Wharton Leadership Conference

Yesterday was Wharton's  12th Annual Leadership Conference.  Every year the buzz at the reception is that this was the best one ever and last evening was no exception.

I'm sure in the days and weeks to come, more will be reported and captured in  Knowledge@Wharton.  In the meanwhile, here are my take-aways.

David Gurgen, noted commentator, author, presidential advisor:  There are two types of  leadership qualities, those that are timeless and those that are contextual.  After 40 years of getting up front and personal with US presidents, Gugen's personal favorites for the timeless ones are: judgment, character and ambition (not for oneself, but for others). In the context of our times today, he believes that the leadership qualities the country needs most in our next president are: cross-cultural sophisticatation, transparency (in terms of accountability), toughness (not a push-over) and a consensus builder (at home and internationally).  He also told a good joke about a frog who never got the chance to turn into a princess.

Ken Chenault, Chairman and CEO of American Express, widely admired for his leadership capabilities: A leader is someone whose EQ (executional ability) equals his IQ.  Since two of the leadership traits he thinks are important are integrity and concern for people, I suspect there's a double entendre there.  Chenault talks about leadership often, including this piece from last fall in Fortune.

Stew Friedman, Director of the Wharton Work/Life Integration Project: To be a better leader, you need to balance four domains of your life: work/career, home/family, community/society and self: mind, body, spirit. Read his new book Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life to learn how. 

Peter Capelli, Director of the Wharton Center for Human Resources: Despite the fact that CEOs rank "recruiting and retaining top talent" at the top of their toughest challenges list,  many don't do much "workforce planning" any more. Development can be very expensive, only to have the talent go elsewhere. Some companies are getting smarter. They can bring the cost of development way down, with more effective results. How? Match the projects no one has time or resources to do with the person who steps up to take it on as a development opportunity - while continuing to do their regular job.  Make sense? Think about your own career. What was the best development experience you had? To learn more, read Peter's new book Talent on Demand: Managing Talent in an Age of Uncertainty.

Joe Nocera, business writer and columnist for the New York Times:  Joe's list of "good guy" CEO's:  Jeff Immelt, Herb Kelleher, and (my personal favorite) Indra Nooyi.  I won't mention the list of "bad guys."  But you can read the whole list and the stories behind his calls in Good Guys and Bad Guys: Behind the Scenes of American Business (and Everything in Between).  Words to live by: You can't be a [jerk - my word not his] and think anyone's going to stay and work for you if they've got other options. Or words to that effect.

Bill Weldon, Chariman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson: Hearing Weldon, it's no doubt that leaders are born but it's clear that with a lot of hard work, over time, they're also made. It's impossible to do justice to Bill's presentation on the leadership development process at J&J.  What struck me most is the sense of integrity that just oozes out of him. This is definitely a guy whose EQ matches his IQ.

S.A. Ibrahim, CEO, Radian Group: Someone's got to bottle this guy's enthusiasm, good will and street smarts. Did I mention that Radian is in the mortgage insurance business? And he still has a sense of humor.  Ibrahim told a great story about how Radian's technology was built.  After the technologists met with him to find out what the project was all about, they came back with "this long list of tasks, a huge project plan, very beautifully done with all kinds of charts".  Ibrahim thought, well, it's a little like when you go to the doctor. You really don't understand them, but you dare not take the risk that they're wrong. You just do what they say because you have to trust them.  At the end of the meeting, Ibrahim told tech team this: What will make this technology successful is if it makes it easy for the sales people to sell and for the customer to buy. I'm going to evaluate you the same way I do everyone else: based on the number of loans that go through the system. The punch line: Radian won an award for the technology without even applying. Ahh, if only Charlie had been there to hear it.

The annual leadership marathon ended with Mike Useem, Director of the Wharton Center for Leadership and Change engaging in a captivating dialog with Colleen Barrett, President of Southwest Airlines: Who could possibly replace the legendary Herb Kelleher?  As it turns out, it's the woman who started out as his legal secretary and stayed with him as his assistant for 35 years. That's got to be a record. Southwest is arguably the contender for any "Best" list there is.  Suffice it to say, hearing her talk and watching her employees on video, it's easy to see why. Colleen makes it sound like just plain 'ole common sense combined with a sense of humor and a big heart. I think everyone in the audience wanted to take her home with them.

Armed with my summer reading list, the day ended, with much to think about.

Comments

Thanks for your post, Saurabh! We have next year to look forward to - Anne

[Saurabh Madaan]

I agree with you. The day was full of precious insights and inspiration. The energy of SA Ibrahim and the candor of Colleen Barrett stayed stayed with me long after the conference...