hbr overview deck
TRANSCRIPT
The HBR Manager’s Discussion
Series was a periodic Live
Meeting series that brought
together a leading business
author with Microsoft
managers to discuss the
author’s recently published
article in the Harvard
Business Review.
In 2008, Chris Weber, National Vice President of Sales and
Industry, EGP Segment, invested in a subscription to the
Harvard Business Review for each of the US managers.
The purpose of the HBR Discussion Series was to provide
structure and support for reading that publication and
the opportunity to leverage publication content to
expand the thinking of Microsoft sales managers.
The HBR Discussion series was accessible by invitation only
and was targeted exclusively to US EPG sales managers and
unit managers who had subscriptions to the HBR. The last
presentation was opened up to managers from the SMS&P
Segment.
Teaming Up to Crack Innovation Robert Morison is vice president and
director of research with nGenera Corporation.
He is co-author of Workforce Crisis: How to Beat the Coming Shortage of Skills And Talent (Harvard Business
School Press, 2006)
Shaping Strategy in a World of Constant Disruption
Co-chairman, Deloitte Touche focusing on strategic management and
operational performance improvement using information technology as a key
enabler.
Teaming Up to Crack Innovation In 1997 Nick Vitalari co-founded The
Concours Group, where he remains an executive and directs nGenera’s
Enterprise 2.0 and Government 2.0 Insight programs. His work focuses on
driving new levels of productivity through redefined employee
computing.
7
4 Weeks
Chris
selects an
article to
discuss
3 Weeks
Contact author
and confirm
availability
2 Weeks
Schedule dates for
technology check,
pre-meeting call,
and Live Meeting.
Mail Live Meeting
invitation
1 Week
HBR reminder
to participants.
Technology
Check
Presentation Week
Confirm takeaways for
slides and surveys.
Pre-meeting call
between Chris and the
author(s)
• Live Meeting format. The presentation was one hour long with a pre-meeting between Chris and the author to discuss content and objectives.
• The Live Meeting had closed microphones, so the moderator took audience questions and passed them along to Chris who wove them into the discussion.
• Following the discussion group, Chris integrated takeaways into his language and memos.
• We posted the unedited audio recording of the discussion for 90 days where it was available only to the Microsoft community.
A Consensus Survey was created and the link wasmailed to all attendees. Based on a 23% response rate…
• 87.5 % gained information that will influence how they market, sell, or service partners and customers.• 90% broadened their business knowledge in a way that will advance their career.• 90% think they can use this information to strengthen their team.• 75% agree that a monthly event is the best schedule for this amount of content and the interactive nature of the series.• 92.5% agree that the Live Meeting Technology is a good choice for this series.
Chris Weber, EPG National Vice President, Sales and Industry is the host. His role is to become familiar with the article and lead the discussion. He also fields questions from participating managers and uses them to further the discussion.
Tony Caruso, EPG Field Readiness Manager, is the liaison to Chris Weber and the EPG community.
Will Flash is the moderator and spokesperson for SMSGR (Sales, Marketing, and Services Group Readiness). His role is to keep the discussion on time and on track, and conduct audience polling. He also makes technology arrangements with the authors.
Jan Lohmann, MSNA Field Communications Manager, is liaison to the Harvard School of Business and HBR authors.