In his new book, TouchPoints: Creating Powerful Leadership Connections in the Smallest of Moments (Jossey-Bass; hardcover; May 2011), co-authored with Mette Norgaard, Douglas R. Conant, CEO of Campbell Soup Company, turns conventional business wisdom on its head, suggesting that the daily interruptions that leaders face in nearly epidemic proportions are actually the moments where the greatest leadership opportunities lie.
TouchPoints reveals the theory that helped Conant turn around the Campbell Soup Company and lead Nabisco Foods Company during five years of consecutive growth. Conant and Norgaard argue that the secret to leadership mastery is to use interruptions and other incidental points of contact as a method to promote the company’s values, purpose and agenda. The result? Higher employee engagement, improved growth and revenue, and better customer relationships.
The TouchPoint model has three components and involves using the head, heart and hands to connect with employees in a way that not only enhances their individual performance, but actually transforms them into a valued member of the team. Leaders who master the TouchPoint approach are spending their valuable time learning to relate to and engage every employee – from learning about their emotional maturity to their unique abilities to perform.
When practiced routinely and well, TouchPoints have the ability to transform lethargic employees into focused and energized team members and transform companies into well-run centers of profit and growth.
Introduction to TouchPoints
TouchPoints Author Discussion
