How Zander Saved Motorola

December 7, 2005 |

In naming Ed Zander the 2005 CEO of the year, MarketWatch sums up the three/four things Zander did at Motorola.

Instead of performing major surgery, Zander spent his first months on the job meeting customers and workers.
create a more open “executive branch” in which senior personnel were less isolated from each other and from the rank and file. A big believer in full-throttle debate, Zander encouraged executives to develop ideas — and then to defend them vigorously.
Zander also believed the company needed to do a better job on nuts-and-bolts tasks. He sped up efforts to streamline development, get products to market faster and break down organizational walls. No more individual fiefdoms.
With those goals in mind, Zander also put in place a variety of tools to measure performance and tied executive bonuses to the success of the entire company. Everybody would row in the same boat.

Aren’t they strikingly simple things? But only people who can vigoriously execute on them can succeed.

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