শনিবার, ১৫ সেপ্টেম্বর, ২০১২

McKinsey CEO interviews on leadership - The Smarter Business ...

Here are some McKinsey CEO / Leadership interviews which ought be useful weekend reading.

McKinsey seem to have stopped asking you to log-in to their website to read these, thankfully:

Key quotes: "what we see is a paradox: people seem to have less trust in government, yet at the same time they seem to be asking governments to impose more regulations. And it?s not just our industry. Compliance?with rules, with regulations, with societal values?is something that takes up more of a business leader?s time now than ever before."

"We are on the verge of being able to decipher your genome for less than $1,000. We are moving to an era of so-called personalized medicine, where we will be able choose the treatment knowing the specific nature of the disease in an individual. In cancer treatment this is most advanced."

"People have a legitimate demand for access to the CEO. But you have to modulate that so you avoid overexposure. To the media, you are a product. And the press will paint you as either a hero or a villain?whatever sells. So if they paint you as a hero today, you should be prepared to be painted as a villain tomorrow. Not everything you do will work out every time, and you have to accept that people will be unfair."

An interview with Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director and CEO of India?s ICICI Bank

Key quote: "...for the past two years I have been holding regularly scheduled employee discussion meetings. These are not performance reviews or meetings with a particular business segment?with a boss and his subordinate and the next subordinate and the next. These are just meetings with different sets of about 20 employees picked on a random basis at various levels of the organization. We do them once a month. I promise people who participate that whatever they say is just for me to absorb and will not go out of the room. Sometimes we talk about the work environment in the branches. Sometimes we talk about what customers are feeling. Sometimes we talk about gender issues. Sometimes we talk about our transfer policies. And over time, people have learned that they can speak to me and they do; no one outside the room knows who spoke."


An interview with Ellen Kullman, CEO, DuPont

Key quote: "I spend a lot more time on communication than I used to?more time out at plant sites, in sales offices, with customers, in our research laboratories. I?m bringing my board to India in a couple of weeks to help them really see the issues we?re facing. That?s where I get my energy from. It?s contagious. I come away from these engagements with ideas, energy, and a real sense of focus on where we as a company need to go. That?s part of what drives me."

An interview with Moya Greene, CEO Royal Mail

Key quotes:?

"...you cannot position your company in the broader social and economic fabric of the nation if all you do is look at the financial dimensions of performance."

"I recently did a diary analysis, which showed I spend roughly 15 percent of my time managing and understanding our employees. Another 25 percent of my time last year was devoted to changing the fundamentals of the company...Next, I spent 15 percent of my time seeking to change the conversation inside Royal Mail so that we put the customer much closer to the heart of what we talk about and do. How do we tap into customer sentiments and improve satisfaction? A further 10 percent was taken up with what I call strategic realignment, helping people understand that we're going to make our money in future in parcels and packets, in media, and by selling our data assets in a more commercial way. That left 35 percent for everything else: organization, recruitment, managing the board, and crisis management."

An interview with Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO, BlackRock (Worth reading the whole interview, trust me)

Key quotes:

"I think probably the most dominant change that we are facing is the growing impact of politics on business. This is an ongoing challenge that has never been greater. We?re witnessing now in China, and in Europe and the United States, is this tug-of-war between a business sector that is looking for a strong message, strong leadership, and a little more consistency from government and what government can realistically provide. The cycle of politicians is just too short. The insecurity around politicians toward their own careers has had a severe impact. Government is not acting swiftly enough.

Only when government is backed against the wall do we see action. And it?s that atmosphere and the binary outcomes that have created an environment in which executives who are running large, interconnected companies are frightened of planning out too far. We see the symptoms of that fear in the increased cash holdings."

"So whether you?re in HR, legal, operations, or technology, if you don?t understand the world and the markets, you?re not connecting with the firm. So it is imperative that all of us worldwide take the time to be that student. That?s the most important lesson I?ve learned by watching other firms. They actually forget that their job has to evolve and change all the time, and that what worked in the past may not work in the future."

What's obvious to me from reading these interviews is that responsible business today, is more than ever, just about holistic, strategic management. At least for these companies above.?

If we'd all listened to Peter Drucker 50 years ago, we'd be a lot further ahead.?

These lessons learned above may be useful for you to put in front of any managers who are sceptical about the value of sustainable business thinking.?

It may help convince them that CSR without the jargon really is just about running better companies, and helping society transform the systems that we need to change.

Source: http://tobywebb.blogspot.com/2012/09/mckinsey-on-leadership-ceo-interviews.html

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