Proceedings of the 3rd European Conference on Intellectual Capital

John Girard
we’ve had a problem!” Fortunately, most management decisions are not life and death as was <strong>the</strong>
case with Apollo 13.
Never<strong>the</strong>less, organizations must be prepared for crisis decision making. It is too late when crises
present <strong>the</strong>mselves to consider what values are important to an organization. The recent and
spectacular failures <strong>of</strong> large corporations seem to indicate that many corporate leaders are ill
prepared or unwilling to deal with unanticipated tribulations. However, <strong>the</strong>re are a few great examples
<strong>of</strong> organizations whose management teams internalize core values in quiet times so that <strong>the</strong>y are
prepared for catastrophic events.
In 1943, when General Robert Wood Johnson penned “Our Credo” for Johnson & Johnson, he had no
idea just how important this short passage would become. He had no idea how his carefully crafted
words would help <strong>the</strong> leaders <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> next generation. The Credo has been changed, ever so slightly
since 1943; however, most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> changes have been in language and not in substance or spirit. The
Credo begins by stating, “We believe our first responsibility is to <strong>the</strong> doctors, nurses and patients, to
mo<strong>the</strong>rs and fa<strong>the</strong>rs and all o<strong>the</strong>rs who use our products and services. In meeting <strong>the</strong>ir needs
everything we do must be <strong>of</strong> high quality.” The Credo continues with some guiding principles and <strong>the</strong>n
concludes by stating, “When we operate according to <strong>the</strong>se principles, <strong>the</strong> stockholders should realize
a fair return.” (Johnson) 2
The Credo proved its worth when some malefactors infected some TYLENOL® with cyanide in 1982.
According Lawrence G. Foster, Vice President <strong>of</strong> Public Relations for Johnson & Johnson “The Credo
served <strong>the</strong> company better than any crisis management plan could have.”(Foster, 1983) Based on <strong>the</strong>
Credo, <strong>the</strong> Johnson & Johnson managers knew what to do. However, how can a 40-year-old onepage
document help managers make decisions? The answer is that everyone in Johnson & Johnson
is aware <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Credo and its importance. It is more than words on a paper. It is more than just some
poster hanging in conference rooms. It has become synonymous with Johnson & Johnson and all
managers know what it means.
All too <strong>of</strong>ten executives go through <strong>the</strong> motions <strong>of</strong> developing a mission, vision, and values so that
<strong>the</strong>y may be proudly displayed in <strong>of</strong>fices. To many this is a paper exercise that does not really change
<strong>the</strong> price <strong>of</strong> fish. Johnson & Johnson’s Credo is NOT simply a paper exercise. Johnson & Johnson’s
Credo is a guiding document that has passed <strong>the</strong> test <strong>of</strong> time and it is an excellent example <strong>of</strong> what
Nonaka termed Internalization.
4. A day to remember
For many August 14 th 2003 is a date <strong>the</strong>y will remember. That was <strong>the</strong> day that some 50 million
Americans and Canadians witnessed a blackout across <strong>the</strong> Nor<strong>the</strong>ast portion <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> North American
continent. On that hot August day, I was living in Ottawa, Canada’s capital. Brownouts are relatively
common in Ontario during <strong>the</strong> summer and although local blackouts are not unheard <strong>of</strong>, <strong>the</strong>y are quite
rare. The “usual suspect” in <strong>the</strong>se cases is high summer temperatures, which in turn cause people to
crank up <strong>the</strong>ir air conditioners. Invariably this puts a strain on <strong>the</strong> power grid and sometimes <strong>the</strong> result
is a brownout or very occasionally a blackout.
I knew this day was different when I received a telephone call from our daughter, Terri-Lynn. At <strong>the</strong>
time, she was a Human Resource Associate at Wal-Mart in Ottawa. I was not surprised when she told
us that her store was using emergency power as our house was without electricity and it was only
about two miles from her <strong>of</strong>fice. What really surprised me was when she said that she had just spoken
to a Toronto store and it too was experiencing a blackout. Her colleague stated that <strong>the</strong> entire
metropolitan Toronto area was in <strong>the</strong> dark. All <strong>of</strong> a sudden, <strong>the</strong> situation changed. How could Ottawa
(population 800,000) and Toronto (population 2,500,000) be without electricity?
I turned on a battery-powered radio to discover that New York and Detroit were also without power. If
<strong>the</strong> news reports were true, <strong>the</strong>n at least 15 million people were in <strong>the</strong> dark, maybe even more. How
could this be? Not surprisingly, <strong>the</strong>re was talk <strong>of</strong> malicious attacks. This seemed plausible. Now what?
Well in hindsight we now know that this was not caused by a targeted attacked on <strong>the</strong> North American
infrastructure but ra<strong>the</strong>r an unfortunate, though predictable, shut down designed to protect <strong>the</strong> grid.
2 See http://tinyurl.com/c7rtfa for <strong>the</strong> complete text <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> one-page Credo
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