CEOs dive in and make waves

As a team we bust a gut to get CEOs and other senior executives to attend the ECB Learning Event in DC in April - but even when we know the turnout would be good there was a little apprehension. People at this level turn up for an hour or so, encourage the troops and then move on to the next board meeting, right? Wrong, it turns out, at least on this occasion.

It seems IWG senior execs have been making ECB waves since returning to their offices. We have reports of one CEO demanding a high-level consolidation workshop to follow up from the event; a President asking for copies of the Knowledge Fair displays to share internally; another CEO personally distributing copies of the Good Enough Guide to fellow executives at a global board meeting following the Event.

Of course, engagement from our senior leaders does not always make life easier - and those involved with ECB know that these processes of change are a long-haul, not a short hop, whoever is involved. But this level of engagement certainly sets us an interesting challenge. We often say we could change things but our leaders won't listen - now they're listening, what do we want them to hear?

Matt Bannerman