Did you read the links from yesterday? I hope so, because some of these quotes play off those articles.
“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.” –Agatha Christie (Good words to remember these days.)
“A woman is like a tea bag, you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.” –Eleanor Roosevelt (This is one of my all-time favorites; it’s stood me in good stead for a long time now.)
“The naked truth is always better than the best-dressed lie.” –Ann Landers (I don’t know where the naked truth is hiding, but the lies were running the banks.)
“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.” –Mother Teresa (True. You don’t know how good a leader is until after the fact, but you should know yourself.)
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” –Sally Berger (So you can keep crying in your beer or get started, get moving and kick butt!)
Just one quote today—one that’s depressing and sad and makes me very angry.
In a speech in 1962 then-President John F. Kennedy said
“The American people will find it hard to accept a situation in which a tiny handful of steel executives whose pursuit of private power and profit exceeds their sense of public responsibility can show such utter contempt for the interests of 185 million Americans.”
I’m angry because 47 years later it’s déjà vu, all you need to do is change “steel” to “bank.”
But the real question is whether whoever is elected in 2056 will face yet another set of executives who also hold the American people in such total contempt.
If I had spent the entire year scouring for business quotes to fit this title I probably wouldn’t find as perfect a selection as the ten offered up by Business Week in the Worst Predictions About 2008.
Here are my favorites, which do you like?
The Bad
“I’m not an economist, but I do believe that we’re growing.” —President George W. Bush, July 15, 2008 Nope. GDP shrank at a 0.5% annual rate in the July-September quarter. On Dec. 1, the National Bureau of Economic Research declared that a recession had begun in December 2007. (I thought that’s why presidents have advisers, so they didn’t have to be an expert in everything.)
The Worse
“A very powerful and durable rally is in the works. But it may need another couple of days to lift off. Hold the fort and keep the faith!” —Richard Band, editor, Profitable Investing Letter, Mar. 27, 2008 (This is not the guy you want editing your investment advice.)
“I think Bob Steel’s the one guy I trust to turn this bank around, which is why I’ve told you on weakness to buy Wachovia.” —Jim Cramer, CNBC commentator, Sept. 15, 2008 Two weeks later, Wachovia shares lost half their value from Sept. 15 to Dec. 29. nearly failed as depositors fled. CEO Steel eventually agreed to a takeover by Wells Fargo. (Can you imagine who he distrusts?)
The Ugly
“I expect there will be some failures…. I don’t anticipate any serious problems of that sort among the large internationally active banks.” —Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman, Feb. 28, 2008 In September, Washington Mutual became the largest financial institution in U.S. history to fail. Citigroup needed an even bigger rescue in November. (Come on. If you’re gonna head the Fed you need to prognosticate at least as well as you obfuscate!)
“In today’s regulatory environment, it’s virtually impossible to violate rules.”—Bernard Madoff, money manager, Oct. 20, 2007 On Dec. 11, Madoff was arrested for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme that may have cost investors $50 billion. (Unless your name is Bernie and you’ve been doing it for a decade.)
OK, your turn now. Click the link and choose your favorites or supply your own in comments.
Today I’m going to share with you articles about three folks whom I consider superb leadagers.
Let me know if you agree.
First is Dan DiMicco, CEO of Nucor Steel, who was just named Businessperson of the Year by the Charlotte Business Journal. I’ve followed Nucor for a long time and DiMicco just keeps impressing; more so since he always sidesteps taking personal credit, focusing instead on his senior staff and employees. He’s also produced one of the most forward thinking cultures in the corporate world, especially considering he’s heavy industry, producing a real product that has neither chips nor software, and created the largest steel company in the country by successfully acquiring and integrating 22 companies over the last eight years.
Next up are the collective CEOs of Corning, who, for the last 157 years, have nurtured and facilitated a culture of innovation allowing Corning to reinvent itself time and time again and thumbing its nose at every analyst and pundit who predicted its demise. Whoo hoo, these guys rock!
Third is Idris Jala, CEO of Malaysia Airlines, who did an initial turn around of the state-owned airline in three-and-a-half months because that was all the operating cash he had and no bailout was offered. I wrote about him a month ago and there’s a link to the full McKinsey interview (requires free registration) in the post. Well worth reading if you missed it the first time.
Finally, 24 short CEO profiles offered up by Business Week; their selection includes a dozen of the best along with a dozen of the worst. I think you’ll enjoy them.
I found a wonderful treat for you on this Friday before Christmas courtesy of Bruce Nussbaum.
It’s a video of Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement address in which he says,
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.”
Nussbaum says he watches this video every year and I plan to also. I hope it becomes a yearly tradition for you, too, and that you share it with your colleagues, friends and kids.
When Idris Jala was hired as CEO of a failing state-owned airline he had exactly three and-a-half months operating cash in which to turn it around—no bail out, no other options.
He succeeded well beyond expectations with a combination of laser focus on the P&L statement and his own view of leadership. Here are some of the more intriguing thoughts from a McKinsey interview with him.
Jala is one of the most pragmatic CEOs in action today.
“At a board meeting on my first day, I announced our business-turnaround blueprint. I’d never worked a single day at an airline before, but looking at the P&L it didn’t take more than an hour to figure out the solution. If you have to control costs, you just go and cut the costs. If your network’s inefficient, get rid of the routes that are bleeding cash. And if you have a problem with low yield, fix the yield. What else are you going to say?”
What else, indeed? But in an era of exotic plans and visions, focus on something as basic as P&L is as refreshing as it is unusual.
Jala also had an interesting view of leadership.
“If the leader doesn’t believe in the journey, then it cannot begin.”
I find that profound because so often I hear corporate leaders add a multitude of caveats to what they plan; explaining ahead of time all the reasons why success may not happen and if they don’t truly believe why should anyone else?
“The single biggest thing a leader brings to a turnaround is hope.”
Not fear and trepidation, but a real belief that the company can be saved through hard work. One of the ways that Jala accomplished this was through his total transparency.
“Publishing helped us build a winning coalition not only with the government but also with other stakeholders, like the unions, the staff, and the public. Being upfront about the P&L and making it all transparent were very important to bringing the coalition together.”
I know this sounds cynical, but not in my wildest dreams can I picture your typical corporate chieftain doing this. Maybe I’m naïve, but this kind of transparency requires the guy-in-charge to open himself to all kinds of input and criticism. The mind boggles at the thought of Robert Nardelli (Chrysler) or Rick Waggoner (GM) doing anything similar.
“But once results begin to appear and new leaders begin to learn, you must be ready to let go and empower them…The corporate graveyard is full of people who thought they were indispensable.”
Jala has a good handle on this powerful leadership attitude that too often does not see the light of day.
Idris Jala’s 5 + 1 Embedded Principles of Change
The game of the impossible;
anchoring everything on the P&L;
building a winning coalition;
discipline of action; and
situational leadership.
And the additional one…
“The final principle is a subject people don’t talk about in the corporate world: divine intervention. More than 50 percent of what happens to you in life, and in my case probably more than 60 percent, is outside your control. It is important for everyone in an organization, particularly the top leaders, to understand that. I can’t, for example, control oil prices, SARS, or other things like that.”
Rigorous practice of the first five balance the last one.
Join me tomorrow and explore a new Saturday feature here at Leadership Turn.
As you probably guessed from the title I’m not a fan of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. I don’t trust him to do the tough stuff that a leader needs to do. He’s not only missing vision, he can’t seem to see the forest for his friends.
Actually, I think he’d be served best with butter and maple syrup.
Here are a few historical gems.
“We’re all trying to get our heads above the battle smoke and look for the real meaning of Enron to put it in perspective.” (What perspective? Enron’s leaders played illegal games that destroyed thousands of people’s lives and got caught. Seems pretty clear to me.)
“I don’t see (subprime mortgage market troubles) imposing a serious problem. I think it’s going to be largely contained.” April 2007 (How’s that for an insightful statement?)
“I don’t think it [the subprime mess] poses any threat to the overall economy.” July 2007 (At least he’s consistent.)
“The US banking system is well-capitalized and ‘we have a strong deposit insurance system that provides good coverage for the savings of hard-working Americans.” December 2007 (Of which we have fewer and fewer every day.)
“Looking forward, I expect that financial markets will be driven less by the recent turmoil and more by broader economic conditions and, specifically, by the recovery of the housing sector.” May 2008 (There spoke a Treasury Secretary with a real handle on reality.)
“It’s a safe banking system, a sound banking system. Our regulators are on top of it. This is a very manageable situation.” July 2008 (I want some of what he was on!)
“This market has for all practical purposes ground to a halt. Today, the illiquidity in this sector is raising the cost and reducing the availability of car loans, student loans and credit cards. This is creating a heavy burden on the American people and reducing the number of jobs in our economy.” November 2008 (Ya think?)
Charles Darwin is best know for his Theory of Evolution and his amazing work in that field, but much of that work applies equally well to business—only not in the generally accepted way.
“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.” (Time to think and dream does not count as waste.)
“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” (As companies who promoted closed systems learned—to their detriment and eventual extinction.)
“…it is always advisable to perceive clearly our ignorance.” (Which, one can but hope, our fearless corporate leaders will do in the future, since it a prerequisite for the next thought…)
“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, not the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.” (Change. Maybe that can include a focus on something other than short-term and ‘maximizing shareholder value’. Wall Street, are you listening?)
In the wake of historic election (sorry, but have you ever tried to write something even a bit original about a subject that the entire world is talking/writing about? Well, it’s not easy, so I’m not even trying:) I went looking for some neat quotes for today.
I mean, who else would I quote five days after history was made, but the guy who made it?
“We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.”(Excellent? Most folks seem to think that ‘OK’ is adequate and ‘good’ is something for which to strive.)
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”(Our MAP / our choice.)
“What Washington needs is adult supervision.”(One can only hope that we finally have it.)
“The fact that my 15 minutes of fame has extended a little longer than 15 minutes is somewhat surprising to me and completely baffling to my wife.”(Gonna be a lot longer!)
Want to know more about Obama’s leadership style? Last month I posted an analysis of it by Kevin Cashman, author of Leadership From The Inside Out (which I reviewed here.)
Jim Stroup writes an amazing blog. He reads widely, thinks deeply and writes superbly—of course, it doesn’t hurt that we hold similar views on the subject of ‘leaders’.
Last Thursday Jim wrote Clarifying leadership and supplied me with my quotes for today.
“Leadership is all hype. We’ve had three great leaders in this century – Hitler, Stalin, and Mao.”
Jim considers this the most sensible thing Drucker ever said about leadership and I agree. Jim goes on to say,
“He was right. Those guys had it all: vision, oratorical ability, relationship building skills, charisma, relentless focus, outside the box thinking, follower-attracting magnetism…Moreover they had the unconstrained maneuver room to give their leadership the untrammeled free rein that the modern movement’s gurus also insist is vital.”
Hmmm, free rein. Isn’t that what deregulation gave our fearless ‘leaders’ on Wall Street and in corporate America?
Entrepreneurs face difficulties that are hard for most people to imagine, let alone understand. You can find anonymous help and connections that do understand at 7 cups of tea.
Crises never end.
$10 really does make a difference and you’ll never miss it,
Did you read the links from yesterday? I hope so, because some of these quotes play off those articles.
In a speech in 1962 then-President John F. Kennedy said
If I had spent the entire year scouring for business quotes to fit this title I probably wouldn’t find as perfect a selection as the ten offered up by Business Week in the 
Today I’m going to share with you articles about three folks whom I consider superb 
When Idris Jala was hired as CEO of a failing state-owned airline he had exactly three and-a-half months operating cash in which to turn it around—no bail out, no other options.
“We’re all trying to get our heads above the battle smoke and look for the real meaning of Enron to put it in perspective.” (What perspective? Enron’s leaders played illegal games that destroyed thousands of people’s lives and got caught. Seems pretty clear to me.)
Charles Darwin is best know for his Theory of Evolution and his amazing work in that field, but much of that work applies equally well to business—only not in the generally accepted way.
