Examples of Our Impact
Tectonic Methods applies AI capabilities to decision science, thereby obtaining uniquely predictive insights about a company’s top management teams.
A CEO uses the results of our modeling and projections to gauge how the organization can best excel when facing critical events, both before and during the storm.
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POST MERGER INTEGRATION
A leading aluminum producer and renewable energy company bought the aluminum business of the world’s largest iron ore and nickel producer. The acquirer’s CEO wanted to look beyond the obvious and bring together the two organizations. Synergies of processes, structure, and operations had already been identified and worked on. "Culture," as always, was the wild card. But how could the CEO quantify and model this influence similarly to how the CFO had modeled their company’s financial projections? He needed these insights fast. Once he had those measurements about teams and BUs, how could he use the numbers to unlock the full potential of creativity, resourcefulness, persistence, and cooperation within the combined entity?
NEW CEO
The world’s leading crop nutrition enterprise, which is also a provider of environmental and agricultural solutions, hired a new CEO from outside the company. The company operates in more than sixty countries and has three major regional units for Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
He needed to grasp the qualities and synergies of his leadership team in each of the regional units, as well as their direct reports. Speed, objectivity, and rigor were required. To what degree could these leaders align with his strategy, be open to the changes he envisioned, receptive to his tempo of operations, and ready to execute? How would they perform in a new, centralized organization?
The CEO had expected to learn about all these leaders through a series of virtual “town halls,” webinars, and months of personal visits worldwide. Instead, we showed an approach that was faster, more precise, and forward-looking. The engagement took eight weeks at company HQ; the invited participants flew in for interviews after completing simulations online.
We met a company that had devolved into a collection of nearly autonomous country teams. Cross-pollination was minimal, and it was difficult for HQ to impose direction. Given guidance, we showed the CEO that most of these leaders could adjust rapidly. Person by person, we prescribed the best means of “development” and support. Moreover, we showed the regional units how to create “thinking communities” among the nearly sixty country teams. The CEO achieved his goals quickly and is now running a global corporation that enjoys purpose-driven growth, which is both sustainable and profitable.
DYNAMIZING R&D
The world's largest airplane manufacturer brought in a high-profile CTO to lead an elite R&D unit at headquarters. Yet, after several months, CEO expectations were not being met, despite the team’s top-tier credentials, skills, and previous innovations. He was puzzled, and the Employee Engagement Survey his staff administered revealed little. As technologists, in addition to being consultants, we were asked to take a deeper look at this formidable cadre. We spoke the language of these operators and PhDs.
What obstacles weren’t being seen? Could this internationally diverse, well-funded unit contribute more to company goals? Was less autonomy needed? Could a different structure or composition foster new knowledge? We suspected that answers lay in the R&D unit’s core qualities—its intangible assets—which are vital for getting things done. We measured a range of qualities, specifically CEO expectations, company strategy, and the origins of its competitors’ new products, services, and technologies. Attributes to be weighed included tempo, entrepreneurship, and acceptance of risk. Creativity was also measured.
We identified the impediments and synergies and found the critical path for returning to high performance. We advised a change of CTO, more autonomy for the unit rather than less, and greater interaction between the R&D unit and its stakeholders. Morale rebounded, as did this group’s special form of productivity.
EARLY-STAGE ENTERPRISE
A private, clinical-stage regenerative medicine company had completed its Series B financing with a leading Venture Capital group and other new investors. The use of proceeds was to enable the company to conduct Phase I/IIa clinical trials in Parkinson’s Disease and Spinal Cord Injury. The founder was the CEO/CSO. She and her investors expected the company’s development and application of proprietary neural repair methods to help regenerate neural tissue with numerous major patient benefits. The science was dazzling, as were the company’s robotic manufacturing capabilities. The Journal for Clinical Studies was effusive.
The Founder/CEO was backed by a six-person Management Team in this forty-person company. That team had largely been recruited by one of the top US executive search firms in tandem with earlier investors (e.g., COO, CFO, CMO, CHRO, channel, and lab directors). Her leaders were age and gender diverse but homogenous in that all six had extensive industry experience, unlike the founder. By the close of the B round, cooperation was fraying between the founder/CEO and this tightly knit unit that had become known within the company as “the Team.”
The executive search firm asked us to examine the problem. The Founder/CEO and “the Team” experienced our process of simulations and structured interviewing. Results for “the Team” were strikingly similar—and diverged tellingly from those of the Founder/CEO. The overarching problem was “handling risk.” We recommended that the Founder/CEO become “Chair and CSO” with a new CEO to be recruited. Her board concurred. The founder disagreed and held firm. The company unraveled and the VC firm took over the IP.
RECENT IPO
A private equity-backed enterprise had reimagined wound care, and its CEO had grown the business organically to $700 million in sales. It went public as a high-profile U.S. medical technology and supplies manufacturer with a compounded annual revenue growth rate of 26%. Yet the CEO’s original team was now in very unfamiliar terrain. How could this company be taken to “the next level?” How could it introduce further breakthroughs and sustain its innovative spirit? Would it succeed in new markets like Japan?
We reexamined company strategy and documented the CEO’s expectations. Success factors were built, against which we measured. All other C-level personnel, their direct reports, sales leaders, and R&D experts were invited to participate. We calculated future performance and discovered why R&D was sputtering—which, once spotlighted, could be remedied quickly. We then honed their “A-Team” so its people could consistently execute to plan in new terrain. The thriving business was subsequently acquired by a multinational healthcare conglomerate.
In other client cases, we’ve worked for several of the world’s leading private equity firms—using our processes to uncover, create, and drive value in their portfolio companies.