and insightful way to think about how to determine what you really want and then make it happen.

-- Recommended by Liz Peintner, Stanford LEAD Course Facilitator.
Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction by Derek Thompson

Hit Makers does a great job outlying the patterns that our brains are wired to follow as well as the increasing importance of finding the proper product-channel fit to become a breakout success.

-- Recommended by Jonathan Daves, Stanford LEAD Course Facilitator. 
Get Involved
The LEAD Mentor Network

Founded by LEAD alum Anoop Menon, this initiative hopes to maximize the LEAD experience and expand the LEAD impact. Participants of the Mentor Network will create a lifelong opportunity to tap into the LEAD community’s collective knowledge and experience through mentorship relationships and activities. 
Want to learn more? Connect with the Program Administrators: Anoop Menon, John Hanay and Mary Tamayo via Workplace
LEADxx

“You can’t be what you can’t see!” - That’s what Sheryl Sandberg said, and that is also the motivation behind LEADxx, founded and managed by LEADers Kelcey Trefethen and Kristin Bredemeier.
LEADxx started as a Stanford LEAD Workplace group, and evolved into a speaker series that regularly features impressive women leaders and influencers, women who have left the usual path, strong characters, and kind humans. LEADxx provides a platform that makes these leaders visible, inspires others to dream bigger and think differently, and provides a space to discuss the latest topics. This community is open for anyone who is interested to join. 
Design Thinking For LEADers 

Silicon Valley Design Thinking Club is a LEAD-led community focused on the practical experience of the design thinking methodology. The club is founded by LEADers Misha Bykov and Pavel Azaletskiy. This is the community of entrepreneurs, business enterprise leaders, product managers and people who want to understand how to apply innovative product and services design in practice. Want to learn more, please visit: http://www.svdt.club/ or connect via Workplace
Events


Announcements
  • Participate in a complimentary LEAD Preview of the new Foundations of Leadership course with Professors Brian Lowery and Sarah Soule: July 11-24. 

  • Corporate Innovation alumni who enroll in the inaugural Personal Leadership cohort in Fall 2018 will be granted a 20% discount on tuition. Apply by August 8th.