COURAGEOUS GROWER
How John Deere fosters a culture of innovation
Impact
Fearless act
Empowering employees to power innovation.
In 2020, under the leadership of chairman and CEO John May, John Deere announced a new vision and operating model to accelerate the integration of smart technology into its agriculture, construction, and forestry products and solutions.
To help power transformation efforts, the company established the John Deere Fellows Program in 2015 to recognize individual employees who contribute to groundbreaking products for customers or fundamentally transform the way John Deere manufactures equipment. Among the 2023 fellows are a principal engineer who pioneered a new simulation method to ensure the quality and reliability of John Deere machines, and a staff engineer who utilizes AI to help create world-class products. To retain the talent to realize its innovation agenda, John Deere also measures morale every two weeks, asking employees involved in product development how they feel about the value they were able to contribute.¹
In the quarter ending July 30, 2023, John Deere reported a 60 percent rise in quarterly profit and raised its full-year earnings guidance for net income to $9.75 billion to $10 billion, from $9.25 billion to $9.50 billion.²
22.8%
xTSR 2016–2021
Brad Power, “Why John Deere measures employee morale every two weeks,” Harvard Business Review, May 24, 2016.
Bianca Flowers and Shivansh Tiwary, “Deere lifts outlook on profit beat, strong demand but shares still skid,” Reuters, August 18, 2023.
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