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Kraft CEO Serves up Some Bologna

Oct 25, 2010 » by Jody

In a Forbes interview with Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld, she spoke of choices we need to make when balancing our work and lives.  Specifically she states,

“. . .  if there’s an important event in your child’s life or there is something that you need to do, do it. I think you can do it within the context of your business responsibilities. I think you can do it by working it out with your boss. But don’t come to regret having missed some of these hallmark events. But you can’t do all of them, and I think making some of those choices is important.”

Please excuse me, Irene, while I vomit up my Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. When I get back, I’ll be happy to welcome you to the year 2010.

WORK IT OUT WITH YOUR BOSS?

First off, the only things you should ever be working out with your boss are clear and measurable goals and how you are going to achieve them. Heaven forbid you get a boss – and believe me, they’re everywhere – that believes you should put work before family (even though they would never say it out loud – that wouldn’t be the company line). Or a boss who doesn’t feel it’s a good time to be out of the office (even though you’ve broken a sweat trying to convince your boss that you are getting the work done).  Or a boss that believes the only people who deserve a promotion are the ones putting in long hours at the office (nevermind that they may not be producing much of anything; at least they’re at work).

DO IT WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF YOUR BUSINESS RESPONSIBILITIES?

How about if you do your business responsibilities within the context of your LIFE?  Since when did work become what we should all ‘work around’?

BUT YOU CAN’T DO ALL OF THEM, AND I THINK MAKING SOME CHOICES IS IMPORTANT?

Why not, Irene? The second you tell people they have to make ‘choices’, all of a sudden you’ve set up a situation where people feel guilty, managers have the power to make you feel guilty, and nobody is focused on results.

I’m making a choice for sure. Cry for everyone at Kraft who has to be part of an outdated, paternalistic culture that makes adults feel grateful for a macaroni noodle here and there.

Call us when you’re ready to cook up some ROWE.

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  • Lily

    Woah! Well said! Love the last line :-)

    • Cali

      You’ll see more of this comin’ at ya! This is a taste of what’s coming in 2011 – a no holds barred approach to calling it like it is. Either you’re focused on results only…or you’re not. There’s no in between. There’s no “we’re operating with a version of ROWE”. Guess what? People want ROWE…period. So we’re out to expose who is and who isn’t. Ready???

      • Lily

        More than ready – bring it on!

  • http://organizationalpositivity.com Beth Cabrera

    Excellent! I just watched the video of the interview with Rosenfeld yesterday and I was so disappointed! Thank you for setting her straight and for everything you do to make work work for us all. Keep it up!

    • Cali

      Don’t worry – we’re in this for the long haul and we’ll never give up. Hope you didn’t vomit up your Kraft Macaroni Cheese, too, when you watched the video!

  • CC

    Unfortunately, a CEO that has the power to change the lives of her entire workforce, and improve Kraft’s bottom line, is choosing instead to treat employees like children. It’ sad, but I am thankful to the ROWE team for pointing out the problem with this mentality!

    • Cali

      More exposing is on the way…

  • Brett Legree

    It seems sort of funny to hear her speak like this, given that a large portion of Kraft’s business likely comes from *people with children*.

    If I tallied up all the money I’ve spent on Kraft peanut butter, Mac & Cheese, etc. – well, I’d probably own half the company by now…

    • Cali

      And you’d probably be running it in a much more 2010 way than Irene is! Kind of makes you think twice about putting that Mac & Cheese in your cart, doesn’t it? It might be the cheesiest, but their CEO is coming off as quite cheesy, too. And that isn’t very appetizing.

  • PersephoneK

    Excellent post! I love how you guys just call it like it is. Its so refreshing, even as its still considered blasphemy in most workplaces.

    I’m struggling at the moment with not vomiting up my Kraft mac and cheese both because of Irene and because of my current workplace (which I’ve only been at for 2 months) — a place that writes in its policy manual that managers should lead by example and leave work early if they need/want to, and asks managers to manage outcomes, not techniques (awesome, right!!!), yet this week my manager’s solution to a problem I actually felt was resolved was for me to start tracking exactly how much time I spend doing each task for at least the next two weeks so she can “help” me. I tried to tell her I had an idea about what would be most helpful to me, but instead she told me she knows better. And this is a fairly progressive organization for the most part, so its truly a sign to me that ROWE is just getting started and will be around for the long haul!

    • Cali

      This just hurts to read, knowing all you’ve been through for so long. But if anyone has what it takes to make it through and try to affect the mindsets around you in a positive way, you do. No doubt. You know what things are moving in the opposite direction of results…and you won’t stand for it. We know that. Life is too short for that, Persephone :)

      • PersephoneK

        You’ll be happy to hear that I did send out a “feeler” about ROWE to someone in HR that I think would be very receptive. Not sure where that will go, but I’m doing my best to find the most ROWE-receptive crew. I’ll let you know!

      • Cali

        We are very happy to hear about your feeler! This is what we’re talkin’ and what we know you’re capable of…sniffing out the candidates that might have enough common sense and courage to say “That sounds like a good idea…let’s explore together and make this a reality.” ROWE-ceptiveness is the first step to really, really great things for organizations and for people’s lives…

      • PersephoneK

        And thanks for the boost of confidence. I needed to hear that!

  • Nate

    Love it, love it, love it. It’s about time we questioned the traditional ways in which we work.

    Best statement ever:

    “How about if you do your business responsibilities within the context of your LIFE? ”

    Just listening to a speech that Tony Hsieh gave at the Enlightened Business Summit. Now that’s a CEO I can get behind. The #1 focus is on happiness…making customers happy, making employees happy, creating a happy culture.

    It’s all about getting out of our own way and not believing the ingrained thoughts about work being negative. Work is our way of expressing ourselves. Work is about sharing our innate and unique talents with the world in a positive and hopefully transformative way.

    I think the key is that it is each and every one of our responsibilities to make this change happen because we are the change.

    Cheers to happiness!

    • Cali

      Wow – cheers to happiness is right! You had a favorite line of ours and we have one of yours, too:

      “I think the key is that it is each and every one of our responsibilities to make this change happen because we are the change.”

      This is so important to recognize. The current work culture is the way it is because we’re perpetuating it – every day – with our responses to situations, our behaviors, and sometimes, our complacency. If we’re unhappy with the current work culture (which obviously many of us are), it’s up to us to take a stand and start changing the conversation. Go, Nate!

  • Liz

    The article I just read goes along with what you are saying here. Unfortunately people who don’t know how to make a ROWE work, go back to the old ways because even if its broken, its something you know.

    http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217473

    • Cali

      Liz – we were reading that article at the same time you were! [In fact, you might see a blog post based on it soon...we'll see.] You’re so right – sometimes it’s just all about comfort. Even if the solution completely lacks common sense and has nothing to do with results, it’s easy. Very, very sad – but yes, we see it all the time.

    • Persephone K

      Liz,

      I just read that article you linked to… wow. Sounds like the writer had a personal agenda to putting things back the way they were with no real evidence his points had merit. Weak.

      • Cali

        Weak is a very good word for it, Persephone. We’ll second that – WEAK.

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