1: It was January of 2014. Mary Barra was in her early days as CEO of General Motors when a major crisis hit. The carmaker had been implicated in a number of fatal crashes due to faulty ignition switches.
“When you have a crisis, it’s not like you know the significance of it immediately,” she recalls in CEO Excellence by McKinsey consultants Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram … continue reading
1: McKinsey consultants asked a CEO how much time he spent managing other people’s egos.
Probably 20 to 30 percent of the time, he answered.
Then, they asked him what percent of time people spent managing his ego.
Silence.
“Beyond the anecdote,” Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra write in CEO Excellence, “the research is clear: When CEOs are asked if they act as a … continue reading
1: “Culture can be a hard topic to get one’s head around,” Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra write in CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest.
Perhaps the best definition comes from Marvin Bower, McKinsey & Company‘s former managing director, who said culture is “the way we do things around here.”
Which is why the world’s best … continue reading
1: It’s a three-dimensional world. However, many leaders lead in a single dimension.
Imagine an organization as a three-dimensional space. We call the three dimensions “It,” “We,” and “I,” Fred Kofman writes in The Meaning Revolution: The Power of Transcendent Leadership.
The “It” dimension refers to the tasks, systems, and processes that make up the company.
“It” is about increasing sales, reducing costs, gaining market share, and growing shareholder … continue reading
1: Mastercard’s former CEO Ajay Banga was walking through the office one day when he noticed a slogan written in a staircase:
“Mastercard, the heart of commerce.”
“It made me think,” he reflects in Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vik Malhotra‘s powerful book CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest.
A thought struck him: “Commerce is mostly in cash, right? … continue reading
