Bill George: Leaders Need High Emotional IQ to Succeed
Stanford Graduate School of Business2011-11-22
Bill George mission years groups#group Business characteristics#program decompartmentalize world. Organizations compassion companies#companies. introspection#difference differentiating school Michael Porter country#talk to. cufflinks people twitter society innovator closer CEO passion leader business Patients leadership leader. Surgery training repeating experience place promotion Campus company. company#threatening opportunities#discernment#course#pharmaceutical service opportunity
94K views|12 years ago
💫 Short Summary
The video highlights the importance of authentic leadership, focusing on long-term success and building great companies based on sound principles. It emphasizes the value of aligning people with the company's mission and values, prioritizing quality, service, collaboration, and empowering leaders. The speaker shares personal stories and challenges to illustrate the key points, encouraging individuals to reflect on their legacy and make a positive impact on the world. The video also discusses the significance of emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and surrounding oneself with a supportive group for personal and professional growth.
✨ Highlights
📊 Transcript
✦
Importance of Mission and Purpose in Leadership
01:27Reflects on past experiences at Medtronic and stresses the significance of focusing on a company's mission rather than financial metrics.
Challenges Faced by Leaders
Discusses challenges such as corporate scandals and flawed economic theories that have impacted leadership in the past decade.
Prioritizing Long-Term Success
Encourages new leaders to prioritize long-term success over short-term gains and shift towards building great companies on sound principles.
✦
Prioritizing integrity over charisma and image is essential for leadership.
04:30Leaders should prioritize the organization and focus on constant self-improvement.
Practical experience plays a crucial role in leadership development.
Aspiring to make a positive impact on the world and address global challenges collaboratively.
Becoming a leader who can unite people and drive meaningful global change is key.
✦
Importance of Collaborative Leadership Styles
07:29Leadership styles have evolved from hierarchical to collaborative and inclusive approaches over generations.
Knowledgeable and talented individuals are essential in leadership positions.
Purpose and meaning in the workplace are crucial beyond monetary incentives.
Connecting employees to the organization's mission and values is vital for success.
✦
Importance of Leadership and Empowerment in the 21st Century.
10:12A story is shared about a person with cerebral palsy who received a treatment that improved his quality of life but did not cure him.
Leadership should focus on aligning people with the company's mission and values.
Empowerment is emphasized over exerting power in leadership roles.
Personal experience visiting a Medtronic company in California that produces heart valves from pigs' hearts is shared.
✦
Leadership is about quality, service, and collaboration.
12:59A valve maker ensures 100% quality to save lives.
Empowered leaders are crucial in organizations.
Serving people and customers is key for creating shareholder value.
Collaboration and alignment around mission values are essential for success.
✦
Leadership lessons learned from personal experiences and challenges.
15:58Dick emphasized the value of relationships and excellence in organizations.
Dan Vasella, CEO of Novartis, faced severe challenges including illness and family tragedies.
Vasella's personal experiences influenced his compassionate approach to leadership in the pharmaceutical industry.
Prioritizing patient care and showing empathy towards others are key aspects of leadership.
✦
Speaker reflects on father's aspirations and leadership journey.
21:10Childhood experiences of high expectations instilled by father.
Learned to prioritize relationships over ambition for personal growth.
Found fulfillment in building and growing businesses after career moves.
Emphasizes importance of customer and employee engagement in leadership approach.
✦
Speaker reflects on pivotal moment leading to career change.
22:55Despite external success, speaker realizes unhappiness in corporate role.
Wife's feedback ignored, leading to seeking advice from men's group.
Bold career move to become president of a company results in feeling at home.
Decision marks turning point in professional life, leading to 13 successful years and personal growth.
✦
Importance of self-awareness in leadership and emotional intelligence.
25:46Experience is crucial but must be accompanied by reflection to avoid repeating mistakes.
Methods for introspection include meditation, exercise, and talking to a trusted individual.
Emphasize regularly assessing alignment with desired path and staying true to oneself.
Highlight the value of surrounding oneself with a supportive group for personal and professional growth.
✦
Importance of small group discussions in leadership development.
27:45Executives benefit more from intimate settings than traditional methods.
Personal anecdotes highlight the significance of close-knit groups for support during challenging times.
True North Groups are introduced to cultivate genuine connections and guide individuals in staying true to their beliefs.
Integrating personal and professional life is emphasized for authenticity and consistency in all aspects of life.
✦
Importance of Leadership Development and Making a Difference.
31:22Leadership gifts should be used to create a positive impact in the world.
Quoting Robert F. Kennedy, the speaker emphasizes the power of individual actions in shaping history.
Encouragement to create shared value for society through authentic and sustainable leadership.
Reflection on the legacy individuals will leave behind to contribute to making the world a better place.
✦
Balancing human health and shareholder value in business.
33:58Emphasizes addressing quality problems and staying true to long-term goals.
Need for transparent and ethical dealing with challenges, using General Motors and Sears Roebuck as examples.
Importance of maintaining company values, referencing the downfall of Hewlett Packard.
Creating shareholder value through delivering value to patients.
✦
Importance of Authentic Leadership and Balancing Learning and Transforming Styles.
36:41Emphasizes building on strengths and managing weaknesses, surrounding oneself with complementary individuals.
Shares personal experiences learning from diverse industries and recognizing limitations.
Discusses trade-off between being likeable and respected as a leader, prioritizing kindness and thoughtfulness while making tough decisions.
Highlights the necessity of making hard calls while maintaining authenticity.
✦
Importance of Tough Decisions in Business
40:00Avoiding conflict by prioritizing being liked can hinder effective leadership.
Staying connected with all levels of the organization, including salespeople and consumers, is crucial for leadership.
Reduce administrative layers and focus on those directly serving customers and innovating.
Constant communication about mission and values is essential for resonating with employees and maintaining strong company culture.
✦
Importance of Balancing Mission Alignment and Leadership Development.
43:05Strong mission alignment with organizations is crucial for success.
Gaining leadership experience and testing oneself is valuable for personal growth.
Criticism of leadership development programs for prioritizing acculturation over individual growth.
Acknowledgment of Steve Jobs as a great innovator who learned from failures and difficult experiences.
✦
Steve Jobs learned from past experiences to lead Apple better in Act 3, despite still having flaws.
44:51He surrounded himself with emotionally intelligent people like Johnny Ive and Tim Cook.
Jobs focused on empowering people by finding their passions and giving them opportunities to make a difference.
The conversation also touches on aligning public and private interests, referencing new corporate legislation for B corporations in multiple states to create public benefits without solely focusing on profit.
This trend aligns with Porter's article advocating for businesses to create value for society first.
✦
Importance of authentic decision-making and pursuing personal fulfillment.
49:20Advises against prioritizing highest paying job and shares insights from experience.
Focus on not living someone else's dream and taking time to find the right place.
Encourages audience to reflect and not settle for unsatisfying work.
Emphasizes following one's own aspirations and references Steve Jobs' advice on emotional intelligence.
✦
Importance of Following Your Inner Voice
51:00The speaker stresses the significance of not allowing external influences to overshadow your own thoughts and beliefs.
It is crucial to trust your instincts and make decisions based on your own intuition.
Following your heart and intuition can lead to a fulfilling life and have a positive impact on the world.
00:07I'm thrilled to be back.
00:09This is a fantastic place.
00:11Congratulations on your new campus.
00:13So now that we can no longer say at
Harvard we have a beautiful campus to
00:16offset our bad weather
because you've got both.
00:19>> [LAUGH]
>> But it's a pleasure to be here and
00:21I did meet Peter Simp by the way.
00:23Peter has an excelent new book out called
Little Bets that he wrote on his own.
00:27Talking about the importance of how
real innovation should take place in
00:30organizations.
00:31And making small bets instead of betting
the farm on one large R and D program.
00:40But I've had, it's interesting,
I see myself as a leader but
00:45the last ten years I haven't led anything.
00:47But I'm really excited about having
a chance to work with leaders like you.
00:50And I've decided to devote myself for
this period of my life to that.
00:54Because we've gone through what I would
call a rough patch in leadership.
01:00When I was at Medtronic,
we had the wind at our backs.
01:03That was the 90s,
when leaders were looked at as heroes and
01:06things were going our way.
01:08Innovation was popping up all over.
01:10We did innovate some major new medical
therapies at Medtronic for heart failure.
01:14And minimally invasive cardiac surgery and
Parkinson's and Cerebral Palsy and
01:19back pain and a lot of very,
very exciting things.
01:22But the thing I think I'm proud of as
Medtronic is we set a metric of saying
01:27instead of looking at our market cap,
our stock price, or revenues or profits.
01:31But how many people were
restored to full life and health,
01:34which is a mission at Medtronic.
01:36And we finally got it
down from a minute and
01:37a half, to the time I joined the company.
01:39Until the time I left down
to one every three seconds.
01:43So today, while we're sitting here
one of every minute that goes by,
01:47every 20 people being restored
by Medtronic product.
01:50And to me that's what it's all about.
01:52Because so
01:53many companies have lost sight of why
they went business in the first place.
01:57They lost site of their mission and
their purpose.
01:59In fact, I wrote an article recently for
02:01fortune talking about
leadership's lost decade.
02:04Because it's been a very rough
patch I think for leadership.
02:07And this is my generation, the fact, when
I left Medtronic it was about the time
02:12that we had the dot com decline,
but we also had Enron and WorldCom.
02:17And it wasn't just those
companies with corruption,
02:20it was the hundred companies that had to
restate billions of dollars of earnings.
02:24Because they had cooked the books and
destroyed a lot of truly great companies.
02:28Some of which are coming back,
like Xerox and Bristol Myers.
02:32But it was my generation of
leaders that led to that.
02:35And so my hope is that your generation of
leaders is going to do things differently
02:39and not get all caught
up in playing the game.
02:41I think we also got caught up on
a lot of flawed economic theories,
02:44the idea of shareholder
value maximization.
02:47Which morphed to short term
value maximization and
02:50destroyed much of the pharmaceutical,
the American pharmaceutical industry.
02:53because people were playing
the short term game.
02:55And the perfect market theory and
principal agency theory, and
02:58fortunately these theories we have
now realize the flaws in them.
03:02With the meltdown in 2008, which for
you must have come as a real shock.
03:07But I think it was actually
an appropriate awakening
03:10of what it takes to build great companies.
03:13And so
that's what I'd like to talk about today.
03:15In many, many cases,
I think the real essence of the problem
03:20was that we got caught up
with the leader as hero.
03:23And we tried to find a rock
star to run our companies.
03:27We often went outside to people
who didn't know the company.
03:29Didn't know the business.
03:30And boards honestly were choosing
the wrong leaders for the wrong reasons.
03:33They were choosing people more for
their charisma than their character.
03:36More for their style than their substance.
03:39And more for
their image than their integrity.
03:41Well, if you choose people for
things like image and
03:44style and charisma, why are you surprised
when you don't get people with integrity?
03:48And that's who we had.
03:49We put way too many leaders put their self
interests ahead of their institution.
03:54And to me, that's the greatest sin.
03:55I've never owned my own company.
03:57I suppose if you've owned your own,
you can do what you want to.
04:00Although, most people own their own
company have a very long term view.
04:04But I feel like you'll always have
to put the organization first.
04:08And anyone who doesn't do that and
rises to a high position,
04:12takes advantage of their power,
has really failed as a leader.
04:15And I think, so
many of these leaders failed.
04:18So, how is your generation
going to do it different?
04:21That's what I want to challenge you today.
04:23What kind of leader
are you going to become?
04:25And how are you going to
use your leadership gifts?
04:27So I have three questions for
you to think about.
04:30The first of all, is what kind
of leader do you want to become?
04:34And underneath that is, where do you find
the passion to lead in the first place?
04:39That's the first question.
04:40I just want you to reflect on this
because I'll come back to each of these.
04:42The second one, how are you going to
develop yourself as a leader?
04:46Leadership is like anything else,
you have to practice it every day.
04:50You don't just show up in a leadership
role at age 45 and think you can lead.
04:55I had my first opportunity to lead
an organization, [INAUDIBLE] Industries.
04:58That started the consumer microwave
oven business back in 1970,
05:02when I was 27 years old.
05:04Someone bet on me at a very young age and
I made a lot of mistakes.
05:07But I tell you,
it was a fabulous experience.
05:09You learn by having those experiences.
05:12You don't learn just by studying other
people's experience or studying textbooks,
05:16you learn by actually doing it.
05:18And so,
how are you going to develop yourself?
05:19If you're going to be a great athlete, you
certainly wouldn't play in the World Cup
05:22if you didn't practice every day or
ride in the Tour de France.
05:25Nor would you try to play the cello
at Carnegie Hall unless you
05:28practiced every day.
05:29Well, leadership is the same thing.
05:30So, I just urge you to get in to
leadership roles as soon as possible.
05:36And constantly be processing your
leadership, I'll talk more about that.
05:40And the third question,
most important of all,
05:43how are you going to make
a difference in the world?
05:46What do you want to do
to impact the world?
05:50We've seen many leaders right
in this geographic area,
05:53where people are doing it every day.
05:55How are you going to impact the world?
05:57Rather than giving yourself over to
somebody else telling you what to do,
06:00how are you going to make that impact?
06:02Because we desperately need
contributions of leaders.
06:05The complex problems we have today like
global peace, global health, education,
06:11the environment, energy policies,
healthcare cannot be solved.
06:17It cannot be solved by any one company,
one individual, any one sector.
06:24We really need people, collaborative
leaders who can bring people together,
06:28to really make a difference in the world.
06:30So that's the challenge I
want to give you today.
06:33So let me talk about how I think
leadership is going to be different
06:37in your generation.
06:38Because I think what I grew up with
was a hierarchical view of leadership,
06:42I didn't have that view but
that's what was visited on us.
06:44It came out of the two World Wars,
06:46the Great Depression, we thought
General Patton was some kind of hero.
06:50The all powerful person on top,
we venerated those leaders.
06:54And I think today, as a result,
06:57a lot of leaders created hierarchy,
bureaucracy, rules and regulations.
07:02You don't want to work in
those kind of organizations.
07:04I don't know any young leaders
today that want to work in that,
07:06in fact most have rejected that notion.
07:09And I think that's a good thing.
07:11You had knowledge workers working for you.
07:13And I used to say to people,
middle managers, if the people working for
07:17you don't know more than you do,
then you've got the wrong people.
07:20You need to get some new people.
07:21Because you want to have more talented
people around you than you are,
07:26in every single position.
07:29But I think the most important thing is,
in organizations today,
07:34we fooled ourselves by saying,
people are only interested in money.
07:37That may be true in some sectors,
that may be true at the top.
07:40But I can tell you, served on the board
of Target stores, 350,000 people.
07:45People make a dollar or
two over minimum wage.
07:47I can guarantee you, it isn’t just
about money, it’s about meaning,
07:51it’s about the purpose.
07:53Think about your work.
07:53You’re going to spend more time at work
than you do anything else in your life.
07:56More time with your families,
more time with your leisure time,
07:58probably more time you will sleeping.
08:01Don't you have the right to
have a meeting at your work?
08:03Doesn't everyone who works
in the organization?
08:05People are not just gnomes or
cogs in a wheel.
08:08You need to think about how
do you provide that meeting?
08:11At Medtronic, the most significant
thing we did is every December,
08:15we got all of our employees together.
08:17Minneapolis employees, as many you could
get into a large atrium auditorium.
08:21Not fancy like this, just a big
atrium area about 3, 4,000 people and
08:25these days 25 or 30,000 people watching
around the world and on web streaming.
08:30And we brought in six patients.
08:32And these six patients told their story
08:34of what it had meant to
have a Medtronic product.
08:36The doctors came with them and introduced
them, but they didn't tell the story.
08:40And it was a very impactful experience.
08:42I'll never forget the first one I went to.
08:435 people came up,
1 of them was a man in his 50s.
08:46Who had intractable back pain and
he failed five surgeries.
08:50And he actually said, I was an alcoholic,
drug addicted, anything to stop the pain.
08:55And then, he said,
then I got your stimulator, and
08:58he actually broke into tears.
09:00He said, it took my pain away.
09:01I just realized back last March, for
09:04the first time what it
was like to be pain free.
09:06First time in ten years.
09:08Then, a young boy came up who
is the same age as my son Jeff,
09:1118 years old from Pittsburgh,
but there the similarities end.
09:15He described it like he had
cerebral palsy from birth.
09:18Every year he had surgery.
09:20Finally, at 16, he denied future surgery.
09:22His body got very rigid and stiff,
09:24his motions quite spastic,
he had to pull out of a mainstream school.
09:28And then, he smiled and he patted his
belly and said, then I got your pump,
09:32it's my friendly ally.
09:33Which put an older drug directly into
his spinal column, and it restored him.
09:38It didn't take away his cerebral palsy,
but it gave him life.
09:41And he said, now I'm back in mainstream
school, I got rid of the wheelchair,
09:45I can walk in arm braces.
09:47His speech patterns are corrected,
I'm going to college next year,
09:50got a girlfriend.
09:51He wasn't correct,
he wasn't cured but he had a life.
09:57And that's when I got what
Medtronic really does,
09:59it was about the mission of the company.
10:02And that mission can apply to
any organization you work in,
10:04it can apply to financial services
organization, it can apply to a consulting
10:07firm, certainly it can apply with all
the high tech companies around here.
10:12So I'd like to describe 21st century
leadership in 4 words, very simply.
10:18Align, empower, serve, and collaborate.
10:21Let me describe briefly what
I mean by each of those.
10:24The toughest job a leader is
not getting the numbers right.
10:26I dare say any half dozen
of us could go off and
10:29figure out how to get the numbers right
for just about any company in the world.
10:33All you have to do is cut 20% of the
staff, reduce someone else's salary 10%,
10:37get rid of bonuses, cut the R&D 30%,
cut the marketing 20.
10:40And I'll guarantee you
the stock price will go up.
10:44That's what's happening at
Pfizer right now, real time.
10:47But you want to have a company,
if you do that.
10:51The toughest job of leadership is getting
people aligned around the mission and
10:55values of the company.
10:56And how else can it be?
10:57Think about it.
10:58What's the hardest job we have?
10:59Running a global company.
11:00You got people all around the world
that are raised in different cultures.
11:03You're expanding quickly in Brazil,
or in China, or in India.
11:07And you have to convince
people that your mission and
11:09your values are really essential
to the future of the company.
11:13You can't run multiple
value systems in a company.
11:15You can have different norms but
you have to have one value set.
11:19So that people can work collaboratively,
all around the globe.
11:23The second thing, is leadership is not
about exerting power over other people.
11:27That's a very old fashioned notion.
11:29The most popular course at Harvard
used to be power and influence,
11:32now no one takes it.
11:33It's about having the capacity to empower
other people to step up and lead.
11:37And I'll guarantee you, an organization
of empowered people from top to bottom
11:41will out-compete a tops down
power-based organization every time.
11:45Think about where you want to work.
11:47And so,
are you that kind of empowering leader?
11:49I remember visiting a company,
a Medtronic company,
11:52out in Southern California in Irvine.
11:54They make heart valves.
11:55They take pigs' hearts and about one out
of every ten pigs' hearts produce a valve
11:59that can be used to replace a failed
human aortic or mitral valve.
12:04And this was heavily backlogged.
12:05Took 18 months to train new workers.
12:07A lot of newly immigrated
immigrants from Southeast Asia, and
12:12I met the top worker in the facility,
a woman named Trin.
12:14She was from Laos.
12:15And so,
she had all her tools on the bench.
12:17I said Trin, I'm trained as an industrial
engineer, tell me how you do your work
12:20because we need to accelerate this,
make it more of a science than an art.
12:23She wouldn't look down at her bench.
12:24She said, Mr. George,
let me tell you something.
12:26My job is to make heart valves
that save someone's life, and
12:29if I do that job well,
a lot of people can be restored.
12:33She said, I make 1,000 valves a year,
I make the quality decisions here.
12:36We've got a manual, but my criteria,
is that valve good enough for
12:41my father, my husband, or my daughter?
12:45And if it's not, it doesn't get by me.
12:47She said, for you,
99.9% quality is considered very good.
12:53But if one of the valves I make fails,
someone's going to die, and
12:56I could never live with that.
12:57So every one of those 1,000
valves has got to be perfect.
13:00But she said, you know what I think,
Will, when I go home at night?
13:02I'm thinking about those 5,000 people who
are alive and well in the world today,
13:07because of the heart valves I made.
13:09Now, this woman has no direct reports.
13:11Do any of you doubt that
she's an empowered person?
13:13She's actually an empowered leader,
13:15because she's the one that
people go to for quality advice.
13:18She's the one that does
the training in the facility.
13:21So leadership today is about having people
like Trin throughout your organizations,
13:25to empower other people to step up and
lead.
13:27That's the only way we're going to
have great organizations.
13:30The third thing is,
leadership is about service.
13:34It's not to serve the shareholder,
it's to serve the people, the customers,
13:39the patients, the clients that you serve,
that's what it's about.
13:42It's not serving the shareholder, and
13:44if you don't get that, your company
will never create shareholder value.
13:47If you get that, if you create better
products, and any company today that can't
13:52make a product that offers better value,
better technology, better innovation, or
13:56better services than their competitors
eventually go out of business.
13:59Look at General Motors,
it took 50 years to go out of business.
14:02But it was sure as you can stand here,
14:05they had to go out of business
before they could get it right.
14:08Because they didn't understand
whom they were serving.
14:10The fourth thing is,
leadership is about collaboration.
14:15And the new model is,
how do we have a collaborative model?
14:18Sam Pomasano is one of the pioneers
that IBM did this about seven years ago.
14:22And he changed IBM away from a hierarchy
model into a fully collaborative model.
14:28And he's totally transformed that company.
14:30And they've done extremely
well in that time period.
14:33Because it's about global collaboration.
14:35They get compensated on what
kind of collaborators they are.
14:38So I think the great organizations and
the great leaders,
14:40of which I hope you'll be one, understand
how to align people around mission values,
14:45how to empower other people to step up and
lead.
14:48Recognize that leadership is about serving
your customers and serving your employees.
14:53And finally, it's about collaboration.
14:55And I think in that is the essence of the
kind of leaders I hope you'll become and
14:59will think seriously about becoming.
15:03I wrote a book as was mentioned,
True North, with Peter Sims.
15:06We interviewed 125 leaders,
many of them from the West Coast.
15:11And my colleague said, Bill,
I hope you'll finally crack the code.
15:13Are great leaders made or born?
15:16What are the characteristics
of successful leaders?
15:17You know what, 123 people we talked to,
no one wanted to talk about that.
15:21You know what they want to talk about?
15:23They wanted to talk about who they were.
15:24They wanted to talk about
their life stories.
15:27Where their passions came from,
15:28and they wanted to talk about really
difficult times that they'd face.
15:32I remember talking to Dick Kirachewitz
who was a graduate of this school,
15:35the most successful commercial banker for
20 years.
15:38And Dick was saying, I didn't learn
leadership from Stanford Business,
15:41I learned it from a little
town in western Washington.
15:44In a sawmill town, he said, I learned
two things that were really important.
15:47I learned it at the corner grocery
store and on the athletic field.
15:50He was a very good quarterback,
by the way.
15:52But he said, if you had 11 quarterbacks
on the team, you'd lose every game.
15:55He said, at Wells Fargo, everyone that
worked for me had to be better than I was.
15:58And the second thing he said,
I learned At the corner grocery store
16:02it was all about the last 3 feet
between you and the customer.
16:05We've lost site of that in healthcare
the last 3 feet between the doctor and
16:08the patient.
16:09That's where the relationship in
every organization takes place.
16:13And if you don't get that, you probably
won't create a great organization.
16:17And you probably won't be able to
sustain success over the long term.
16:21But about 85% of the people told us that
they've experienced very severe crucibles
16:26in their life.
16:27One of them was Dan Vasella,
who I got to know well, a CEO of Novartis.
16:31Dan was born as a sickly boy, and
not born, but was sickly as a child.
16:39He had spinal meningitis and tuberculosis,
16:41which in the 1960s were very
life threatening diseases.
16:44He went into a hospital and then
a sanitorium and he spent 12 months there.
16:49His parents who lived nearby with
good public transportation never
16:53visited him once.
16:54And he was scared.
16:55He said that every week they would
come in and do a spinal tap.
16:58He thought that they
were trying to kill him.
16:59No one told him what was going on and
he would scream.
17:02And then he said,
a new physician came in and
17:04he explained this whole procedure to
me and walked me through every step,
17:08treated me like an adult and he said,
can I help you make this less painful and
17:12he said, yes, don't hold me down
like an animal like you were.
17:16Just hold my hand and he did and he said,
it didn't hurt, so I gave him a big hug.
17:20But Dan's problems didn't end there.
17:22He had one sister die of cancer,
17:23another sister he was very close to died
in an automobile crash when Dan was 12.
17:27When he was 13,
his father died in heart surgery, and
17:31his mother went to work in a distant town
about, and came back once every 3 weeks.
17:36And here this 14 year old boy was left
home alone, he joined a motorcycle gang.
17:40He got a lot of drinking,
a lot of fighting.
17:42Finally, at 18 he came out of this,
17:44he said,
I want to make something out of my life.
17:48I want to be like that compassionate
physician, that's why he went to medical
17:51school and eventually when he became Chief
Resident at the University of Basel and
17:56decided, I think that I can serve
more than one person at a time.
17:59And that's when he went to work
in the pharmaceutical business.
18:01Now, I can guarantee you, of all
the people in the pharmaceutical business,
18:03he's the one that has the most compassion
for patients, and is really deeply
18:07concerned about these issues because
of that Syrian crucible experience.
18:12I wrote him about a friend of
our son who's having a severe
18:15healthcare issue right now, Dan wrote
him back, never even met the young man,
18:18probably never will on a Sunday afternoon,
took time to explain the entire disease.
18:22That's the kind of compassion that
we need to have in leaders today but
18:26see it came out of that
crucible that he had.
18:29Now, I don't have a dramatic
story to tell you like Steve Jobs
18:32did in his commencement address here.
18:34Or like Howard Schultz does when
he wrote about in True North.
18:37But I came from a middle to
upper middle class family.
18:40My father, I thought,
was a good consultant.
18:42He thought he was a failure.
18:43I'm the only child of older parents,
he was 43 when I was born.
18:47He said, son, I'd like you to
become the leader I never became.
18:51And so, here, I'm an eight year old boy.
18:53He's already telling me, son, you could
be president of the Coca-Cola company.
18:57He's even naming the company and
he said, if that doesn't work,
18:59you can go to work at Procter & Gamble.
19:01That's a really great company.
19:02Be head of that or
19:03you could work at this new computer
company on the East Coast called IBM.
19:06Well, of course, I didn't know what these
companies were and I drank Coca-Cola, but
19:09I could tell you it was pretty heavy
tip to lay on an eight year old kids.
19:14But lo and behold, I'm in high school,
junior high joined the lots of
19:18organizations and
I never selected to lead anything.
19:21I am never head of an organization,
never elected student council.
19:25I'm a good tennis player, never elected
captain of my tennis team, finally,
19:29my senior year of high school I
said to heck with it, I ran for
19:31president senior class
which I nominated myself.
19:34Guess one other guy, and I was sure
I was a better leader than he was.
19:38When the votes came in,
I lost by a margin of two to one.
19:42So you can see the kids in my high
school didn't appreciate what a great
19:45leader I was.
19:45>> [LAUGH]
>> So to escape myself, I used to say,
19:49I went to Georgia Tech
because of great weather.
19:51I wanted to play tennis, a great
academic school to learn engineering.
19:55But the real reason was I wanted to
go somewhere where no one knew me.
19:58But I hadn't learned at that point
is wherever you go, there you are.
20:02You may change venues, but
you take yourself with you and I did.
20:06And I was eager to get ahead, and so
I was going to lead everyone, so I ran for
20:12election six more times at Georgia Tech,
lost all six, so now I'm zero for seven.
20:18So it's pretty clear no-one
sees me as a leader.
20:20The very best thing that happened to
me is some seniors at Georgia Tech
20:23took me aside and said, Bill,
no one's ever going to work with you,
20:26much less be led by you, because you're so
ambitious to get ahead, you're moving so
20:30fast, you know take time for other people.
20:33Don't take time, I'll tell you that so
I can blow it to the Solar Plexis.
20:37I thought, I'm never going to
be the leader I want to become.
20:40And so, I took their advice and
put my own self-help,
20:44leadership program together,
talked to a lot of people who rejected me.
20:47And eventually had another leadership
position to the college and
20:50graduate school, and
I went to Harvard Business School.
20:53But I came out of school and
started the year to get ahead.
20:56I joined Layton industries, thinking,
I can move ahead quickly in this company,
21:01spent ten years there,
then I joined Honeywell.
21:05And seeing here's an opportunity to
run ultimately a great global company.
21:10And I had the privilege of being president
of Honeywell Europe in my late 30s.
21:15Came back and
I was given a series of turnarounds.
21:17And I've always thought of myself
as a builder, a grower of things.
21:21I know how to turn businesses around but
that's not where my heart is.
21:24But we got the first set of turnarounds
done, it was like a huge bureaucracy.
21:27It was a two step promotion,
worst promotion I ever got.
21:30Be careful about your
promotions because this one had
21:32I was a sector head with three groups,
nine divisions, different business.
21:36I've always loved being engaged
with customers and employees.
21:39Well, we were chasing numbers and
there are huge turnarounds.
21:42I'd spend all of my time doing that, of
course, with laying off a lot of people.
21:45And so, I got that one done.
21:47They gave me a second set of turnarounds.
21:49And I got that one
happened pretty quickly.
21:51Then, the third set came along.
21:53Aerospace and Defense business
which important business, but
21:55not where my heart is.
21:56>> [LAUGH]
>> And so,
21:59found 500 million in
defense contract overruns.
22:01Had to write that off,
which in those days was real money.
22:05And then, one day I'm coming home.
22:06It's a day like today in the fall,
Minnesota, where the leaves are turning.
22:10By this time, Penny and
I had been married 16, 17 years.
22:13She has a good job as
a consulting psychologist.
22:16Our sons Jeff and
John are going into high school.
22:19We have a lot of friends in Minnesota.
22:21I'm one of the two leading candidates,
not the leading candidate,
22:24to be the next CEO of Honeywell when they
make the decision in four or five years.
22:29I look at myself in the mirror and
I'm miserable.
22:32You ever had that flash in the mirror,
you see yourself as you really are.
22:35Not like narcissistic looking in this
pool saying, how beautiful I am.
22:39But what's happening is I've always
seen myself as a valued senator leader
22:42that I was losing it.
22:44That I was playing the corporate game.
22:45That I was even wearing
cufflinks which I don't wear.
22:48Nothing wrong with cufflinks but
I was trying to impress everyone.
22:52Say, just the right thing at the right
time, not showing any passion because I
22:55knew I was a passion free company, and
just kind of be buttoned up, be the man.
23:03Well, I went home and told Penny that.
23:04You know what she said?
23:05She said, Bill, I’ve been trying
to tell you that for a year.
23:08You just refuse to listen.
23:10See, it’s always the person closest to
you that sees you as you really are.
23:14And she saw through my blind
spots which I had plenty of.
23:17I don’t have any blind spots,
so I had a lot of blind spots.
23:20So I have a men’s group, I went to
them the next day, and they said,
23:23you've turned my [INAUDIBLE] down three
times to become president of the company.
23:27Why?
Rick said, well,
23:28it's not a really big company,
it's a midsize company.
23:32But I did get up the courage.
23:33I called Earl Bakken the founder,
because I had to turn it out by four or
23:37five months before.
23:38I say, is the job being president chief
[INAUDIBLE] number two job still open?
23:42And it was,
I remember spending three hours with Earl.
23:44He didn't even interview me.
23:45All he did was talk about
the mission of the company.
23:49I did take the job.
23:50I remember walking in
the door as I first did.
23:51Never been in the building.
23:53I felt like I was coming home.
23:54What an odd feeling.
23:55Coming home to a place
you've never been before.
23:57You ever had that feeling?
23:59Where you're coming in and you say,
here's good people I can work with.
24:02I can learn a lot from them and
we can really make a difference and
24:06I can tell you honestly guys, it was
the best decision of my professional life.
24:10Had the best 13 years there and
everything has happened since that time
24:16back in 1989 has opened up because of that
and it was a wonderful time in my life.
24:21But if I had not gone through
that searing crucible,
24:24that difficult time all the way back
to high school, and I hope you can see
24:27the linkage here of kind of repeating
some of those same mistakes.
24:32But becoming real and becoming authentic
and finding I could be myself and
24:36be successful and
not the guy that wore cuff links but
24:38the person that could just be real
really was a fantastic thing.
24:43So let's talk about how are you
going to develop as a leader.
24:48because I think that's really important,
I think you want to start with
24:50your life story, your difficult times, and
where do you find your passion to lead?
24:55And it's having that self awareness.
24:58We've had these myths that the smartest
person makes the best leader,
25:02it is indeed a myth.
25:04Anyone with an IQ over 120,
which all of you have.
25:07The differentiating factor in leaders is
not IQ but EQ, so emotional intelligence.
25:13Dan Goldman's written about that, they
have the research data showing this now.
25:17That that's the differentiating factor.
25:19And it starts with your self awareness,
knowing who you are.
25:22I teach some at and John Rice,
the vice chairman comes and
25:26he says, you know you want to get ahead.
25:27These are all the hard charges and chiefs,
and you want to get here, ahead here.
25:30You need to let management
know who you are.
25:33He said, no I don't think
you understood what I meant.
25:36You need to let them know
who you are as a person.
25:37Not what you want them to think you are.
25:38Not trying to impress them,
not what we want you to be but
25:43who are you and
if you can lead for that solid,
25:46authentic core, you will have not just a
better life you'll be a far better leader.
25:51But to do that you have to have
a level of self awareness and
25:54that's easier said than done.
25:55The oracle Delphi told us 4,000 years
ago know thyself, how do you do that?
26:00Well I think there's no substitute for
experience.
26:02That's why I say the first
thing get experience early.
26:05Best leaders in my classroom
are military vets, you know?
26:09And they come someone like Morris Sullivan
who is running logistic missions for
26:13the Marines at age 22 and
23 and had to go to Fallujah.
26:18Actually got the real experience,
but you got to have the experience.
26:21But then it's not just enough to have it.
26:22GE gives people a lot of experience,
but they never stop the process.
26:25They're moving so fast,
26:26they keep repeating their mistakes
in every job they move into.
26:30So what you want to do,
is you have to process.
26:32You need some form of reflective or
introspective process.
26:37So think about, what do you do?
26:38I happen to meditate 20
minutes twice a day.
26:40There are many things you can do.
26:41You can go for a jog,
you can take a long walk,
26:43you can have someone close to you,
like my wife, Penny, that you can talk to.
26:48You can pray.
26:50But you need to have some way
of processing in your life,
26:54what's going right, what's going wrong.
26:55Steve Jobs had a wonderful statement.
26:57He said, I look in the mirror
every morning, and say,
26:59Steve are you doing today
exactly what you want to do?
27:02The answer's not going to be yes everyday,
but if it's no too many days in a row,
27:06you need to change what you're doing and
do what you want to do.
27:10As I always say to the MBA's,
never sell your soul to the man, you know.
27:13You gotta be your person.
27:15And I think the third thing is,
have people,
27:19a group of people around you I think
27:22you heard that the leadership perspectives
course here started with small groups.
27:25I got that idea from a group of MBAs,
two from here, three from Harvard,
27:28one from Duke.
27:29I asked him how do you want to
develop yourselves as leaders?
27:31And we decided that small groups, and this
was very threatening to the HPS faculty
27:35I can tell you, could be more impactful
than having faculty members participating.
27:40So we now have the course where we've
had 15 hundred people go through.
27:45And small groups, six-person
groups including 400 executives.
27:50We even do it in a week
in exec-ed programs.
27:53This came out of a men's group I've had.
27:55Those are the people I want to talk to,
27:57about you know I've had meets every
Wednesday morning from 7:15 to 8:30.
28:02After 36 years, let me tell you something,
28:04the most important things I've ever
done to develop as a leaders because
28:09these people know me inside-out
where I was coming from.
28:13A few years ago my wife
Penny had breast cancer.
28:15I went to talk to them because Penny and
I were having a little dance.
28:18I was the rational person who
was going to solve the problem.
28:20You know cancer is the one
problem you can't solve.
28:23And so
she thought she was going to die and
28:26I was saying, no you'll be fine and
here's the data.
28:29And in fact I presented this data and
she would say,
28:31don't give me your damned
data with me you know it says
28:34it's 80% chance to be non-recurrent
said for me it's a hundred or zero.
28:39But I went to my men's group and
they said Bill,
28:41you're in denial because remember
that your mother died of cancer your
28:46fiance died 18 months later three
weeks to the day before the wedding.
28:50You just can't think
that penny might be gone.
28:52They were right, I had that blind spot and
I couldn't see that.
28:55So who's that group in your life?
28:57Who is that group of really close people?
28:59Who would you go to?
29:00I guarantee you,
I use Facebook and Twitter a lot,
29:02I'll guarantee you you're not going to
put it on your Twitter account
29:04that you just got fired from your job or
had a life threatening illness.
29:09Or having difficulties in your marriage.
29:11But who would you talk to?
29:13Who are those people?
29:13Because I think you need
those in leadership.
29:15We had 36 CEOs come back to Harvard for
a reunion of our CEO program, and
29:19we talked to them all individually.
29:20You know what they said
the biggest threat,
29:22the most significant problem they had?
29:25Loneliness, leadership is lonely
unless you have people around you.
29:29That's why I wrote the new book,
True North Groups,
29:31to talk about how you can have a group in
your life, someone you can really talk to.
29:35I tell you it's the best way to
develop leaders that I know of.
29:39Much better than all these programs out
there that are trying to cultivate you to
29:42the GE, or the McKenzie, or
the Proctor and Gamma model.
29:46Because it allows you to be authentic and
be who you are and people around
29:50you can help you stay on track and
stay true to what you believe in.
29:55The other thing I think is
important to your leadership
29:57is that you have an integrated life.
29:59I remember back in my 30's I had anything
but that, I was flying all over the world,
30:04I had two kids at home, plenty working.
30:06You know and, you know I was one person
at home and a different person at work.
30:11And I finally went to an offsite seminar,
30:13I said you gotta take all
these walls down in your life,
30:16decompartmentalize your life, and
just be the same person everywhere.
30:20You're never going to have
perfect balance in your life, but
30:22you can be, maintain the integrity
of being the same person, and
30:25not trying to pretend you're
something different than you are.
30:29So think about your
leadership development.
30:31How are you going to
develop your leadership?
30:33What kind of leader do you want to become?
30:36And then we get to the third question,
okay?
30:37And that's the most
important question of all.
30:40How are you going to use your leadership
gifts to make a difference in the world?
30:43At the end of the day, what are you
going to say that's really important?
30:46What's the purpose of your leadership?
30:49I hope it goes beyond just making
a lot of money for yourself.
30:53Yes, you'll pay off your debts,
I guarantee you will.
30:55I hope it goes beyond just trying to
achieve a title or something like that.
31:00I hope it will really be something
that you can leave that makes
31:04the difference in the world because you
have that ability, that's why you're here.
31:06That's why you're chosen to come here.
31:08Look at all people that
come before you and
31:10the difference they've made in the world.
31:11Look at this gift from this Bob King,
31:14I was just given a gift here to
study poverty and entrepreneurship.
31:17Think about what people can do to
make a difference in the world, and
31:20what are you going to do?
31:22Think about that,
because I really want to challenge you.
31:24And I want you to think about it this way.
31:26Okay, you're at the end of your life.
31:29Okay, you probably don't
want to think about that.
31:30The good news is you're 97 years old,
so you've led a long life.
31:34Bad news you've got three hours to live,
and
31:36all your adult children
are gathered around.
31:38All of your grandchildren have come in.
31:40I am thinking of my favorite granddaughter
Dillon who is four years old, and
31:45she looks up at you and says Grandpa or
31:48Grandma what did you do to make
a difference in the world?
31:50What are you going to tell her?
31:53I hope you don't tell her you made so
31:54much money she never has to work
a day in her life like you did.
31:57>> [LAUGH]
>> But
31:58I hope you will tell her what's
really important in life because
32:00that's the legacy you're leaving.
32:02But don't wait until then.
32:03You leave that legacy every day.
32:05Robert F Kennedy once
said when he was alive,
32:09few will have the greatness
to bend history itself.
32:11He happened to be in South Africa where
Nelson Mandela did indeed bend history.
32:15But most of us never will, I know I won't.
32:17But he went on to say but each of us can
commit ourselves to a series of actions to
32:21make this world a better place.
32:23And the sum total of all those actions
will write the history of this generation.
32:27Well, it's my hope that your generation
will really make a difference and
32:31lead better in a different way.
32:33A more authentic way, a more sustainable
way and create great companies.
32:37My colleague Michael Porter
wrote an article
32:41last January in Harvard Business Review
called Creating Shared Value.
32:44What's the value for society your
organization's going to create?
32:48We can think of lots of examples of people
that do that, organizations that do that.
32:52But how are you going to make
a difference in your leadership?
32:56Margaret Mead I think said that well,
32:57never doubt the power of a small
group of people to change the world.
33:02Indeed, it is the only
thing that ever has.
33:05I'd like to close by saying when you leave
this world, the only thing you can take
33:09with you is what you'll leave behind that
I want to challenge you today to say,
33:13what do you going to leave behind that
will make this world a better place.
33:16Thank you very much.
33:18>> [APPLAUSE]
33:35>> Okay, let's open up for questions.
33:37To whoever gets to ask the first question,
got a book to sign for you.
33:40[LAUGH] Who would like to
ask the first question?
33:45Thank you.
33:50>> Hi, thanks for that amazing talk.
33:52When you're running a company
like Medtronic, which is so
33:55devoted to human health but
also committed to shareholder value,
33:58how do you balance those two when
they might come into conflict?
34:02And I'm thinking, for example,
of the JBJS issue that was
34:06earlier this year about Journal
of Bone and Joint Surgery.
34:10>> Right.
>> It was all about spine surgery being
34:13sort of questionable value.
34:15>> Right.
>> And Medtronic's role in spine surgery.
34:17>> Yeah, and
what my successor's successor,
34:19Omar Ishrak did is he set up
a whole study to study Yale,
34:23which is known as a medical school that's
not very favorable towards industry.
34:28But yeah,
I think bad things are going to happen.
34:30You cannot run a company of any magnitude
and not have bad things happen and
34:34have challenging issues.
34:35And I think the real issue is,
how do you deal with it?
34:38When it comes to you like
this Penn State fiasco.
34:41Bad things happen in organizations,
but how do you deal with it?
34:43Do you step up to it and
say we're going to do the right thing.
34:46We're going to pull that
product off the market,
34:48we're going to study it objectively,
34:49we're going to fund whatever it
takes to get the root cause of that.
34:52You don't go into denial like
Merck originally did it in Vioxx.
34:55You've got to deal with the problem and
say, what's the right thing to do?
34:59And I think, yes, and I'll tell you the
best way to destroy shareholder value is
35:03to have a quality problem or
have an organization that's in denial.
35:08because you may get through
the short-term, but
35:09you won't get through the long-term.
35:11We do have to make the numbers.
35:14We had to make the numbers at Medtronic.
35:16But what you always want to do is make
sure you're investing in the long term.
35:19If you make the numbers by sacrificing the
long term to make the numbers look good in
35:23a short term,
that will come back to bite you and
35:25you won't have a company in the long run.
35:27That's the General Motors story,
the Sears Roebuck story.
35:29I can give you lots of other examples,
35:31more recent ones that are real tragedies,
okay?
35:35We've seen one right next here,
my role model company for 30 years.
35:39You know what it was?
35:41Hewlett Packard.
35:42I met Dave Packard once,
I'll tell you he and
35:44Bill Hewlett knew how to run a company.
35:45Very egalitarian, everyone matters.
35:49You could go up and talk to him anytime.
35:50They're wandering around the labs.
35:52Then somehow with 300,000 people they
35:55weren't able to find any
leaders from within.
35:56Don't ask me how you can take
an organization with 300,000 people and
35:59not find one person to lead it.
36:01So they went outside, and
then they did it again, and
36:03again and again with a quite
dysfunctional board of directors.
36:08And I'm not trying to rip on them.
36:09I'm just saying if you don't keep focused
on those long term issues, if you abandon
36:13what got you there, the HP way, and
you don't stay true to your values,
36:17if Metronic ever abandons the idea of
restoring people to full life and health.
36:20But, honestly, that's where real
shareholder value is created.
36:23The only reason we create all that
shareholder value is because we did good
36:26value for patients and
we could charge fairly for
36:28it, and people got excited about it.
36:31Employees don't get motivated
just by trying to get stock.
36:33At least I found they didn't get
motivated by trying the stock price up.
36:36So, thank you for that question.
36:38Other questions, yes sir.
36:40>> Thank you so much for your talk.
36:41The concept of authentic leadership that
he mentioned really doesn't with me, and
36:45I was wondering if you have thoughts
on how to balance learning and
36:48transforming your leadership style with
staying authentic at the same time?
36:52>> Staying?
36:53>> Authentic.
36:54Authentic
>> Yeah.
36:55>> And transforming and
learning as you go [CROSSTALK]
36:59>> See I think we're growing,
37:00we're blooming, we're a planet.
37:02If I'm from India or I'm from China or
I'm from Minnesota and
37:06I deny who I am,
then you're not authentic.
37:10We grow from that point of view.
37:12You grow from your strengths and
great leaders there,
37:14I just had a program with
Malcolm Gladwell and Tom Banshee here but
37:17the whole idea of building on your
strengths and managing your weaknesses,
37:21but you've got to build on what makes you
really good and you may have weaknesses.
37:25You want to have people around you
who can supplement those weakness.
37:28Say you're not great in finance you
want to have a great financial officer.
37:30I went to Medtronics and I can tell you
I didn't know anything about medicine or
37:34medical technology.
37:35I knew a lot about technology,
but not about Medtronic.
37:38I went up and gowned up and saw 700
procedures the time I was with Medtronic.
37:42I used to come out here
to Stanford hospitals and
37:45work with doctors, some of the great
work that a guy like Tom Fogerty or
37:48some of the great cardiac surgeons here,
or cardiologists.
37:51That's where I learned the business.
37:52But I wasn't trying to sell anything.
37:53But I think you have to build on that
base and learn what you don't know and
37:57recognize.
37:57You know I learned from
seeing all those procedures?
38:00I learned what I didn't know and
how much I didn't know.
38:03And if you're Larry Summers,
former president of Harvard and
38:07Obama's failed at economic adviser.
38:09If you know everything about everything,
I guarantee you you're going to fail.
38:13So it's important to recognize what you
don't know and then build around that and
38:17manage your weaknesses,
not try to exploit them.
38:20You manage your weaknesses by
having people around that can
38:22complement, offset them.
38:24Yes sir.
38:25Or ma'am, I was looking at the line.
38:27>> [LAUGH] It seems like for leaders,
38:29there's often a tradeoff between
being likeable and being respected.
38:32Do you agree that that is a trade-off,
and how do you manage that?
38:35>> Yeah, this is a classic
Machiavellian question, right?
38:37Should I be liked or respected?
38:39I'll tell you,
you have to make hard decisions.
38:41Don't make decisions just on being liked,
okay?
38:45But I think you want to be likeable.
38:47You want to be kind and
thoughtful to people and
38:52that's how you get the most out of them.
38:54But you have to make hard decisions.
38:55Sometimes you have to terminate
people that have worked for
38:58your company for a long time.
39:00Sometimes you're doing them a favor,
because they're in the wrong job.
39:03So you have to make those hard calls.
39:05And I think in the end, if you do that
with humanity, and caring, in the end,
39:10you will be respected and
you'll get the results.
39:13And so I think these are very tough.
39:15If you lean too heavy to the being liked,
you'll avoid conflict.
39:18And in the end you won't
have any introspect
39:21because you didn't make the hard call.
39:23So, business is about hard decisions and
39:27there's no way you can be in business and
not have to make hard calls.
39:30But if you duck them or
39:31you start doing them for what makes you
look good, particularly to the media,
39:35that's the sure sign that you're
about ready to go down the drain.
39:38And you see people get caught up a lot,
39:40Donald Trump type figure,
it's all about them.
39:42And when that happens, sell the stock.
39:47Thank you for the question.
39:48Yes, sir?
39:50>> Hi, you mentioned earlier in your
elections how you kind of lost touch
39:53with the people around you and
kind of building those relationships.
39:55So, when you were in a leadership
position at a large organization,
40:00how did you maintain that philosophy, even
though you may be so far away from kind
40:05of the, You know the people that were
the last three feet from the consumers.
40:09>> Stay in touch with those people.
40:10>> Or even kind of the lower part
of the people in your organization.
40:14>> I know.
The only way to do it is to stay in touch.
40:17I mean we all ate in
the same cafeteria together.
40:19I would go in to sit down at
a table of a group of people.
40:22Be in touch.
40:22Wander through the labs.
40:23Go out and work with your sales people and
drive up and down here.
40:26Go and see that customer out in
Northern California that hates you,
40:29be in touch with
the people doing the work.
40:31We have way too much administration,
too many layers.
40:35You should never have fewer than
about 15 people working for you.
40:37The idea of this layering,
40:39we gotta get rid of all these
detailed layers of administration and
40:42put the emphasis on people doing the work,
the innovators, the quality people.
40:46The people that know how
to serve a customer.
40:49The people that can build
a business in a country.
40:51Those are the people that, and so
yeah, it takes a lot of travel.
40:53I travel all over the world, all the time,
because you gotta be in touch with people.
40:57And you're always talking
about the mission or values.
40:59You sound like a broken record, but
you never stop talking about this,
41:02because that's where people resonate.
41:04You get to their hearts, their passion.
41:06And I think that's the only
way you can do it.
41:08If you get caught up in the head shed, and
you see companies are very hierarchical.
41:12I love the campus setting for companies.
41:14We tried to do it at Metronic,
made a company out here have it.
41:17You go to New York,
you see them all in these skyscrapers.
41:19They don't even talk to
the person one floor below them.
41:22So they get too caught up in sitting
in a board room looking at numbers, and
41:25they lose sight of
the essence of the business.
41:26I can tell you that people I know are down
in the trading floors in financing.
41:30And Bob Ulrich, CEO of Target for 14
years, he visited two dozen stores a week.
41:37Howard Schultz did the same
thing at Starbucks.
41:39You gotta be out there with the troops.
41:41I think that's the only way you
can really know the business.
41:44Because if you lose sight of that, that's
why Howard recognized Starbucks was losing
41:48it and
he went back into full-time leadership.
41:51because he saw they were getting too
bureaucratic and getting away from it.
41:54And the company was going down the drain.
41:56So thank you for the question.
41:58Yes?
>> Thanks a lot for your talk.
42:00As we look out, and most of us
are picking our careers for the future.
42:04How do you think or
what do you think about balancing,
42:06picking an organization where you
have a really strong mission?
42:09And really strong alignment with
their mission vision versus picking
42:12an organization where you might get
better training or something like that?
42:17>> Depends on what kind of
training you're going to get.
42:19You've have pretty good training here.
42:21You know I'm serious.
42:23I mean you're not 18 years old.
42:25You've had pretty good training and
I think you want to look for
42:28an organization to give
you a chance to go do it.
42:30Throw you out there.
42:31In business my son is up at
UCSF I was with him this weekend.
42:36He's in his mid 30s and
he's still a resident,
42:38a fourth year resident in head and
neck surgery.
42:40He's training under one of the great
head and neck surgeons of the world.
42:44But medicine is different.
42:45Business isn't like that.
42:46Best thing that can happen to you is
somebody bets on you and says, okay,
42:49we want you to go run Pakistan for us,
or we want you to go run, you know,
42:53we want you to go to run Austria.
42:55But just having the experience of
being away and getting that leadership
42:59experience, and because I think that's
where you learn about yourself and
43:02you really have to test
yourself against that.
43:05And I think that's what really matters and
how you build yourself.
43:08So training programs sound good.
43:10I'm not high on them.
43:11I have to tell you, I think most of them
are acculturation, trying to get you
43:15into the GE culture so you'll be a part of
that until you can be a great GE leader.
43:19Except you may not be
the leader you want to be and
43:21you may not spend the rest
of your life there anyway.
43:23And that's why a guy like
leaves GE very successful and
43:26he fails Home Depot because he's
trying to apply all that GE stuff.
43:30I'm not against GE, I'm just saying
I think the model is flawed.
43:34The model should be,
43:35any leadership development program
should be about who you want to become.
43:39And people that do that well,
like a General Mills, do it really well,
43:42because they are focused on that.
43:43So, thank you.
43:45Yes, sir.
43:46>> Thank you for your time.
43:48In light of the fact that
Steve Jobs denied his daughter and.
43:54Took credit for other people's ideas.
43:57Do you believe that he was
an authentic moral leader?
44:01>> Steve Jobs,
44:02it's really risky now we're calling
him the greatest leader of all time.
44:06because he like the rest
of us had a lot of flaws.
44:09I think he perhaps was the greatest
innovator of the last,
44:12he was in my opinion the greatest
innovator in the last 50 years.
44:14He did amazing things.
44:15But he learned the hard way,
44:17if you listen to his Stanford
commencement address in 2005, everything,
44:21he spent all this time working until
now this is all laid out there.
44:24He actually learned from his failures.
44:27He learned from failing and
getting fired at Apple.
44:30He learned what it was
like to be an orphan.
44:31Yes, he had difficult times,
yes he had parental issues.
44:34Yes he had family issues, because some of
those came out of his own family of origin
44:39into his family of choice.
44:40And so,
he had a lot of learning to do, but
44:42the good news is he processed and learned.
44:46And he went off and created Pixar.
44:49He learned from those experiences and so
44:51when he came back to Apple and so called
Act 3, he was ready to do it much better.
44:56But he still could be a jerk, in fact, Ron
Johnson who created all the Apple stores,
45:02came from Target, I knew him at Target.
45:04He came to our CEO,
he's now the new CEO of JCPenny,
45:07and he said Steve knew he
had these characteristics,
45:12these flaws and he lacked emotional
intelligence so he surrounded himself so
45:17all the people around him at Apple had
high levels of emotional intelligence.
45:21Johnny Ive and Tim cook and Ron Johnson
and that's the way he off set that so
45:26that gets him the confidence.
45:27But I think he did it
really well in the end and
45:29you can see in the results but
it took time.
45:32By the way he didn't spend any time
worrying about stock market or
45:36getting stock price up it
took care of it's self.
45:40>> Yes
>> High, you spoke about empowerment, and
45:43I just wanted to know how you empowered
people in an industry where there's so
45:48many procedures-
>> Yes, terrible.
45:50>> And everything has to be
done by the book and all that.
45:51>> It's horrible.
45:52Every board I'm on is all these,
we're reviewing regulation and all.
45:57Now, I think, you have to do
all that stuff, so to speak.
46:00You have to meet the FDA,
46:01you can't put drugs out that
don't meet the requirements.
46:03You have to comply with the regulations
and the financial service and
46:06you have to comply with
the regulation in the energy industry.
46:09You must do it,
you must have the discipline so
46:11you don't have a incident in the gulf like
BP did, you must do all those things.
46:15But I think really empower people finding
out what they're really passionate about,
46:19and giving them a chance to do it.
46:20Picking out people who want
to make a difference and
46:23putting them in jobs to go do it.
46:24Go start a venture,
you want to go do this?
46:26I met a young man that had,
born with a terrible face
46:31malformation, and
he actually had it cut in surgery.
46:36Now he's taken up this feat
of pediatric oncology.
46:39To help people just like himself,
he's following that passion.
46:43You know he shouldn't go off and
go to work for Meryl Lynch you know?
46:47And I'm just saying you want to
46:49follow that line of what you
can do to make a difference.
46:51So, thank you.
46:53Yes sir.
46:53>> I was very interested on how you spoke
of aligning public and private interests.
46:57There's a new corporate legislation
passed on B corporations in California,
47:03Vermont, Maryland, about using the power
of business to create public benefit
47:07without getting sued by shareholders for
not making profit their primary motive.
47:11Do you think this is a trend that will
expand to the rest of the states?
47:14>> Yes, I refer to Porter's article,
that's what Porter says.
47:17Business has been fighting society for
the last 30 years, we need to get aligned.
47:21We're chartered by society.
47:23Society gives us our charter.
47:25We should,
that should be the primary thing,
47:27is how do we create value for society?
47:29And then we create value.
47:31So if you're an energy company,
you have to create value for society.
47:33If you're a healthcare company,
if you're a financial services company
47:36your job is to finance other
people to start up companies.
47:39I was over at Center Hill
a few minutes ago,
47:41they're helping people get started
with total greenfield ventures.
47:44So we have that obligation.
47:46And then from that,
we earn shareholder value.
47:48It's not the other way around.
47:49If you start with the shareholder value,
you wind up putting yourself out of
47:52business, and
you'll eventually be bankrupt.
47:55But I think it's a very good thing.
47:56And I thought also we're going to elude
to, I think one of the things that's
48:00happening now is Social enterprises that
are nonprofit or for profit are also
48:04coming together much closer so that people
really get that in the nonprofit world.
48:07But I think that those are also
coming much closer together.
48:10I think you see many of the emerging
companies really understand
48:13what they're about and how they can and
we need to create the demand.
48:17I think this idea of carving up the pie,
I hate
48:19what's going on in the income disparity
in the country, I just can't stand it.
48:22But there's only one way around it,
we gotta expand the size of the pie
48:26by giving more people opportunities,
more people create companies,
48:28more people get financing,
get things started and get it going.
48:31That's the future of this country,
and probably of the world.
48:34Yes sir.
48:35>> Thank you very much for
a wonderful lecture.
48:38My question is a little bit philosophical,
48:40I think I completely agree
with you to be authentic.
48:45But my question is when
you are looking for
48:47a job and
you find you have lots of interests and
48:51actually you are sent here with A, I was
sent here with B, I was sent here with C.
48:55You find that you are sent here with a lot
of things, you have a lot of interests but
49:01finally, you should choose just one,
how to manage it?
49:05>> I think that's a discernment, that's a
reflection and introspection, think about
49:09where it is you want to devote yourself
and where can you make a difference?
49:13And where are the opportunities?
49:15Somebody's way maybe blocked over here?
49:17I think that's part of why you're here.
49:20This is an opportunity for a transforming
experience, and I hope that ten years from
49:25now, you'll look back on this and
say this was a transforming experience.
49:27It's an opportunity to
really think about that.
49:29Don't take the highest paying job offer.
49:31We just had my 40th reunion
at Harvard Business School.
49:33I can tell you the people that took
the lowest paying jobs are the ones,
49:37in the end, that did the best financially.
49:40The highest paying kind of flattened out.
49:42I think you want to focus on,
use this as an opportunity to really
49:46think through what do you want to do and
you may not hit it at first.
49:49Look at me, it took me forever to
get to the right place for me.
49:55There's no right place for all of us, but
there may be a right place for you, but
49:58it may take you a while to get there.
50:00I always used to say to people,
if you hate your work, quit.
50:04Don't spend your whole life going
through life sleepwalking through life,
50:10living somebody else's desires.
50:12Thank you.
50:14>> [APPLAUSE]
>> Thank you very much.
50:22>> Thank you.
50:23Can I just, one minute.
50:25Can I have one minute?
50:25I wanted to go back and
quote you something, the best advice.
50:29You mentioned Steve Jobs.
50:30The best advice he ever gave me,
50:31it actually shows a high level
of emotional intelligence.
50:32He said and this is really the essence
of everything I've been trying to say,
50:37don't spend your whole life
living somebody else's dream.
50:41That's what I was doing with my father,
I had to be my dream and
50:45not his and I didn't even realize
that it was so inculcated in me.
50:52The second thing is,
50:53don't let the noise of other people's
opinions drown out your inner voice.
50:57Listen to your inner voice,
that's the question you're asking.
51:00Don't let other people tell you what to
do, you gotta decide what you want to do.
51:04And third, most important of all,
follow your heart and your intuition.
51:09If you do that,
you'll have a very full life and
51:15you'll really make a big
difference in the world.
51:21Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
🎥 Related Videos
![Welp, Here's what the Fed *Just* Said [Fed FOMC Minutes]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2Fl8u23oq1E9E%2Fhqdefault.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
🔥 Recently Summarized Examples
4 Steps to Master Any Complex Skill (quickly)
40 Years of Fitness Experience in Less Than 11 Minutes.
Gun Controlling Media Makes FATAL Mistake... They Have Tied Their Fate To Biden's & Gun Rights Win
GET READY! Palantir Is Officially The Next Nvidia.
Abundant Thinking: The Hidden Key to Get Everything You Want (Audiobook)