work at home: Lessons From the 25 Most Influential Lessons From the 25 Most Influential
This is an article based on the book "What You Can Learn from the Top 25 Business People of Our Times", I hope you like it , is a bit long but worth reading.
The authors of this book are intended to describe the main features that have made the 25 characters he analyzed in great leaders of their respective companies. A quote from John Bogle, CEO of The Vanguard Group, serves as a starting point: "Our efforts to find a formula for leadership devoting itself almost certain failure. A large they can be imitate, emulate and replace, but there is no formula to become like them ", sensing that people become leaders because they choose to lead ...
Indeed, throughout the book, the authors show that leadership is fundamentally a matter of choice and determination. Therefore, those people decided to become leaders can help them the example of those others who came to be. The purpose of studying these cases is not in the mere attempt to emulate them, but should help to discover these potentials grown on us, allow us to increase the influence in what we do and give them a creative character.
This book originates from a series of broadcasts of the popular program Nightly Business Report, the top-rated U.S. television, and the journal of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Both the journal and program set out to identify the 25 business leaders from the past 25 years worldwide.
The criterion used to choose these people was their ability to create new and useful ideas that transformed, enriched and expanded the activity they were engaged. Among them was chosen to occupy the top spot to Andy Grove. His rise was due to its ability to risk a promising career as a scientist to engage in production microchips, initially through the company "Fairchild Semiconductor", where he met Gordon Moore, who later founded Intel, the famous producer of microprocessors.
His other major success was to make the name of this company in the world reference for microprocessors, after a withering ad campaign in the nineties. All this from an original thinking and a great deal of imagination and integrity.
The eight attributes of lasting leadership
The book identifies eight attributes of the leadership that helped the 25 people biographies overcome the challenges they faced and create their own styles of leadership. None of the leaders discussed in this book has all these capabilities and, on the other hand, have only one of them says no more than a brief lead.
The book sets out to recognize our own personality some of these qualities and cultivate them with the ability to create your own style. In this regard, although various combinations of these attributes make leaders different from each other, there is a quality common to them all: the tenacity on the commitment to the project itself, with a long-term view of it.
That perseverance is reflected in the success of their companies and the permanence of their own roles as leaders.
Andy Grove and Intel leadership within
The case of Andy Grove offers many fundamental lessons of leadership. Born in Hungary in 1936, was forced to emigrate to the U.S. after the Soviet invasion of 1956. That same year he began his studies in chemical engineering and met his mentor, Professor Al Xavier Schmidt. In 1963 enters Fairchild Semiconductor, one of the pioneers in the production of microchips, until he co-founded Intel in 1968. In 2004, Andy Grove was declared the "most influential" business leader in the last 25 years by Wharton and Nightly Business Report. To understand why this nomination is to take into account the fundamental characteristics of his style of leadership that are telling the truth, work together to propose a target of below market served, creating a brand, manage risk and create a corporate culture.
Regarding the first of these attributes, we should emphasize the influence of Professor Schmidt, who instilled the value of sincerity and honesty, something that later would allow Grove face a major crisis in your company. In 1994, there arose a great controversy among some consumers about defective microchips produced by Intel.
Although the error was minimal and affected a tiny number of microchips used only in calculations scientists, consumers demanded the return of products. While initially the company was reluctant to do so, Grove decided to shift its policy and announced that Intel would replace the chip to anyone who so desires. This measure will cost the company $ 475 million, but allowed him to quickly recover public confidence.
Another man who turned out to be a stimulus for the way of doing things Grove was Gordon Moore, a famous chemist who headed the investigation into the company Fairchild. Moore will be one of the cofounders of the company Intel, along with Grove and Robert Noyce, inventor the "integrated circuit." Despite his intellectual brilliance, Moore was not an active person. However, Grove decided to work together, combining their different qualities and putting into practice the encyclopedic knowledge of the technologies that had Moore. To summarize the way in which the three co-founders worked together at Intel, Grove referred to the three "ways of being" that make a top executive, as Peter Drucker in his book The Practice of Management: "thinking man" "man of action" and "man front man." At Intel, Moore corresponded to the first, second and Noyce Grove to the third of these archetypes.
These roles are not fixed but must be flexible and interchangeable, as they later demonstrate Grove's own example in "Intel".
Grove's ability to create a new identity for your company when it faced the greatest crisis in its history, in the eighties, is a good example of adaptation, survival and development on track for success.
At first, Intel, as a producer of memory chips, was the leader and dominated the 100% of the market as it had been the inventor of the product. Everything turned around when, in the early eighties, Japanese chip producers broke a large scale in the market, better product quality at lower cost.
did not seem to had way to reverse this unfavorable relation of forces to Intel over its Japanese competitors. Grove was when Moore proposed to take a radical turn to their main activity until then, stop producing memory chips and, instead, focus on an untapped market: the microprocessors.
The decision proved to be very timely as it coincided with the explosion in demand for personal computers, although it took some effort Grove go ahead with their proposal because of opposition from his colleagues and employees. Thanks to this decision, Intel's growth could continue to play. Another challenge that Grove was faced was the need to create a recognizable brand: few personal computer users were aware of who manufactured the chips, the very cornerstone for its operation.
was also clear that microprocessors needed a recognizable brand, because until then only had balloons, type 286 or 386. To rectify this situation, the company, under the direction of Grove, embarked on an advertising campaign of gigantic proportions aimed at users and non-producing companies, was the launch of "Intel Inside", which aimed to convince PC users that "the microprocessor in the inside the computer is the computer "in their own words. Intel also got his logo be deployed in ad campaigns for personal computer manufacturers.
The campaign was an unequivocal success and now the logo" Intel Inside "is a of the most recognizable in the world. As Intel grew, he faced pressure from antitrust regulators, similar to what would happen to Microsoft. The attitude of Grove in this case was moderate. Do not let the production of Intel microprocessors become an absolute monopoly, and thus ensured that Intel would not have to face the hostility with which they harassed Microsoft.
In another vein, in its relations with its employees, Grove acknowledged that his biggest problem was the difficulty of laying off those who had proven to be unproductive, even after a year or two since that situation had become apparent. However, it was an attitude that gave them some time to appear successful.
The other concern was internal Grove maintaining strict discipline in his business. So introduced the obligation to complete a form each time an employee arrived five minutes late. Until then, this obligation was only for manual workers, but he extended to the entire team Company: Though unpopular, this measure succeeded in creating an organization and a strong identity in the company.
Leadership and corporate culture
Through the examples of three great leaders, the book highlights the importance of building a strong corporate culture, that is, a pattern of values \u200b\u200band norms shared among members of the company on which justifies its action, from which they build the cohesiveness of its workforce, in short, create a shared identity and recognizable. .
Creating a strong corporate culture requires refocusing the role of employees, making them feel part of a structure that will help them achieve success shared. Therefore, it is essential to foster a good relationship between team members and enlarge the feeling of inclusion in the company. It is, in short, employees and thrill to be recognized in the project proposed to them.
A good model of all that is offered by Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Inc., whose corporate model, unlike traditional cosmetics business, supported by strong advertising and distribution and sale in drugstores, was based in direct selling through relationships. This system provided to women without formal education the possibility of a part-time job selling cosmetics and in turn recruit new vendors, to create a human network properly trained and identified with the product. With this activity, through a system of generous sales incentives, women are getting sometimes charge fees that equaled the salary of top executives, in this way, they felt while entrepreneurs could easily combine their activities with their lives family. The result was a team motivated and fully committed to your brand and your project.
For its part, the corporate culture created by Herb Kelleher in business, President and former CEO of Southwest Airlines, focusing on two core values: a slight irreverence by bureaucracy and a strong emphasis on teamwork. Their approach is based on the lack of titles, hierarchy and bureaucracy, factors which in his view, only hindered productivity. Anecdotally, Kelleher used to go to some company events dressed as Elvis Presley, and arrived at his office riding his Harley.
The most decisive for him was to encourage employees to learn from each other and were able to make common sense decisions without waiting for their superiors to do for them. Kelleher conceived corporate culture as the best defense against its competitors, being the most difficult to copy by the latter. Therefore, it was essential to improve productivity by encouraging workers and instilling a sense of purpose of the company. Only then got his loyalty to the company, something much more important than loyalty to your manager or the executive director himself. For this reason Kelleher created the corporate culture of Southwest Airlines constantly reminding their employees that they were the main value of the company. Got
raise competitiveness, increasing motivation and improving employee attitudes toward the company. To do so, offered the possibility to all its employees to acquire shares of the company, thereby offsetting lower wages than the competition. He also directed their offer to consumers who could not afford to pay a ticket.
As he himself said he was not competing with other airlines, was competing with road transport. Maintain a strong balanced budget and expand with caution is the best way to avoid adjustments in personnel in times of crisis. Southwest survived the crisis of the sector after September 11 because he could afford the lower prices and had the highest liquidity and access capital. Constantly monitor the costs, according to Kelleher, is essential to successfully face any competition.
Many of the 25 leaders profiled in this book managed to create a well-defined corporate culture or transform their businesses before, reflecting both the needs of her company who headed their own personalities. Among those who created it from nothing stand Kelleher and Mary Kay Ash, and among those who transformed the inherited, James Burke, former CEO of Johnson & Johnson.
The reflection of the personality of the leader in the creation of your corporate culture is easily seen in the legacy of Mary Kay Ash who, having been herself a victim of discrimination against women, opened the doors of your business to all those willing to work with tenacity and help others. James Burke, meanwhile, encouraged his employees to take risks when it comes to identifying and promoting new products, an attitude probably linked to being a player himself confessed.
Burke summarized his philosophy as follows: "the responsibility of the company is to its customers, then to its employees, then to his community and ultimately to its shareholders." This creed was his guide for decision making in times of crisis. This culture, focusing on the client, highly decentralized and bold in taking risks, J & J was the pinnacle of success. Abide
truth
The audacity to state the truth is the foundation of true leadership and a lot more now that often come with some news of financial scandals such as Enron, World Com, Parmalat, etc. A leader needs to know how to communicate their vision so that it is credible and inspires confidence. This credibility is based on personal integrity,
which is the opposite of dishonesty, property disastrous both for personal relationships to business. Indeed, only if people who want to lead become convinced that what we say corresponds with reality, we accept and follow us.
All leaders that this book review had the determination to respect the truth when it became necessary. For example, Warren Buffet, who restored the credibility of Salomon Inc. after its chief executive, J. Gutfreund will take you to a financial scandal in the early nineties. As Michael Useem wrote in his book The Leadership Moment, how to deal with this scandal prompted W. Buffet was known as the "Conscience of Wall Street." In the case of Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, was his penchant for speaking openly that led him to the leadership of the company.
According to Peter Drucker, professor of social sciences and business management, companies scholar and writer on management issues, the most effective leaders that he had the opportunity to meet were those who submitted themselves to the "mirror test" making sure every day that the person they saw was the person who wanted to be, someone respected, someone who inspired confidence, true to himself, willing to make decisions it believes are needed although they are sometimes unpopular and, therefore, to say truth. William
George, former CEO of Medtronic, made his commitment to always stick to the truth the cornerstone of his conception of true leadership: "Be yourself, follow your own style, be what it really is, and wonder why one wants to be leader. Do not try to just obtaining a degree or power or money, because ultimately, this is what fills us. " A true leader must perceive and express reality in an appropriate manner, without ever falling into the temptation of being a phony.
At the same time, you must know how to communicate truth without fear of consequences. The temptation to conceal or misrepresent the facts for fear of possible negative consequences, those who dare to speak the truth become very popular and people believe them. Examples of Welch, Drucker and George prove it. The commitment to truth is closely linked with corporate culture, in the sense that it implies integrity can and should move the whole company. In fact, this commitment to truth is the foundation of true leadership, according to William George. In this aspect, George argued that "those who are committed to the goal or mission, people who live their values \u200b\u200bevery day and know the true north of their moral compass, lead with your heart, not just their heads, and People have appreciated the they serve. They do so with the commitment to get great results, not only to their shareholders but to all stakeholders in the company, including customers, employees and the communities they serve. This sounds old-fashioned, yet revolutionary. "
The experience of biographies leaders draws the conclusion that truth is needed to build deeper relationships, it is the foundation of trust, and this in turn , but can not be built on self-discipline and consistency. Indeed, as William George, leaders must show consistency in all their actions, because, otherwise, fall into hypocrisy, and coherence only from where you can build a solid and lasting leadership.
Find and meet the needs of under-supplied market
Watching all the big companies that dominate the world market, it is clear that not all of them based their success in new products or radically innovative technologies.
In some cases, the key to success lay in the ability of leaders to identify and begin to supply markets hitherto unexplored. Hence the importanciam to find markets or segments with unmet needs and developing appropriate strategies to penetrate them.
Charles Schwab, CEO and president of Charles Schwab Corp, took in the seventies the new legislation that eliminated fixed fees for brokerage services and revolutionized the market for the purchase of shares by individual investors, offering them engage the services of their brokerage business to a very low cost.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, set out to break the cycle of poverty in Bangladesh initiated a system of microcredit to poor farmers, allowing them to become entrepreneurs able to support themselves.
The above examples prove that there always key markets offer the best opportunities, as fierce competition draw. Instead, identify markets or segments that none or few are addressed, allows companies to venture into new areas and develop successful businesses before their competitors.
"Seeing the invisible"
Leadership involves the ability to see ahead. This means not only to imagine the future and translate that concept to others, but also note what is in sight of all but few discover. The example of Steven Jobs, chief executive of Apple Computer, an opportunity is detected before they did the rest. Was to realize the technological potential which contained a type of computer called
Alto, introduced in late seventies in Silicon Valley, and had the first graphical user interface.
There was the germ of the computers we know and use today: windows, menus, panels, etc. Paradoxically, the creators of this computer failed to recognize the potential of his creation, but Jobs himself. For him, the computer opened the possibility of making available the use of computers to the public, thanks to its graphical menus and a mouse that facilitated their management. This is how it was created Macintosh. In other words, one of the attributes of leadership lies in being able to perceive opportunities in situations where others see only chaos and confusion. To this we must look closely at the reality and pay attention to those little signs that anticipate the future, predicting crisis, bubbles, opportunities or changing trends. However, "see the invisible" is useless unless it is accompanied by the ability to act accordingly, or, which is, to assume the risk of carrying out the opportunity detection.
Indeed, the uncertainty when making decisions can cause us to squander the advantage gained by our intuition to discover new markets. Thus, successfully requires some deal of courage involves, for once envisioned a new opportunity to implement it.
Use the price to gain a competitive advantage
Many of the top 25 leaders built the lasting success of their companies manage costs and prices to gain a competitive advantage. Of course, each of them made their own way. For example, Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, adopted the strategy of buy low, sell at a discount to compensate for narrow margins handling large quantities of products. Michael Dell's strategy was similar: keeping costs low by using direct sales as their primary sales channel and integrating Dell's supply chain with its suppliers. For his part, Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com, used technology and innovative methods of sales to start off their market share of traditional bookstores and online rivals.
Almost all the leaders biographies in the book agree that the best base to win customers, and that transcends cultural borders, is a low price. Paradoxically, so is able to increase profits, since a low price is the ultimate weapon to conquer any market. However, although a good price is a major advantage on the road to success is not everything. Indeed, if a company wants to stay in the market for a long time and get your brand loyalty, this advantage must be accompanied by some other value to fully satisfy the consumers or clients. Therefore, without glossing over the price factor to ensure the achievement of lasting success must know a low price combine with another of the characteristics and attributes of leadership discussed in the book.
Building company brand
The brand represents an intangible but critical value for the company. While it is difficult to measure, like customer satisfaction, all leaders understand their importance. This is so because the brand represents a set of core values, recognizable by the public, that characterizes the product or service. In fact, the brand has become a strategic business asset and a source of competitive advantage over other similar products or services.
Hence the importance of their reputation and popularity, and to protect its uniqueness. The book offers the example of Oprah Winfrey, chair of Harpo, television presenter and journalist, who was aware of the need to protect their brand, which, if any, was herself. Resisted attempts by others to market his name in a variety of products and, instead, decided to found a magazine and a television channel of its own. Your brand is a brilliant blend of spontaneity and careful planning. Personally oversees its television and magazine content, which always shows a picture of Winfrey on the cover. Another experience
analyzed is that of Richard Brandson, he realized that his success at the head of Virgin Group would open the possibility of expanding into other areas not related to the recording industry that was originally dedicated, such as a low-fare airline , clothes and mobile phones. His secret was to assume that their young consumers to translate the confidence they had in the Virgin name to its other products. Experience shows that a brand associated with quality and distinction generates loyalty from consumers, hence, therefore, its importance to strengthen and consolidate our leadership. In many cases, a popular and trusted brand has expanded across a product line under it. On the side of the drawbacks, relying solely on the brand and over-reliance on it is not recommended. Difficulties encountered by Coca-Cola to launch new products due to its brand had become so familiar that it could not be associated with any other item. Learn
quickly
The ability to learn quickly is essential for lasting leadership. This is because the reality faced by companies is changing: changes in the markets, the political circumstances in the legislative or constant occur, sometimes unexpectedly. This requires a change of direction fast and energetic to suit the new situation, whatever it. All these decisions are based on a trial, and to be able to make judgments appropriate, leaders must know how to learn quickly.
The 25 leaders of this book had this quality. The first place for his quick learning ability is held by Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft. He started to learn quickly before you even start to develop their software first thirteen. However, this quality was further accentuated after founding Microsoft in 1975 at the age of 20 years. In thirty years, Microsoft has become the largest software company in the world and Bill Gates the richest man in part because of their ability to learn so alive and, secondly, to ensure that Microsoft always respond to new challenges it posed, and the passing of which impacted on its growth.
Louis Gerstner, former CEO of IBM, was also someone who learned with alacrity. When IBM entered, opposed the previous plan sought to address divide in smaller companies. He proposed the opposite: IBM should maintain its volume, but not only provide software and hardware, but also solutions for businesses. This decision, and the emphasis in its implementation, led to a turning point in the development of IBM.
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Examples of these leaders are very valuable to understand that the ability to learn quickly is one of the key to leadership. But to become such, must become a habit, not being sufficiently learned a few lessons in an instant and expect success by repeating its implementation. In fact, offer old solutions to new problems can often lead to failure.
Managing risk
leadership face the risk involved. All businesses, especially those related to finance, faced uncertainty about the future as the markets live and influenced by factors that can be known in advance and are fully controllable. To do this, leaders have the tools to reduce it and make it manageable, as increasingly more evolved a scenario planning tools that allow one to imagine alternative futures and develop specific strategies for each case.
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Si bien todos los líderes mencionados en el libro saben advertir y gestionar el riesgo, entre todos ellos destaca Warren Buffett, presidente y director ejecutivo de Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett ha sido uno de los mejores gestores del riesgo, no sólo por su capacidad para elegir aquellas opciones de inversión que resultarían ganadoras, sino también en el ámbito de los seguros, actividad principal de su empresa. Su gestión de riesgos se basaba en elegir las metas apropiadas para la inversión.
La experiencia de todos los líderes demuestra que la decisión de asumir o no un determinado riesgo depende en gran medida de la recompensa potencial de hacerlo. En el libro se reconoce también la experiencia de Alan Greenspan, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, an expert in managing large-scale risk, especially one that results from the great convulsions in the international market. Greenspan, of course, made some mistakes, but the important thing was that they remained stranded in them: and that among the attributes of a true leader stresses its ability to take the consequences and liability resulting from poor risk management.
Finally, it is worth noting that, although as Greenspan himself has acknowledged, a certain degree of chance can never be avoided, the risk can be reduced through knowledge and continuous observation of reality as a basis for deciding and act. In this sense, Buffett summed up his philosophy for making investment decisions on four principles: understand the business in which it invests, seek clear economic benefits, finding a competent leader and buy at a good price. The decisions made by following these key ideas helps to ensure a minimization of risks. Conclusion
Asked what the secret of successful leaders in the book, most answer that lies in the old Greek injunction "know thyself" (and your business.) The leaders know their own strengths and experience, and instinct tells them what do and when.
Despite his great achievements and, in some cases, fame, true leaders do not forget that in the business world success is teamwork. The ability to admit mistakes and correct them also stands out among the 25 personalities of the book. However, the most common attribute is probably his ability to anticipate the future. Few foresaw the importance that computers would acquire in all areas at the time that he get an appropriate interface. But Steve Jobs, and this led to the Macintosh. Similarly, Jeff Bozos detected more than a decade the Internet's potential to revolutionize retailing. Imagined a library with a fund ten times higher than any of the existing and established.
The experience of these 25 leaders suggests a list of issues that we can use to assess our own potential for leadership:
- Looking on the bright side when faced with negative circumstances?
- How to cultivate a corporate culture that inspire and empower those who surround us?
- How to stress the importance of honesty, especially when it is not the easiest path to follow?
- Have we sought to identify and develop under-supplied market?
- Can we see "what others can not?
- Do we understand the role of price as a competitive advantage in our particular industry?
- Do we grow and maximize our brand identity?
- learn quickly and are able to make decisions quickly, so as to change position when needed?
- How to manage risk?
Leaders are able to communicate their ideas, values \u200b\u200band beliefs to their employees and the business community in general, moving a vision and encouraging innovation in times when nobody believed it necessary. It's the future that advances to the leaders. In this regard, Yunus, whose bank has lent more than $ 4 billion to the Third World, imagine a world free of poverty, in which his company would cease to exist, a world, in his words, "in which all of us would be proud to live" .
Lessons From the 25 Most Influential
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