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Comment Here On Session 5

Update: The slides for Michael Porter's session are available here.

Welcome to Day Two of the Summit. Hope your body is rested and your mind is ready for a powerhouse day of leadership learning.

Michael Porter has LITERALLY written the book on strategy, as Greg Hawkins points out in his video "Why I'm Excited About Session 5" (find it in the video archives - it's great).

Michael Porter knows more about leadership and strategy than almost any academic or practitioner alive. When this session is over, your brain will hurt, but we'll all be better for it.

Post your comments, insights, and questions here, and let's learn together from one of the best minds Harvard has to offer.

Check back here for related links that we'll be adding during the session, and don't forget to explore the multitude of links, resources, and next steps available on the sessions-in-depth pages.

Guitarist Erik Mongrain's Web site

REVEAL Web site

Wikipedia entry on Michael Porter

Competitive Strategy by Michael Porter

Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC)

Michael Porter's Institute for Competitive Strategy at Harvard

City of Newark

Redefining Health Care by Micheal Porter

Wikipedia entry on Value Chain Analysis

Porter's Institute for Competitive Strategy on Strategy for Philanthropic Organizations

Published 10 August 2007 09:04 AM by Ray Pelletier

Filed under: 2007, SOE, Leadership, Session5, Summit

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Comments

# Adam Roades said on 10 August, 2007 09:10 AM

Eric is a phenomenal musician...gave me chills. An incredible way to begin day 2. See him on YouTube: http://tinyurl.com/3cvxdb

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# Andrew said on 10 August, 2007 09:10 AM

Who is it that is playing the guitar right now?

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# wendy seidman said on 10 August, 2007 09:16 AM

His name is Eric Mongrain. His website is ericmongrain.com.

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# Andrew said on 10 August, 2007 09:19 AM

Thanks! I think it is probably this (spelled with a K) http://www.erikmongrain.com/

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# Roddy Chiong said on 10 August, 2007 09:24 AM

Hybelism: "Dutch People, Hang On To Your Hairpieces!"

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# Greg Bowman said on 10 August, 2007 09:39 AM

Interesting - "It’s not hard to do something; it’s hard to be effective." I could leave now and examine what I do...

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# Emmanuel said on 10 August, 2007 09:40 AM

Is it possible to get a copy of the Michael Porter's powerpoint?

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# Greg Bowman said on 10 August, 2007 09:44 AM

Yes - we will post it at 10:30 when he is finished.

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# Robin Green said on 10 August, 2007 09:45 AM

brilliant - done wrong, charity can do harm. coupled with the tendency to focus on how it makes the "giver" feel ... graduate level thinking about something that seems so basic...

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# keith reynolds said on 10 August, 2007 09:48 AM

What were his 3rd and 4th questions?

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# Emmanuel said on 10 August, 2007 09:48 AM

Anyway to get the powerpoint now so that we can take notes directly on it? ]that's how we did it in b-school ;)]

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# Robin Green said on 10 August, 2007 09:51 AM

question 3 was "who are we trying to serve" (i think) question 4 was "how do we create alignment"

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# Robin Green said on 10 August, 2007 09:53 AM

oops - question 3 was "how do we carry out our serving goals" or something like that

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# Greg Bowman said on 10 August, 2007 09:55 AM

It's not yet available to us. Mr Porter has asked us to post a link to his site at 10:30 so you can get it after the talk.

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# Emmanuel said on 10 August, 2007 09:57 AM

Ok, thanks, will just be patient :).

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# Emmanuel said on 10 August, 2007 10:00 AM

Michael Porter's Institute for Competitive Strategy at Harvard http://www.isc.hbs.edu/

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# Hyunsue said on 10 August, 2007 10:02 AM

For site like here (Chodae Church), multi screens can be use for broadcasting and power point screen in same time for better approaching to this session at satellite sites. Please consider this tip for further sessions of Mr. Porter or Mr. Buckingham's

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# Samantha said on 10 August, 2007 10:16 AM

This session would be much more effective and easier to follow with the slides, since he is referencing them. For those of us outside the main site it is very hard to stay on track. Just a thought for improving for next time........

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# Eric said on 10 August, 2007 10:19 AM

It would be great if the video switcher just posted each slide at least briefly on the screen. They did it at the beginning. When the speaker is specifically directing our attention to the screen, this would be helpful.

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# Robin Green said on 10 August, 2007 10:19 AM

Porter's insights are amazingly rich - he may be losing some of the audience in the MBA style delivery....

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# Abram K-J said on 10 August, 2007 10:20 AM

Why is "creating maximum value" such a strong value? Who says that's worth pursuing as the end of all strategy (besides Porter)? I'd be curious to hear on what he bases this....

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# Ted said on 10 August, 2007 10:21 AM

Think most of the church that televise the summit have multi-screens. To do that. I would have diffently help with Mr. Buckingham's information. His points flew by on the screen. When they could have been left up on the side screens so we could copy them.

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# jon said on 10 August, 2007 10:23 AM

great content, but very frustrating to not have slides at least shown on the main or sides screens. we've only seen 1 slide for about 10 seconds. i'd take more slides and less of porter walking back and forth like a caged tiger...

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# Ted said on 10 August, 2007 10:24 AM

Remember, he deals with the business world mostly. But, there is alot that we as a church or community can take from this. If we can understand it. (this is a week area for me.)

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# Greg Bowman said on 10 August, 2007 10:25 AM

jon - are you are a sattelite site?

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# Lorayne said on 10 August, 2007 10:26 AM

Their are notes on the sessions that we have access to in the blog area

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# Abram K-J said on 10 August, 2007 10:26 AM

Ted--great comment, though I think my question can still apply in the business world....

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# mike maxwell said on 10 August, 2007 10:26 AM

I wish that those who were viewing the Summit via satelite would have an opportunity to see the slides while the talk is being presented. It would have been helpful during Michael Porter's presentation.

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# Rob Willis said on 10 August, 2007 10:26 AM

How can we get a copy of those slides?

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# Greg Bowman said on 10 August, 2007 10:27 AM

This is a new venture for us - and it's great to hear from you all. I am passing your comments along to our planning team. We will keep improving and appreciate your input! Would also love to keep hearing how the speakers challenge you and what you may not agree with.

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# Samantha said on 10 August, 2007 10:27 AM

Understanding is not the problem, he is giving a lot of information and to try to catch it all without some help with the slides, or some type of outline. He has so much to say and we are just trying to get the most out of his time and ours.

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# Michael Bustos said on 10 August, 2007 10:28 AM

Finally, someone is telling the church that we're not being effective when we send our laywers, computer programmers, nurses, etc. half way around the world to paint the walls of a church--that's falling apart because they are the ones the built it last year. On the other hand, if we don't send our non-carpenters to Louisiana, will it ever get rebuilt?

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# Bret Welstead said on 10 August, 2007 10:28 AM

Where do we get the slides? He mentioned that he hopes we will download them... does anyone know how we can get to them?

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# Ron Perry said on 10 August, 2007 10:28 AM

It would have been helpful if we could have seen Michaels slides on a side screen. It would have made it easier to take notes if we could have taken them in a power point format.

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# bill said on 10 August, 2007 10:28 AM

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

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# Mark said on 10 August, 2007 10:29 AM

For those of you at remote sites...the PPT slides in the main auditorium at WCCC are woefully small...bad color combos, etc....so, not much help. Word is after the talk, the slides will be available at a link to Mr Porter's site...

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# tim said on 10 August, 2007 10:29 AM

I agree, we are at a satellite site as well and with all the technology we are using to make this work, we should be able to also submit slide presentations either in a seperate online feed or simply emailed morning of to load in our systems, for use in our existing side screen systems to enhance and make the satellite sites more like the main room.

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# Robin said on 10 August, 2007 10:31 AM

While the community serice activity comments are true. Please keep in mind the reason companies or organization have their engineers or nurses out building houses on the weekend is because they know many of these individuals would not do it at all if it wasn't a company designated activity. BTW, only in the last few years have companies started incorporating “community days” into their business needs because they realize it’s good for their business image. Having these people participate in a day of service, regardless of their area of expertise, is better than not having them do anything at all. The goal often is to have these indivduals get involved beyond the annual day of service by showing individuals they make an impact.

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# jon said on 10 August, 2007 10:31 AM

armitage baptist. content couldn't be more relevant for our location. lack of slides couldn't be more frustrating. still a great talk, even without the slides.

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# Chris said on 10 August, 2007 10:32 AM

O.k., He's making great points about using people with a certain skill set to operate and serve within their skill set yet part of serving is moving outside your comfort zone. Sometimes the only way to do so is for the guy with the Phd to build the house. Know what I mean?

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# Rob Willis said on 10 August, 2007 10:33 AM

Two things: 1) There ARE times when specific things need to be done and someone needs to do them, and a skillset won't be used. Long term, that is not the BEST way to operate, but as leadership is a PROCESS, there are times when we will take on endeavor for a greater good which means that a doctor will paint or a lawyer will do yard clean-up. The question sometimes is, "What needs to be done right now?" 2) Ultimately though, what he is saying lines up with Acts 6 - the apostles realized that their best value was not added through serving tables. This lines up pretty well with Scripture specifically so far as the big picture is concerned. But then again, John 13(?), the Creator washes disciples feet - sometimes you need to do what needs to be done regardless of your abilities... :)

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# Greg Bowman said on 10 August, 2007 10:33 AM

the link for the sligdes will be posted on the blog soon. In the mean time, here's a direct link: www.isc.hbs.edu It will be in the left column under presentations tab.

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# Ted said on 10 August, 2007 10:34 AM

No slides yet - Michael - Yes, there are people out their that do you very needed skills and they diffently can help in their field. But on the other, they may get pleasure out of help others in many different ways and with them doing that they are growing themselves (raising the "Law of the Lid")

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# Kevin Roe said on 10 August, 2007 10:35 AM

There are a few people at my satellite site who have gotten upset with some of Dr. Porter's statements. Here is the question that came to my mind as a result: Would Jesus rather us be as effective as possible in the "social services" we do by partnering with other organizations (including non-church) or be less effective but do it in his name?

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# Abram K-J said on 10 August, 2007 10:36 AM

Michael--re: your Louisiana comment--I just came back from leading a team of 26 Youth and Adults to New Orleans to do a number of things, including construction. I think what most struck me was how often people thanked us for "being there." Our presence was huge. And how do you strategically measure it? You can't, at least not quite as specifically as you can measure how much it cost per person for us to go on the trip. But to measure only in that latter way would be to miss the point. Could we have more cheaply got a deck painted if we hired professional painters to do it? Of course. But we showed up, too, which blessed the socks of the recipient of our service. This was priceless. I think "social benefits per dollar expended" as a definition of "value" misses the point a bit. It's not all about dollars when providing social services. (I'm sure Porter realizes this, but he could have nuanced this more in his presentation.)

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# ruth hubbard said on 10 August, 2007 10:37 AM

rich...helpful...challenging stuff from this man there are things (like Bible translation) that are foundational to building the Kingdom but that churches can't do well alone i am encouraged

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# Greg Bowman said on 10 August, 2007 10:40 AM

great question kevin. I think that's where churches get stuck. What if we partnered with non-christian agencies and impacted them as well as the people we are trying to serve?

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# Thomas said on 10 August, 2007 10:41 AM

I imagine that Mr. Porter's comment and perspective would cause some to be uncomfortable - good. We as church members rarely are willing to ask hard process questions about what we do. I believe we all learn the most when in uncomfortable situations. So, learn!

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# Jason Craigo said on 10 August, 2007 10:43 AM

Where do I download the powerpoint?

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# Chris said on 10 August, 2007 10:44 AM

To Those Offended: I think we need to remember that many of these people are teaching how to contribute to society in secular ways as best as possible. His comments should be taken to heart and are important. It is likely that many will be offended at the prospect their their "good hopes" in service are not good enough. Rather they must work hard in the physical realms as well as the spiritual to show their faith on a daily basis. This is a difficult and humiliating thing to accept.

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# Gigi said on 10 August, 2007 10:47 AM

Dr. Porter made a great point, but I think that someone still needs to meet the needs of the people on a short-term basis while the long-term goals are being pursued.

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# Liz said on 10 August, 2007 10:51 AM

Some of my most meaningful serving times have been outside of my giftedness - like going to the DR to "build a wall" - because God used those experiences to shape me and break my heart for the poor. However, I do think that I would not be the best steward of my gifts if I chose those experiences to be my primary place of service. God has given us each unique gifts, passions and skills and I believe that it is in the use of those that we can make the most impact for Him.

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# Erica Dekker said on 10 August, 2007 10:56 AM

The mention of partnering with secular orgs made me think of this passage. Any thoughts?

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# Bill said on 10 August, 2007 10:59 AM

So where is the link to Porter's slides?

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# Jeff said on 10 August, 2007 11:02 AM

I think much of the value comes from us opening ourselves up to learn from someone such as Dr. Porter. I do believe that in many cases (not all) the local church has been able to justify only moderately impactful programs by the fact they personally felt good about it. I think it is a valid question to ask e.g. if $100,000 to send a team to build a house in Mexico is good STEWARDSHIP of the resources God has given us to invest when for $10,000 we could have sent the money to local folks to accomplish the same thing. Don't know the answer but the value is in continuing to ask the question and not just continue with what we've always done. Just some thoughts.

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# Jason Craigo said on 10 August, 2007 11:14 AM

The one thing that we need to realize about "value", especially for a missions team is the impact that personal interaction has on individuals. How much is one life for the kingdom of God worth? We do need to be good stewards, but sometimes the monetary cost is not the only portion of the value of a project.

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# Abram K-J said on 10 August, 2007 11:26 AM

Jeff--I think it depends on the context. Would the recipients in Mexico take it as tokenism if you just sent money? Or would your actual physical presence incarnate Christ to them in a way money couldn't? All depends on the context... especially in some of this earth's more "forgotten" places, I think the physical presence is huge, even if "locals" could provide more "efficient" or cost-effective labor. We need to remember that churches have a "double bottom line": dollars and souls.

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