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JOHN SAWHILL �• was concerned that the organization was becoming thing, and then assume that everyone else will fragmented. It needed leadership, it needed to be follow. The best companies, in contrast, make an pulled together, it needed to have a clear vision of effort to get more people involved. eve where it was going. But it was our strategic plan- Our task force conducted about 75 interviews all ning process itself that brought the fundamental over the organization, which helped bring to the need for a new strategy to the surface. surface many of the ideas and concerns that had sa- been floating around.It also interviewed outsiders, aer Can you describe that process? including scientists and people in other conserva- we tion organizations.After five months of discussion, on I asked our senior managers to identify the most the organization coalesced around the new strategy ode capable of the up-and-coming managers in the orga- of larger landscapes as well as a variety of new chal- Ir- nization—its future leaders—and I picked four of lenges.We were going to have to build our science capability and develop new, riskier conservation at I consider to be the conservation , strategies. What was risky about your new conservation '[1` it onnlen tal protection. strategies? We're concentrating more on strategies that ad- n: them for the strategy task force.Those four are still dress what I consider to be the conservation issue of it with the organization, and they're all in leadership I the 1990s: integrating economic growth with envi- e- roles today. I tried to have some balance in exper- 1 ronmental protection.How do you protect a species :h tise and in geography: We had two scientists, one when the chief threat to that species comes from is fund-raiser, and one person who was involved in , 100 miles away?We have to broaden our scope. land acquisition; they came from Florida, Hawaii, The risk comes from our getting deeply involved S. North Carolina, and from our international pro- j in places where people live and work,because peo- 1 gram. The head of the group was i1 someone I'd recruited from outside Y. 1. who brought planning expertise e but lacked conservation experience. t- For four months, these people left their jobs and came together to work on the strategic plan. e ' I spent about 25% of my time r i on this effort, meeting frequently t with the planning team and with 1 the different groups that make up t the Nature Conservancy: our state directors, chapter trustees, and na- Etional board.We conducted a series of meetings and informational ses- sions around the country for vol- unteers and staff. That was impor- tant. When you rely on people's love for the organization's mission, rather than on their career ambi- tions or financial incentives, it is absolutely critical to have a highly i participative decision-making pro- ' cess. Many companies limit real participation in strategic decision making to senior managers. Their top-level managers get the most powerful people in the company together, convince them of some- Andy Warhol,African Elephant HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW September-October 1995 111