On April 1 st Bill George, former CEO of Medtronic and current professor at the
As part of his research at HBS, George has been conducting a leadership survey over the past several years, the results which have just been published in his new book “True North.” According to George, only 22% of the public trusts the leadership of corporate
George argues that leaders should not view the people in their companies as “the cost of doing business,” but rather as the essence of their organizations. He is troubled that leadership skills are referred to as “soft skills.” George argues that leadership skills are the hard skills, and that skills like finance and accounting, while quantitative, are not as hard as making decisions that impact the lives of thousands of employees (e.g., downsizing).
On a positive note, George suggests that there is a new generation of leadership (the post-Enron leadership), who acknowledge that corporate leaders need to be more authentic, and harmonize the needs to their companies with the needs of society at large. In conclusion, I thought that Bill George’s presentation was a thought-provoking analysis from someone who seemed to have a strong moral grounding.
1 comment:
George started that discussion by saying that his first book, Authentic Leadership, was more a dissertation on his own leadership experience and ascension to the top post Medtronic. We he started to formulate thoughts on a second book with leadership guru Warren Bennis, Bennis advised him to look outward and share examples of real, authentic leaders in practice today.
George's second book, True North, is just that, a compilation of anecdotal and personal vignettes from leaders at all levels. The book uses the metaphor of a compass to illustrate how staying aligned to your internal “north” makes you more successful and ultimately, as the individual stories tell, more satisfied.
The writings and the most recent lecture here in Minneapolis, are testaments to the fact that George is gracefully straddling stages six and seven of Bennis’ Seven Ages of Leaders – namely The Statesman and The Sage. While George continues to sit on three high-powered boards – Goldman, Exxon and Novartis, he also has come full-circle in a sense and is actively sharing that “invaluable, often subtle information” as Bennis calls it with his HBS classes and with those leaders who aspire to have the kind of professional and personal satisfaction and achievement George has enjoyed.
Agreed, as the dust continues to settle from the wrongs perpetrated by Fastow, Kozlowski and the like, it is refreshing to hear George exclaim that morality and internal alignment do have a place in Corporate America and their corner offices. Is it a trend or can long-term, sustainable success be built by having internal compasses all pointing in the same direction…
Post a Comment