Focus Magazine - Winter 2012 - 50

5 QUESTIONS Kevin Kruse

5 Questions With…

Bill George

t’s one thing to preach leadership from the sidelines, and it’s another to have actually walked the talk. In this time of unprecedented change and struggle for growth, I reached out to a former life science CEO who took his medical device company from a $1 billion to $60 billion valuation in just 10 years. Bill George is the former chairman and chief executive o cer of Medtronic, and recently served on the board of Novartis. He is a professor of management at Harvard Business School, where he has taught leadership since 2004. He is the author of four best-selling books including, True North and Authentic Leadership.

Bill George, Harvard Business School Professor, Author, former Medtronic CEO

Leadership development, like R&D,
is vital to your organization’s future and should not be cut

Kevin Kruse (KK): What advice do you have for life science CEOs today? Bill George (BG): Stay focused on nding cures and treatments for chronic disease, and build the balance sheet and internal capability to cope with external challenges like long lead times, economic downturns, IP and coping with a di cult regulatory climate. If you’re skilled, you can turn these challenges into competitive advantages. KK: You are best known for the concept of authentic leadership and following one’s “True North.” How can front-line managers practice this today? BG: e most important challenge to leaders is to empower others to lead authentically, not to exert power over them. ey need to align people about the organization’s mission and its values, and create a spirit of collaboration throughout the organization. Leadership is all about serving your customers – and your patients – and serving your employees.

KK: In tough times, training and development budgets are o en the rst to get cut. What’s your view of the role of corporate learning departments? BG: Leadership development, like R&D, is vital to your organization’s future and should not be cut. Corporate learning groups need to get much closer to the workplace, and do much more development of leaders within the daily experience. KK: According to the conference board, job satisfaction is at a record low. What should leaders do to create an engaged workforce? BG: e role of middle managers needs to shi from the traditional tasks to becoming active leaders who take responsibility for leading and doing the work as an integral part of their team. Being empowering leaders themselves, and recognizing that the real work of the organization is done by rst-line employees, not managers, and to delegate more to them. KK: Your newest book is called True North Groups. What’s it about? BG: True North Groups are small, intimate groups of six to eight leaders who gather on a regular basis to discuss the most important issues of their lives – their life stories, crucibles, challenges, values and beliefs. True North Groups are the very best approach we have found to helping leaders develop as authentic people. I

Kevin Kruse is the executive director of SPBT and co-author of the New York Times best-seller, We: How to Increase Performance and Pro ts through Full Engagement. Email Kevin at kkruse@spbt.org.

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Focus Magazine - Winter 2012

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