From witnessing corporate mergers and acquisitions after the fall of the Berlin Wall to hedging business constraints during the COVID-19 pandemic, Philippe Lambotte brings unique experience to the digital transformation process.
In this episode of Masters of Digital Transformation, Philippe, former VP Planning at Johnson & Johnson, speaks about his experience in facilitating transformation across multiple organizations including Kraft Heinz, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, Mattel, and Tonal Systems.
Philippe offers great insights in facilitating transformation across a variety of industries, explains how globalization trends have come full circle, and shares why making transformation relevant at the employee level is a necessary component of change leadership.
Key Takeaways
From Global Back to Local
In the 1990s and 2000s, many companies globally outsourced their manufacturing processes to reduce costs. But in recent years, supply chain disruptions fueled by climate change (e.g., extreme weather, etc.) are causing companies to return to local manufacturing processes to help improve product lead times and ease supply chain constraints.
Transformational Common Standards
Throughout the COVID crisis, QR Codes (derived from UCC AI standards) have become a pandemic MVP by allowing individuals across the globe to show digital proof of vaccination while traveling or dining in a restaurant. Philippe points out that this technology might not even exist if it wasn’t for industry leaders, retailers, and manufacturers developing the UCC standards. He believes that future innovations rely on continued industry stakeholder collaborations to develop common standards to be used by organizations across industries.
Understand How Change is Perceived
Gaining buy-in for change requires a strong vision and end goal, but employees also need to see the incremental phases to maintain morale. For employees that are in the day-to-day work of an organization’s transformation, are they seeing beneficial changes or, as Philippe says, “are they seeing a long, painful journey where you have to double the number of hours to build the future?”
