The Motley Fool six-part interview with Bill George Part One: The 5 Values for Successful Leadership By Motley Fool Staff January 7, 2009 Bill George is the author of two books, True North and Authentic Leadership. He is the former CEO of Medtronic (NYSE: MDT). During his 10-year tenure, he instilled values, inspired employees, delighted cus- tomers, and led the company to a 60-times increase in its value -- equivalent to 35% investment returns per year. Tom Gardner, CEO of The Motley Fool, interviewed Bill several months ago to hear his thinking on what makes for great leaders. This is part one of the six-part interview series. Tom Gardner: Bill, for those who haven’t read your books, Authentic Leadership and True North, what are your five dimensions of an authentic leader? Bill George: Well, I wrote Authentic Leadership back in 2003 to capture a different kind of leader than what I was seeing in the post-Enron-WorldCom-Tyco era. I focused on five things. First, there is the importance of a leader having a purpose and knowing why they want to lead and where they’re going with their leadership. Really, what is the purpose of their leadership. Then, second, closely aligned with that, is practicing their values every day so that they’re consistent in how they live their values. This is not just what they articulate as their values, but actually how they practice their values. Third was a relatively new idea when Authentic Leadership was published. It was the idea of leading with your heart, not just your head. Obviously, you have to have the intellect to do the job, but I think having the heart is key. This means having the passion for the work, having a real understanding of compassion for the people you work with, having a real deep understanding and empathy for your customers, and having the courage to make difficult decisions. When you think about it, passion, compassion, courage and empathy are all matters of the heart, not of the head. There are so many leaders who have been brilliant leaders but have failed because they failed in that dimension. Fourth, I believe it’s crucial to build long-term, connected relationships. Many people build a network of super- ficial relationships. I think we’re going to see the arrow swing back now to deeper networking and more con- nected relationships with people, where there’s a sense of two-way commitment between the individuals. Then finally, fifth, is having the self-discipline to get results. That’s the bottom line for anyone: Can you deliver on what you promise, on your commitments? Whether it’s a financial commitment, a personal commitment, whatever it is, I think we all have to have the self-discipline personally to deliver on our commitments. Gardner: Bill, let’s take your emphasis in No. 4 on building relationships and making leadership personal. There are a lot of very hard-driving leaders who seem to meet with success. Why do you say it is so important to con- nect at a deeper level? George: Well, take Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) where you have a man like A.G. Lafley who took over from a failed successor, and has done everything through relationships. I don’t think Lafley would ever claim to be brighter than anyone else or more brilliant in strategy, but he’s an incredible relationship person. That’s how he’s built Procter & Gamble. When you look at the success of that company, it’s come because he is very interested in other people. He takes time with them. He is genuinely concerned about them and is very highly motivational on a personal basis, on a one-to-one basis. He has spent a great deal of his time, not in Cin- cinnati in the headquarters, but out with his troops. I remember I had a student when I was teaching at Yale about four years ago that used to work for him and he was telling me when Lafley made his first visit to Chile, he said there had never been a CEO at Procter & Gam- ble ever to come to Chile. And he talked about how personally involved he was with him on a one-to-one basis and I thought that was a rather amazing tribute to Lafley’s ability to build those kinds of relationships. And you can say, “Well, that is just one person out of 100,000 people at P&G.” That’s true, but the word spreads. People get a sense of who their leaders are and I think one of the things, Tom, that’s really important is that people can tell who is authentic and who is not. That’s particularly true in the under-40 generation. People just aren’t going to tolerate leaders who are inauthentic. Part Two: Bill George’s Secret to Real Leadership By Motley Fool Staff January 8, 2009 Bill George is the author of two books, True North and Authentic Leadership. He is the former CEO of Medtronic (NYSE: MDT). During his 10-year tenure, he instilled values, inspired employees, delighted cus- tomers, and led the company to a 60-fold increase in its value -- equivalent to 35% investment returns per year. Motley Fool CEO Tom Gardner interviewed Bill several months ago to hear his thoughts on what makes for great leaders. This is part two of six in the interview series. Please click here to read Part 1, and to find links to the rest of the series. Tom Gardner: Can you talk about the major difference for leaders between the use of the word “I” and the use of the word “we”? Bill George: I define it as takers and givers. We’ve seen a lot of takers in the game, like Armstrong at AT&T (NYSE: T). A lot of people asking, “How much can I get out of this deal? How much money can I get? How much fame, power, glory, and recognition can I get for my contributions?” They’re really in it for themselves. Again, people sense that, and most people today won’t work for someone like that. The “we” leaders are much more concerned with, “What can the team do?” Now, it is not totally unselfish. They just see the power in an empowered team. Rather than keeping the power to themselves, they empower people at all levels. They empower people to step up and lead, even people without direct reports. I think it’s that sense of trying to empower other people that gives the “we-ness” to it. That includes sharing the credit, showing the recognition that we are all in this together, and that when we fail, I will take responsibility as a CEO. And if we succeed, we all get the credit. Gardner: So, can everyone be a leader? Should everyone try to be an authentic leader, and can everyone ulti- mately become one? George: I think anyone who wants to be can be a leader in their own way, even people who are great creative, technical people in the development group, or great sales people. Maybe they wouldn’t be the best CEO, but they certainly can lead in their own way. They can set the standards for other people, and they can demonstrate a certain level of enthusiasm and commitment that can cause other people to want to perform better. I think people who want to be leaders can do so, if they can be themselves. Those that fail typically are the ones who are trying to be something different than who they are. They come across as fake. Gardner: In True North, you mention that the CEO of Kroger (NYSE: KR) told you that almost every leader he has seen has been self-taught. I would suspect that many people don’t know how to teach themselves to be a better leader. What suggestions do you have? George: I knew Dave Dillon as CEO of Kroger, if that is who you are referring to … Gardner: Yes. George: When he was still in college, I knew him when he was at Kansas, and we got to know each other very well in those days, and he is just a terrific human being. He is about as authentic a leader as they come.We were together at the Microsoft Summit, and I was running a panel, and I actually called on him in the audience to talk about how you find purpose at Kroger when you are competing againstWal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and against the grocery business, both of which have a cost advantage over you. Dave talked about how he empowered people to believe that working in the grocery industry was a very proud profession, one that had dignity, and that people’s job was to help their customers feel like they were getting good service every day. He wanted every customer to feel that today is better for their having come into Kroger. Dave is just that kind of person. That is the way he conveys himself. And he never takes the credit. And he says when he gets upset, he realizes it is because he has really done something wrong. He’s a very real and genuine person. Gardner: What was the inflection point for you in your journey to become an authentic leader? George: Well, it’s something I had wanted to be all along, but I had a lot to learn. I had to struggle with my own ego.