Leadership Development by Jolito Ortizo Padilla

Education and training in management needs to emphasise not only interpersonal skills but also a flexibility of approach, diagnostic ability and the realisation that the most effective form of leadership behavior is a product of the total leadership situation.

According to Investors in People,leadership development is not just a corporate issue: "The ability to create and communicate a clear vision ,and motivate people to deliver it, is as important to the small entrepreneur as to the leader of 1000 people. All organizations should be identifying the managers they will need in a few years' time and developing them. All top managers should be planning their succession and supporting the people who will step into their shoes when it's time to move on.

Extensive research undertaken by the GA Consultancy reveals that consistently poor ratings accorded to public sector leaders is a key cause for concern during a period of major reform.The survey of 1900 public sector managers, mostly at middle and junior level, reveals that only 33 percent of managers rate the leadership demonstrated by their most senior management team as high quality. Although a wide and varied range of training activities is taking place, the majority of managers perceive a low priority placed on leadership development. Only a quarter of respondents claimed their organizational budget for developing leaders is adequate and organizations are still tending to rely on traditional and formalized methods of developing leaders.

Referring to action centered leadership model, Padilla  identifies seven key principles of leadership development that can be applied successfully in different kinds of organizations in both public and private sectors:

• Development of strategy for leadership for each of the three level of leadership -operational, strategic and team.
• Selection of those with high potential for becoming effective leaders.
• Training for leadership that implies instruction with specific end in view. Identify your business training needs in the leadership context and assign priorities.
• Career development through giving person the right job at the right time. People grow as leaders through the actual practice of leading.
• Line managers as leadership developers by developing the individuals potential and sharing their knowledge of leadership.
• Corporate culture that is valued at all levels and should encourage a climate of self development in leadership.
• The chief who should be  leading from the front and who owns the problem of growing leaders.

The seven principles are complementary and are likely to have a synergistic effect if applied as a whole. Although a simple framework, Padilla maintains the seven the principles from the first coherent and effective approach for growing leaders.

GA Consultancy report found that around a third of employees surveyed had never worked for, or been motivated by an exceptional leader.

The leadership jigsaw has six interlinking pieces: vision , example , relationship, motivation, empowerment and communications as a guide to the measurement and development of leadership skills.

Vision -Do you:

• Work hard at communicating your vision for the organization to all staff at  all  levels?
• Understand that your vision must appeal to your staff at both an emotional and practical level if they are to join you on your journey?
• Understand the culture and value of your organization and their impact on its future development?
• Recognized blind alleys?

Motivation-Do you:

• Understand that every member has a different set of motivational stimuli?
• Explain your decisions in terms of their benefit to the organization and its members?
• Celebrate and reward individual and team achievements?
• Prefer offer carrot, rather than weird sticks?

Example- Do you:

• Match your words with your actions?
• Take full responsibility for organizational problems even if you were not directly responsible?
• Occasionally muck in when your staff are under pressure at work?
• Regularly consider what you see in the bathroom mirror?

Empowerment- Do you:

• Believe that people generally respond well when given greater responsibility for their own performance?
• Allocate sufficient resources to training and development?
• Get a buzz when staff set and achieve their own goal?
• Realize that the organization would still function if you were not there?

Relationship-Do you:

• Work hard at countering a them and u s' culture within your organization?
• Set clear codes of acceptable conduct and take action against breaches of them?
• Stress that everyone contributes to the success of the team(s) they belong to?
• Admit when you make a mistake?

Communications- Do you:

• Use your influence to encourage two-way communications at all levels in your organization?
• Encourage personal contact rather than written, mechanical or technological alternatives?
• Encourage diversity of opinion and constructive criticism?
• Walk the talk!

Guidelines for Effective Strategic Management by Jolito Ortizo Padilla

Failing to follow certain guidelines in conducting strategic management can foster criticisms of the process and create problems for the organization. Issues such as as "Is strategic management in our firm a people process or a a paper process?' should he addressed.

An important guideline for effective strategic management is open-mindedness. A willingness and eagerness to consider new information, new viewpoints, new ideas, and new possibilities is essential; all organizational members must be share a spirit of inquiry and learning. Strategists such as chief executive officers, presidents, owners of small businesses,and heads of government agencies must commit themselves to listen to and understand managers' satisfaction. In addition, managers and employees throughout the firm should be able to describe the strategists' positions to the satisfaction of the strategists. This degree of discipline will promote understanding and learning.

No organization has unlimited resources. No firm can take on an unlimited amount of debt of issue an unlimited amount of stock to raise capital. Therefore, no organization can pursue all the the strategies that potentially could benefit the firm. Strategies decision thus always have to be made to eliminate some courses of action and to allocate organizational resources among others. Most organizations can afford to pursue only a few corporate level strategies at any given time. It is critical mistake for managers to pursue too many strategies at the same time, thereby spreading the firms resources so thin that all strategies are jeopardized.

Strategic decisions require trade-off such as long range versus short range considerations or maximizing profits versus increasing shareholders' wealth. There are ethics issues too. Strategy trade-offs require subjective judgments and preferences. In many cases, a lack of objectivity in formulating strategy results in a loss of competitive posture and profitability. Most organizations today recognize that strategic management concepts and techniques can enhance the effectiveness of decisions.Subjective factors such as attitudes toward risk, concern for social organizations need to be objective as possible in considering qualitative factors.

Jolito Ortizo Padilla on his book Strategic Management - Proper Perspectives-2nd Edition summarizes the important guidelines for the strategic planning to be effective;

1. It should be people process more than a paper process.
2. It should be a learning process for all managers and employees.
3. It should be words supported by numbers rather than number supported by words.
4. It should be simple and non routine.
5. It should vary assignments, team memberships, meeting formats, and even the planning calendar.
6. It should challenge the assumptions underlying the currently corporate strategy.
7. It should welcome bad news.
8. It should welcome open-mindedness and a spirit of inquiry and learning.
9. It should not be a bureaucratic mechanism.
10. It should not become ritualistic, stilted, or orchestrated.
11. It should not be too formal, predictable , or rigid.
12. It should not contain jargon or arcane planning language.
13. It should not be formal system for control.
14. It should not disregard qualitative information.
15. It should be controlled by "technicians".
16. Do not pursue too many strategy at once.
17. Continually strengthen the "good ethics is good business" policy.

Even the most technically perfect strategic plan will serve little purpose if it is not implemented. Many organizations tend to spend an inordinate amount of time, money, and effort on developing the strategic plan, treating the means and circumstances under which it will be implemented as afterthoughts. Change comes through the implementation and evaluation, not through the plan. A technically imperfect plan that is implemented well will achieve more than the perfect plan that never gets off the paper on which it is type.

Strategic management must not become a self perpetuating bureaucratic mechanism. Rather, it must be a self-reflective learning process that familiarizes managers and employees in the organization with key strategic issues and feasible alternatives for resolving those issues. Strategic management must not become ritualistic, stilted , orchestrated , of too formal, predictable, and rigid. Words supported by numbers, rather than numbers supported by words , should represent the medium for explaining strategic issues and organizational responses. A key role of strategists is to facilitate continuous organizational learning and change.

The Leadership Relationship by Jolito Ortizo Padilla

Whatever the perceived approach to leadership, the most important point is the nature of the leadership and the manner in which the leader influences the behavior and actions of other people.

Leadership is a dynamic form of behavior and there are a number of variables that affect the leadership relationship. Four major variables are identified by McGregor as:

• the characteristics of the leader
• the attitude, needs and other personal characteristics of the followers
• the nature of the organization, such as its purpose, its structure, the tasks to be performed;and
• the social, economic and political environment

McGregor concludes that "leadership is not a property of the individual, but a complex relationship among these variables".

According to Kouzes and Postner, credibility is the foundation of leadership. From extensive research in over 30 countries and response to the question of what people " look for and admire in a leader, in a person whose direction they would willingly follow", people have consistently replied that they want;

" leaders who exemplify four qualities: they want them to be honest , forward -looking, inspiring and competent. In our research our respondents strongly agree that they want leaders with integrity and trustworthiness, with vision and a sense of direction , with enthusiasm and passion, and with expertise and a track record for getting things done".

Fullen refers to the importance of relationship building as a basic component of the change process and effective leadership: "Leaders must consummate relationship builders with diverse people and group-especially with people different from themselves.Effective leaders constantly foster purposeful interaction and problem solving, and are wary of easy consensus".

Within an organization, leadership influence will be dependent upon their type of power that the leader can exercise over the followers. The exercise of power is a social process which helps to explain how different people can influence the behavior/actions of others. Five main sources of power upon which the influence of the leaders is based have been identified by French and Raven as reward power, coercive, legitimate power and expert power. We shall consider these in terms of the manger and subordinate relationship.

• Reward Power is based on the subordinates perception that the leader has the ability and resources to obtain rewards for those who comply with directives, for example, pay promotion , praise, recognition , increased responsibilities , allocation and arrangement of work, granting of privilege.
• Coercive power is based on fear and the subordinates perception that the leader has the ability to punish or to bring about undesirable duties or outcomes for those who do not comply with directives; for example, withholding pay rises, promotion or privileges; allocation of undesirable duties and responsibilities; withdrawal of friendship or support; formal reprimand or possibly dismissal. This is in effect the opposite of reward power.
• Legitimate power is based on the subordinates perception that the leader has the right to exercise influence because of the leader's role or position in the organization. Legitimate power is based on authority , for example that of the managers and supervisors within the hierarchical structure of an organization. Legitimate power is therefore power because it is based on the role of the leader organization and not in the nature of the personal relationships with others.
• Referent power is based on subordinates identification with the leader. The leader exercises influence because of the perceived attractiveness, personal characteristics, reputation or what is called "charisma" . For example , a particular manager may not be in a position to reward or punish certain subordinates because the manager commands their respect or esteem.
• Expert power is based on the subordinates perception of the leader as someone who is competent and who has some special knowledge or expertise in a given area. Expert power is based on credibility and clear evidence of knowledge or expertise; for example, the expert knowledge of "functional" specialists such as the personnel manager, management accountant or systems analyst. The expert power is usually limited to narrow , well defined areas or specialisms.

Finlay suggests that in addition to the five sources of power identified by French and Raven can be added:

• personal power, supported and trusted by their colleagues and subordinates; and
• connection power,which results from personal and professional access to key people and information.

It is important to note that these sources of power are based on the subordinates perception of the influence of the leader, whether it is real or not. For example,if a leader has the ability to control rewards and punishments but subordinates do not believe this, then in effect the leader has no reward or coercive power. Similarly, if subordinates in a line department believe a manager, in a different staff department has executive authority over them then even if, de facto , that manager has no such authority there is still a perceived legitimate power.

French and Raven point out that the five sources of power are interrelated and the use of one type of power, for example, coercive may affect the ability to use another type of power for example. referent.Furthermore ,the same person may exercise different types of power, in particular circumstances and at different times.

" You have to look at leadership through the eyes of the followers and you have to live the message.What I have learned is that people become motivated when you guide them to the source of their own power and when you make out of employees who personify what you want to see in the organization".

                                                         Jolito Ortizo Padilla

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Organization and Judgement by Jolito Ortizo Padilla

The way in which we organize and make judgements about what we have perceived is to a large extent based on our previous experience and learning. It is also important at this point to be aware of the inferences and assumptions we make which go beyond the information given. We may not always be aware of our pre-set assumption but they will guide the way in which we interpret the behavior of others. There has been much research into the impact of implicit personality theory. In the same way that we make assumptions about the world of objects and go beyond the information provided, we also make critical inferences about people's characteristics and possible likely behaviors.

A manager might well know more the "type of person" A- a member of staff who has become or was already a good friend, who is seen in a variety of social situations and with whom there is a close relationship - than about B-another member of staff , in the same section as A and undertaking similar duties, but with whom there is only a formal work relationship and a limited social acquaintance. These differences in relationship, information and interaction might well influence the manager's perception if asked, fro example, to evaluate the work performance of A and B.

Judgement of other people can also be influenced by perceptions of such stimuli as:

• role or status
• occupation
• physical factors and appearance: and
• non-verbal communication and body language

In a discussion on managing people and management style, Padilla raises a question of how managers make judgements on those they are responsible including positive and negative messages.

   In my personal research people have admitted , under pressure that certain physical characteristics tend to convey a positive or negative message. For example, some people find red hair, earrings for men, certain scents and odors, someone too tall or too short; a disability; a member of a particular ethnic group and countless other items as negative .... Similarly there will be positive factors such as appropriate or dress for the occasion.... which may influence in a positive way.

A person may tend to organise perception of another person in terms of the whole mental picture of that person. Perceptual judgement is influenced by reference to related characteristics associated with the person and the attempt to place that person in a complete environment. In one example, an unknown visitor was introduced by the course director to 110 Singaporean students, divided into five equal groups. The visitor was described differently to each group as:

1. Ms. Alicando, a student from Harvard;
2. Ms. Alicando, demonstrator in psychology from Harvard;
3. Ms. Alicando, lecturer in psychology from Harvard;
4. Dr. Alicando, senior lecturer from Harvard;
5. Professor Alicando from Harvard.

Several popular surveys and newspaper articles appear to support the suggestion that tall men are more likely to be successful professionally and earn higher salaries than short men

Non-verbal communications and body language includes inferences drawn from posture, gestures, touch, invasions of personal space, extent of eye contact , tone, voice or facial expression. People are the only animals that speak, laugh and weep. Actions are more cogent than speech and human rely heavily on body language to convey their true feeling and meanings. It is interesting to note how emotions are woven creatively into email messages. Using keyboard signs in new combinations has led to a new e-language- to signal pleasure:), or unhappiness :-c, or send a rose @>---> encapsulate feelings as well as words. The growth of this practice has led to an upsurge of web replete with examples.

According to Mehrabian, in our face to face communication with other people the messages about our feelings and attitudes come only 7 percent from the words we use, 38 percent from our voice and 55 percent from body language, including facial expressions, Significantly, when body language such as gestures and tone of voice conflicts with the words, greater emphasis is likely to be placed on the non-verbal messages.

Padilla suggests that in the a sense, we are all experts on body language already and this part of the survival instinct:

Even in a "safe" environment like an office or meeting room you will feel a pull on your gaze each time someone new enters the room. And whether you want to or not, you will start to from opinions about a person in as little as three seconds. You can try to be fair and objective in your evaluation, but you will have little choice. This is an area where the subconscious mind bullies the conscious into submission. Like dislike, trust, love or lust can all be promoted in as long as it takes to clear your throat. In fact most of these responses will be based on your perception of how the person looks.

In our perceptions and judgment of others it is important therefore to watch and take careful note of their non-verbal communication. However, although body language may be a guide to personally, errors can easily arise if too much is inferred from a single message rather than related cluster of actions.According to Fletcher ,"You won't learn to interpret people's body language accurately , and use your own to maximum effect, without working at it. If you consciously spend half an hour a day analysing people's subconscious movements , you'll soon learn how to do it-almost unconsciously. However, as Mann points out, with a little knowledge about the subject is all too easy to become body conscious. Posture and gesture can unmask deceivers, but it would be dangerous to assume that everyone who avoids eye contact or rubs their nose is a fibber. Nevertheless an understanding of non-verbal communication is essential for managers and other professions where good communications skills are essential.

Transactional Analysis by Jolito Ortizo Padilla

Transactional Analysis is one of the most popular ways of explaining the dynamics of interpersonal communications. Originally developed by Eric Berne, it is a model of people and relationships that encompasses personality, perception and communication.Although Berne used it initially as a method of psychotherapy, it has been convincingly used by organizations as a training and development programme.

TA has two basic underlying assumptions:

• All the events and feelings that we have ever experienced are stored within us and can be replayed, so we can re-experience the events and the feelings of all past years.
• Personality is made up of three ego states that are revealed in distinct ways of behaving. The ego states manifest themselves in gesture, tone of voice and action, almost as if they are different people within us and they converse with each other in transactions either overtly and covertly.

Berne identified and labelled the ego states as follows, each with their own system of communication and language:

• Adult ego states- behavior that concern out thought processes and the processing of information. In this state we may be objective, rational, reasonable-seeking information and receiving facts.
• Parent ego state-behavior that concerns the attitudes, feelings and behavior incorporated from external sources, primarily our parents. This state refers to feelings about right and wrong and how to care for other people.
• Child ego state- behavior that demonstrates the feelings we remember as a child. This state may be associated with having fun, playing, impulsiveness, rebelliousness, spontaneous behavior and emotional response.

Berne believe these transactions, that take place in face to face exchanges and verbal communication, form the core of human relationships. He claimed that the three ego states exist simultaneously within each individual, although at any particular time any one state may dominate the other two. All people are said to behave in each of these states at different times. We may be unaware which ego state we are operating in and may shift from one another.

We all have a preferred ego state which may revert to: some individuals may continually advise and criticise others(the constant Parents); some may analyze , live only with facts and distrust feelings( the constant Adult); some operate with strong feelings all the time, consumed with anger or constantly clowning (the constant Child). Berne emphasized that the states should be judged as superior or inferior but as different. Analysis of ego states may reveal why communication breaks down or why individual may feel manipulated or used.

Berne insists that it is possible to identify the ego state from the word, voice, gestures, and attitude of the person communicating. For example, it would be possible to discuss to discern the ego state of the manager, if they said the following:

" Pass me the file on the latest sales figure"
" How do you think we could improve our safety record?
(Adult ego state)

" Let me help you with that-I can see you are struggling"
" Look , this is the way it should be done; how many more times do I have to tell you?
(Parent ego state)

" Great, it's Friday. Who's coming to the pub for a quick half?
" That's a terrific idea-let's go for it"
(Child ego state)

A dialogue can be analyzed in terms not only of the ego state but also whether the transaction produced a complementary reaction or a crossed reaction. Complementary means that the ego state was expected and preferred response. So for instance, if we look at the first statement, "Pass me the file on the latest figures, the subordinates could respond: "Certainly- I have it here' Adult ego state) or " Can't you look for it yourself? I only gave it to you an hour ago' (Parent ego state).

The first response was complementary whereas the second was a crossed transaction. Sometimes it ma be important to cross a transaction. Take the example "Let me help you with that- I can see you struggling' (Parent ego state) The manager may have a habit of always helping in a condescending way, making the subordinate resentful. If the subordinate meekly accepts the help with a thankful reply, this will reinforce the manager's perception and attitude, whereas if the subordinate were to respond with "I can manage perfectly well. Why did you think I was struggling ?, it might encourage the manager to respond from the Adult ego state and thus move their ego position.

Knowledge of TA can be of benefit to employees who are dealing with potentially difficult situations. In the majority of work situations the Adult-Adult transactions are likely to be norm. Where work colleagues perceive and respond by adopting the Adult ego state , such a transaction is more likely to encourage a rational, problem -solving approach and reduce the possibility of emotional conflict.

If only the world of work was always of the rational logical kind. Communications at work as elsewhere are sometimes unclear and confused, and can leave the individual with bad feelings and uncertainty. Berne describes a further dysfunctional transaction, which can occur when a message is sent to two ego states at the same time. For instance, an individual may say " I passed that article to you last week, have you read it? This appears to be an adult to adult transaction and yet the tone of voice or the facial expressions might imply a second ego state. is involved. The underlying message says, Haven't you even read that yet... you know how busy I am and yet I had time to read it! The critical Parent is addressing the Child ego state. In such " ulterior transactions" the social message is typically adult to adult and the ulterior , psychological message is directed either Parent-Child or Child- Parent.

Given the incidence of stress in the workplace, analysis of communications occurring within the workplace. TA can aid the understanding of human behavior. It can help to improve communication skills by assisting in interpreting a person's ego state and which form of state is likely to produce the most appropriate response. This should lead to an improvement in both customer relations and management -subordinate relations. Therefore TA can be seen as valuable tool to aid our understanding of social situations and the games that people play both in and outside work organization.

Collaboration by Jolito Ortizo Padilla

                                                      
Collaboration is one of those words that immediately makes us feel good because it implies friendship and giving. We all enjoy collaborative events: a warm fire or barbecue, family and friends all together for a birthday or an anniversary. Yet a failure rate of collaboration in business is incredibly high.

Collaboration works when we know and trust each other, but the moment someone takes something without asking that trust is eroded.

GA Consultancy survey of nearly 800 country in 2011 showed a major consensus that collaboration was the most fundamental activity for successful innovation. This is because no company in these times can own all the knowledge it needs for new products or services. Our world is moving too fast. Knowledge is growing too rapidly.

In the later stages of innovation , product development and new product introduction, we tend to operate in close or "cluster" networks. Trust is higher ,communication better and collaboration is more successful. It is in the early stage of the innovation process where collaboration is more difficult. This is where diverse and dispersed networks are needed and because of this trust levels are lower. The raw material of innovation is less tangible in these early stages and so accusations of intellectual property theft become prevalent.

As an antidote to IP theft, company engage in legal and financial  negotiations and yet this is not the answer.

When we meet new collaborators we engage in the early discovery process and this is exciting. We tend to ignore the aspects of the other person that are different. Instead constantly look for common grounds. When we initiate collaboration we need to fully understand the behavior of our new best friend. It is vital to invest time in understanding diversity and why other people do things differently.

My book, Strategic Management: Putting Things In Proper Perspectives , 2nd edition, 2012, has been adopted as the course book for an innovation course in Asia. Before  engaging in innovation projects students use a self assessment tool on the book to better understand the different modes of behavior in their diverse project teams

My work with ISO engages me in collaborative work with people around the world and I form friendships with some far more easily than others. To quote an old saying, "my roots are showing" and I gravitate easily towards people who have a Filipino and a Duensanon-Ilongo heritage like myself..

It's those Duenasanon-Ilongo roots which makes us feel safe, share the same jokes and trust each other. We naturally gravitate to people who mirror our own values and behaviors. As result we form closed or " cluster" networks very easily. These networks are great for getting things done, but are not good for generating new ideas.

For successful innovation, comfortable collaboration doesn't give the essential jolt that releases new ideas. In the ISO technical committee to which I belong , we get that jolt from other cultures whether it is China, Germany, Japan or Mexico. We learn to work with different cultures and I have made many great friends over the years from across the globe. If you want to develop new ideas you have mix with people who may be outside your comfort zone , take time to understand them and freely give your ideas to them in order to get ideas back from them.

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The Size of the Population:Is it a Problem? by Jolito Ortizo Padilla

Many argue that the planet is already over-populated with 6.7 billion inhabitants. Growth to 9 or 10 billion will be unsustainable. There is a number of arguments put forward to sustain this proposition.

Malthus was an early nineteenth century British economist who put forward " the iron law of wages".He argued that the food supply could only increase arithmetically over time (e.g. 2,4,6,8,10...) while the population would grow geometrically (2.4,16, 256...). The result would inevitably be poverty trap. This was because a rise in wages would lead to more children surviving into adulthood.This would increase the supply of labor, driving down wages, with more children starving to death. In equilibrium, most of the population can only live at subsistence level.

Malthusian economics has proved to be incorrect in the developed world. World food supply has more than kept pace with population growth. In the developed world, average daily calorie intake is more than twice what it was 100 years ago. Modern day Malthusian argue that the pace of technological change cannot be kept up. Farmers cannot increase their yields per acre forever by improving the land, applying more fertilizers and developing better strains. There has to be a limit to how much food the planet can grow. Critics of this view say about two and one half percent annually for 100 years, more than outstripping population growth. Why should this trend not continue? Moreover, the developed countries of the world already have the potential to grow more food than is currently being produced. The objectives of the USA, Canada and the EU are to restrict food production from current levels. Food is not a physical problem today, it is a market problem. Starvation occurs because consumers don't have the money to buy food, not because it cannot be produced.

GNP of the developing countries of the world grew at an average annual rate of 3.5 percent in the 2000. Yet average population growth over the same period was 3.2 percent.Growth percapita was  therefore 0.3 percent. Almost all the developing world's increased resources during this decade were needed to provide for a growth in the population. Is this typical? On GA Consultancy grounds, it is very much what is to be expected. Increased incomes lead to increase population, leaving the mass of the population at subsistence level. Critics of this view point out that countries do break out of this cycle. France, Germany and the UK all had high economic growth in the nineteenth century but economic growth per capital was positive. Equally between 2008 to 2011 , the GNP of developing countries grew by an average annual of 5.7 percent but annual population growth was only 1.3 percent. Low income countries performed better than this, averaging GNP growth of 6.5 percent whilst population only rose 1.9 percent per annum. So high growth per capita is possible with the appropriate policies.

Even if the growth in food production and in production of all other goods exceeds population growth , this is not environmentally sustainable.Giving every household in the world a refrigerator would do irretrievable damage to the ozone layer when those refrigerators are thrown away. Giving every household a car would lead to global warming on a scale not even predicted today. Constant intensive farm production would lead to permanent degradation of farm lands. Pressure for living space would result in the destruction of countless species of plant and animal, reducing bio-diversity, with unpredictable effects on the environment and on the human species.

For these reasons, economists argue that development must be sustainable development. The 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development stated that development needed to meet "the needs of the present generation without compromising the needs of future generations. In economic terms, this means maximizing the net welfare of economic activities, while maintaining or increasing the stock of economic, ecological and sociocultural assets over time and providing a safety net to meet basic needs and protect the poor. Meeting today's needs should not rob the next generation of the ability to grow and develop. Successful efforts by First World countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, ban CFCs and recycle materials show that sustainable development is possible when threats to the environment are clearly identified.