(The picture shows the oldest known Harley-Davidson motorcycle which can be viewed at the H-D museum in Milwaukee)
With 2 weeks to go, I am getting into fifth gear to shape my recommendations for my project on developing a long-term personalization strategy for Harley-Davidson. As I had indicated in an earlier post, this strategy is a holistic look at what the company can do over 3 horizons to personalize the entire customer experience. And believe me, the project is as interesting as it sounds!
The Leadership Development Program (LDP) has an annual conference where all the LDP interns, incumbents and alumni gather over sessions and dinner. This year we had a workshop on globalization and sustainability. We split up into groups and brainstormed over the two topics and then got back together to exchange our ideas. The sheer knowledge and creativity of the group impressed me a lot – I always find it amazing that companies do not use more of their brain power to generate innovative ideas everyday!
The workshop was followed by a panel discussion on our international efforts, which was again very candid and interesting. We ended the sessions with a town hall with our CEO, Keith Wandell, and COO, Matt Levatich on the topic of innovation. This was followed by a dinner where I got to meet with other LDP alumni and some of the most interesting people in the company.
Harley-Davidson has a plant in York, Pennsylvania, which is undergoing tremendous transformation right now. We visited the plant yesterday via Baltimore, MD. We hired 2 cabs from the Baltimore airport and drove down to the plant. The visit was extremely well-organized, and we had the opportunity to meet some very impressive people at the plant. The strength of Harley-Davidson is the passion of its employees for the product, and more so at the assembly plants. This was very evident when we heard the pride with which all employees spoke about their work. Being a consultant, I have worked with many companies over the last 8 years, and I cannot think of a single other company that even comes close with respect to both, customer and employee loyalty.
As you must have guessed by now, I have become a big fan of the company, and for a person who has never had anything to do with the manufacturing industry or motorcycles, that’s saying a lot! My final post will wrap up my time at Harley-Davidson, and also have incredible pictures of my trip to Sturgis. Till then, have fun riding!
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