Bill George, former chairman and CEO of Medtronic, Inc., and Isabella Cannon Distinguished Visiting Professor of Leadership at Elon, shared his thoughts on leadership in today's business environment during a lecture Monday, March 12. Details...
George, who serves as professor of management practice at Harvard
Business School, has been a fierce advocate for ethical leadership in
business. HIs visit to campus coincided with the release of his latest
book, “True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership.”
“America today faces a major crisis in leadership,” George said during
his lecture. “For business leaders, trust is the fuel that powers our
product. If customers don’t trust our product, why would they buy it?”
George said recent business scandals have eroded the public’s
confidence in corporate leaders, citing a poll measuring the confidence
level at 22 percent. “That’s not a problem, that’s a potential
disaster,” George said.
George, whose leadership helped Medtronic become the world’s largest
medical device manufacturer, studied more than 100 business leaders in
an attempt to find out what makes a good leader. Rather than emulating
others, George said the most successful leaders “are constantly
exploring who they are, and through that process, they allowed their
true leadership to emerge.”
Many leaders are shaped by crucibles, difficult times that George says
will come to everyone. When he was in his mid-20s, George’s mother and
fiancee died suddenly within a short time. Later, he found himself
unhappy in his job at Honeywell.
“It was not until I ‘hit the wall’ in my career at Honeywell in my
mid-40s that I finally recognized the deeper purpose of my leadership,”
George said. “It was not just to be CEO, but to join a unique company
like Medtronic, whose mission was to restore people to full life and
health.”
George said today’s business environment is encouraging workers to take
leadership roles at a younger age. “The days of the all-powerful
leaders are dead,” George said. “We don’t need leaders who treat people
as a cost of doing business, rather than the basis for the business’
success….Leadership in this new century must change precisely because
the nature of people in organizations has changed. People today are
more knowledgeable about their jobs than their bosses are. They are
demanding meaning and significance from their work, and are not willing
to toil away just for someone else’s benefit. They want to lead now,
not wait in line for 10 or 20 years until they are tapped for a
leadership role.”
To be an effective leader, George urged students and other young people to follow what he calls their True North.
“Your True North represents who you are as a human being at your
deepest level. It is your orienting point, your fixed point in a
spinning world, that helps you stay on track as a leader. Your True
North is based on your most cherished values, your passions and
motivations, and the sources of satisfaction in your life.”
Earlier in the day, George held a question-and-answer session with
students in Whitley Auditorium. He pointed again to the creative
abilities of younger workers and the role they can play in companies.
“Young people will not respond to a regimented style of business,”
George said. We’re going to see a lot more creative companies born by
younger people. I think this is going to be key to the U.S. economy.”
George is the fourth Isabella Cannon Distinguished Visiting Professor
of Leadership at Elon. The visiting professor teaches leadership
classes and works directly with students in the Isabella Cannon
Leadership Program.