Since its inception in 2013, the YCO has led GroupM’s Vision 3.0, making digital the centerpiece for driving future growth. With that end in mind, he created the YCO (Youth Committee). CVL Srinivas, the CEO of GroupM India, needed to implement a three-year digital and cultural transformation.
No team members came from the business unit in question, nor had they any prior supply chain experience. The new team came up with a workable plan within six months. One project, aimed at reducing supply-chain lead time, had stumped a supposedly expert team. The shadow board convinced them to assign certain tasks to non-experts, arguing that an unbiased view would increase the chance of breakthroughs.
Until this shift, work was assigned to groups that the executives considered experts and therefore best suited to the assignment. Stora Enso, a Finnish paper and packaging company, used their shadow board (which they call Pathfinders and Pathbuilders) to revise how the executive committee assigned work. According to Balson, the shadow board succeeded in part because they focused on their vision and developed their point of view “regardless of all internal and cost constraints.” The shadow board then gave birth to another innovation, the Accor Pass, a hotel subscription that provided people under 25 with a place to stay while they hunted for a permanent residence. Considered “an urban shelter for Millennials,” the brand communicates creativity, flexibility, and a strong sense of community. Arantxa Balson, chief talent and culture officer, decided to turn the project over to a shadow board. However, after two years marketing came up empty. Top management asked marketing to develop a brand for Millennials. Facing increasing pressure from Airbnb, French AccorHotels needed a new business model. We focus here on three companies’ experiences.īusiness model reinvention. We researched companies that use shadow boards, trying to understand what they really contribute to the organization and what best practices look like.
In the same period, Prada’s sales have dropped by 11.5%, from 3,551 million Euro (FY2014) to 3,142 million Euro (FY2018). According to Bizzarri, the shadow board includes people drawn from different functions they’re “the most talented people in the organization - many of them very young.” They talk through the issues that the executive committee is focused on and their insights have “served as a wakeup call for the executives.” Gucci’s sales have since grown 136% - from 3,497 million Euro (FY2014) to 8,285 million Euro (FY2018) - a growth driven largely by the success of both its internet and digital strategies. Gucci created a shadow board composed of Millennials who, since 2015, have met regularly with the senior team. Over the same period, under the direction of CEO Mario Bizzarri, Gucci underwent a comprehensive transformation that made the company more relevant to today’s marketplace. In 2017, the company finally admitted that it had been “slow in realizing the importance of digital channels and the blogging online ‘influencers’ which are disrupting the industry.” Co-CEO Patrizio Bertelli said, “We made a mistake.” But since 2014, it has witnessed declining sales. Until recently, Prada enjoyed high margins, a legendary creative director, and good growth opportunities. Consider Prada and Gucci, two fashion companies with a good track record of keeping up with - or shaping - consumer tastes. The purpose? To leverage the younger groups’ insights and to diversify the perspectives that executives are exposed to. A few companies have tackled both problems at the same time by creating a “shadow board” - a group of non-executive employees that works with senior executives on strategic initiatives. A lot of companies struggle with two apparently unrelated problems: disengaged younger workers and a weak response to changing market conditions.
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