The Change Agents of Mount Vernon

Recently, work with the Library of Congress brought me to historic Mount Vernon, George Washington’s Estate and Gardens. We were at the estate though an invitation from their Chief Operating Officer, Charles Menatti. Our goal during the visit was to benchmark the Mount Vernon visitor experience as the Library of Congress is rapidly moving towards their “New Visitor Experience.”

The Mount Vernon experience has been completely reconsidered over the past decade. The site has been transformed into an exciting and sensory driven view into every aspect of the life of George Washington. As you delve deeper into the experience, you leave with an overwhelming sense of Washington as a change agent. What is most remarkable is that Washington changes our history and destiny and yet he and the other founders had neither books to follow nor analogies to guide. What drove him was a limitless sense of the potential inherent in our very young country (keep that in mind as you read the interview below).

Fast forward a few hundred years and enter Charles Menatti onto the grounds of Mount Vernon. Charles is responsible for all daily operations of the Estate where the first President spent nearly 45 years of his life. He was chosen for the role of COO after an elongated search that never seemed to yield just the right executive with the right personality and skills.

Charles was in a difficult position from day one as COO as the project was well underway and the vision was not his. Yet he had to get past that and assert his own concept for how the organization should be run. While Charles is not in the government, he struck me as a talented and aggressive executive who owns any situation and challenge that confronts him. Like other change agents, he assesses the situation he is in and then acts bold, fast and with great specificity.

Charles has been a senior executive in the international communications, publishing and private equity industry for over twenty years residing abroad for over 16 years. From his biography, we learn some other interesting facts about him “Menatti was responsible for starting the first Chinese language edition of Business Week-China in Beijing and founder/Publisher of Communications Week International based in Paris, France. Mr. Menatti played professional basketball in Italy following his graduation with a Bachelor Science degree from the University of Utah in 1976. He holds dual Italian and United States citizenship. He speaks French and Italian.”

I offer my sincere thanks to Charles for hosting an amazing morning at Mount Vernon and in sharing his thoughts on leadership, change and his role as COO at Mount Vernon (see below).

Finally, run, don’t walk to the new Mount Vernon readers; it’s an experience not to be missed.

Forrester: Taking a job in a not for profit historical setting like Mount Vernon is very different from your vast commercial experience. Why did you want to take the job at Mount Vernon? What was the challenge that was posed to you?

Menatti: When Korn Ferry presented the opportunity to me, I was not sure what to expect. Per my background I have never worked for a “non-profit” and wasn’t sure what the culture would be like. Having worked in fast pace industries and companies I was unclear as to how I might fit into such an organization.

I commenced a great deal of research on Mount Vernon, the current management and the position I was being recruited for. The position of Chief Operating Officer was new to Mount Vernon since previously the Executive Director, Jim Rees ran everything. It was clear that the span of control was pulling Jim in too many directions especially with the new buildings getting ready to open therefore the necessity of the COO position was paramount.

Once I met with Jim and the Regent Gay Hart Gaines, I knew this was something that I wanted to do. I saw this as a way to give something back in such a way like no other. There is only one Mount Vernon and George Washington, which made the opportunity much more exciting. I like to use the phrase “leave it better than you found it” as a way to describe my objectives at Mount Vernon. I know Mount Vernon had been looking for quite awhile, having interviewed many executive but from what I’m told the personality and attitude component was not there in other candidates. I like to say Jim and I hit it off well. We have different skills and abilities which makes the team very strong.

The most significant challenge was to reorganize, re-energize and provide leadership to 11 departments that were part of Jim’s direct reports. There were and I want to emphasis “WERE” departmental politics and many departmental kingdoms.

Forrester: When you take on new roles as you have done so many times in your career, what is the framework you use to quickly ramp up and establish command and control?

Menatti: I go back to basics when I arrive in a new position. I spend 95% of my time out of the office meeting with everyone I can. It doesn’t matter what level or what department. I try to evaluate the situation as part of my 100-day plan. In my discussions with employees, I am straight with them in telling them that there will be changes. My first 30 days gives me a very solid view of the organization then I begin to focus on problem departments and individuals. Problems always surface very quickly. The most critical department in evaluating an organization based upon my experience is Human Resources. The strength and credibility of that department within the organization is so important. I made a change in HR management very early on, which gave me a strong platform to initiate and execute other needed changes.

Forrester: What is leadership? How do you know when you are in the presence of a leader?

Menatti: Leadership to me is the ability to inspire, motivate, excite, drive
managers to achieve what they think is impossible, perform at a level, which they thought was impossible to attain, and to meet targets which they thought were too high. A leader does not manage by fear or intimidation but presence, credibility, sound judgment, experience, record of accomplishments and results.

Forrester: Based on your commercial experience, what advice would you give aspiring change agents in the government?

Menatti: Since making change I’m told in the government sector is next too impossible especially when dealing with personnel issues, having a solid 100-day plan is extremely important. When going into a situation requiring change the person must have the full support of management and the ability to act decisively and swiftly in implementing the 100-day plan.

Forrester: Over time, how will you know that you have been successful in your role as COO of Mount Vernon?

Menatti: One knows very quickly whether their efforts are successful or not. I feel that the success of implementing and executing my 100-day plan has laid the groundwork for the long-term success at Mount Vernon. I’ve made personnel changes, restructured departments and provided a greater focus on the individual departmental heads to run their departments! I’ve let people go who thought they were too valuable and untouchable. No one is irreplaceable! Everyone needs to know that. I sent the message loud and clear early on and set the stage for dramatic change at Mount Vernon. Everyone knows that all our goals and objectives at to ensure the long-term viability both financially and operationally of Mount Vernon AND to “Keep George Washington first”!

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Be the Author

I find it somewhat ironic how often there are books published on the power of social network and community - written by one or two authors. For this reason, I was struck by a new book entitled “We Are Smarter Than Me”. Like many of its predecessors, this book will focus on companies which are using social networks and community to improve business. Unlike these, however, this book will be jointly written by a community of authors. A the five month mark, the project had over 100 contributors and over 4000 members. For more information, or to contribute yourself, please check out www.wearesmarter.org.

Thoughts or reactions? Please send them to us.

**Exclusive** Change Agent Interview with General Dale Meyerrose

We are very pleased to share our first pod casts of 2007. Several weeks back we were granted an exclusive interview with the Chief Information Officer for the Director of National Intelligence, Dale Meyerrose. These two pod casts are from the same interview. To listen to them please click here:

• General Dale Meyerrose Interview, Part 1
• General Dale Meyerrose Interview, Part 2

The General shared many ideas around how people learn, including the idea that he learns best from “fascinating people.” Take a close listen for the powerful distinctions he makes between probable, doable, and possible change. One of the most interesting responses he gave came in his answer to the question “If you could go back to day one in your role and give yourself advice, what would it be?”

Many thanks to the General and his staff for making this interview happen. Also my special thanks to Bob Wilcher for editing and producing this podcast.

As always, if you have feedback please send it on to changeagents@sapient.com.

Six Sigma vs. Innovation: Have Your Cake and Eat it Too

A common source of angst in management circles is the pressure from above to operate efficiently, while also encouraging innovation. At first glance, efficiency and innovation appear to be at odds. Efficiency, often driven by outputs of the quality movement such as Six Sigma, demands streamlined processes, continuous improvement, and very few errors. When implemented effectively, Six Sigma greatly reduces risk. On the contrary, innovation often takes a disruptive role, at least in its infancy. In order to innovate, one must embrace change and risk – in hopes of unleashing untapped potential within an organization.

Jeneanne Ray takes a look at how business leaders and change agents can effectively incorporate both efficiency and innovation into their pursuits here.

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The Fiscal Wake up Tour

Several weeks ago, 60 Minutes profiled U.S. Comptroller General David Walker–the Nation’s top accountant. Fed up with the lack of response by politicians inside the beltway, Mr. Walker has taken his message on the road in what he calls the “Fiscal Wake up Tour.” He is trying to create a renewed sense of urgency to solve a decades-old problem: the Nation’s soaring debt. So concerned is he that he says this threat is greater than that posed by terrorism, and that our precarious financial situation threatens the very survival of our republic. His hope is that this issue will be a major issue in the upcoming presidential election, and that politicians and taxpayers alike will start making the difficult decisions before we have no choices remaining.

Senator John McCain, current and former presidential candidate and erstwhile conductor of the Straight Talk Express, has joined this discussion with this online ad. In it, he discusses some of the more outlandish instances of pork barrel spending, and what he would do about it if elected (for instance he would seek a line item veto to selectively eliminate unrelated and unnecessary provisions of bills). It remains to be seen, however, whether this issue has any significant hand in shaping the ‘08 election, and whether taxpayers can be convinced that change must occur before they feel the consequences of the problem. If Mr. Walker is correct, however, this issue will be shaping our lives one way or another.

Thoughts or reactions? Please send them to us.