Center for Leadership
Studies

At the outset of his MAOL studies John Hakanson made a commitment to develop a breakthrough initiative that would bring his organization unpredictable and unprecedented growth. As Worldwide Director of Strategic Pricing and Investment for Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, Hakanson decided that he would accomplish his goal by protecting 80% of business forecasted to be lost in 2007 and capturing 80% of new opportunities. There was no reason to assume it should work, Hakanson explains, but by applying MAOL frameworks and techniques it was possible.

Hakanson and his team built a new model for attracting the customers that fell within the above criteria. The team built an at-risk business model that promised to secure Ortho Clinical Diagnostics business on their behalf and generate economic savings for the clinical laboratory environment. The promise was extended to assert that if the Ortho Clinical Diagnostics’ team did not, in some way, produce the savings, then their customers would not be charged for the products or service. The brave plan resulted in capturing nearly 70% of the business forecasted to be lost and capturing 64% of business they’d thought they had no chance of attaining. These two figures combined to generate 30 million in new revenue and 19 million in net income for the company, in addition to helping them create a culture and a climate of active participation and contribution and forging new, trusting relationships with partners across the globe.

“I put myself in an awkward, unique challenge position from an organizational perspective,” Hakanson says. “I set expectations for myself that were going to be measured by breakthrough revenue and breakthrough profitability for the company.”

“I realize now that business is about people and the interpersonal relationships you build with them, and it is understanding of yourself and understanding of others that make organizations successful, and makes leaders leaders,” Hakanson says. “Leadership need not be limited to the rare few. It is available to all those who choose to lead. I am now certain that leadership is a matter of personal choice and commitment. MAOL provides what is needed to make an informed choice and an authentic commitment.”

Hakanson has experience with traditional MBA programs including those at Columbia and NYU, but he says that what a learner receives from MAOL is nothing similar.

“It’s not like the prototypical MBA program—reading case studies and writing papers—it’s much more interactive. It’s self-reflective with the mindset to better the organization that you work within,” he explains. “MAOL is for those willing to define and work towards outcomes previously unimagined. It is for those who are committed to delivering unprecedented business results to their organization. It is for those who want to share and grow with a community of fantastic colleagues and faculty.”

During his MAOL experience Hakanson says that he transformed in ways he was expecting, professionally and personally, but also in ways that he hadn’t ever considered. He says that the program broadened his view of the world and encouraged him to start seeing the creative possibilities of how to lead in an organization and in every day life. He is now more likely to listen for opportunity across his organization, brainstorm with his colleagues and work as a team to find the best opportunities. Now at a new company called Cordis, he has brought his ideas about how to work within organizations and what leadership actually means to a whole new team.