Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
2010
True North: Discover Your
Authentic Leadership
by Bill George with Peter Sims
Leading with
Excellence
Being true to yourself enables you to
empower others to succeed.
Y
doing hard labor in prison. When elected president of South
our life story defines your leadership. As a child, Africa four years after his release, he was in the perfect position
Starbucks founder Howard Schultz watched his to call for revenge against those who had treated him unfairly
family struggle after an injury cost his father his and robbed him of so many years of his life. But Mandela,
job. When Schultz started Starbucks years later, who rose above discrimination, injustice and hatred, offered
the coffee company became the first American company to reconciliation to his oppressors. During his incarceration,
provide access to health coverage for qualified employees who Mandela realized his leadership was not about the “I” of getting
work as few as 20 hours per week. Schultz credits his life story people to follow him, but the “we” of reconciliation. He saw
with motivating him to create one of the great business successes his role as bringing people from diverse backgrounds together
of the last 25 years. As the author of your own life story, you around a common vision for the new South Africa, centered on
can connect the dots between your past and future to find your the values of social justice and opportunity for all.
inspiration to lead authentically. Not many of us can be liberators of an oppressed people, but
When envisioning your leadership journey, don’t rely on a all of us can make a difference to the world around us.
carefully planned career map. Instead, be willing to step up to
unexpected opportunities. In today’s culture, your journey is
more likely to follow a winding path than it is to be a race to KNOWING YOUR AUTHENTIC SELF
the top. The advice to know yourself is thousands of years old. But
There are three phases in this leadership journey: knowing ourselves at the deepest level is not easy, as we are
Phase I: Preparing for Leadership—The first 30 years complex human beings with many aspects to our character.
of your life is the time to prepare for leadership, when your Self-awareness is critical to becoming an authentic leader.
character is formed, and when people become individual The better you know yourself, the more likely you are to find
contributors or lead teams for the first time. the right role, increase your self-confidence, remain consistent,
Phase II: Leading—This phase usually involves a crucible, connect with others and have exceptional complementary skills.
a difficult period that tests leaders to the core. This results in Without self-awareness, it is easy to get caught up in chasing
a transformation of understanding what leadership is all about,
followed by a rapid acceleration of development.
Phase III: Giving Back—The last 30 years of a leader’s
journey can be the most productive and rewarding of all. To integrate your life, you
Instead of retiring, these leaders often realize a new purpose
for their leadership: to help develop the next generation of
must remain grounded in your
authentic leaders. authentic self and maintain
your perspective.
TRANSFORMATION FROM ‘I’
TO ‘WE’
To become authentic leaders, we must discard the myth that external symbols of success rather than becoming the person
leadership means having legions of supporters following our you want to be.
direction as we ascend to pinnacles of power. Only then can we Knowing yourself can be compared to peeling back the layers
realize that authentic leadership is about empowering others on of an onion as you search for your true self. The outer layers
their journeys. This shift is the transformation from “I” to “we.” are you as you present yourself to the world, such as your facial
Nelson Mandela’s story is one of the most powerful lessons in expressions, body language and attire. Beneath those outer
transformation of our time. For his organized protests against layers lie your understanding of your strengths and weaknesses.
Peeling deeper, you gain an understanding of your values and global force in information systems. When he took over the
the ways in which experiences often put you in conflict with company from his predecessor, he employed a companywide
your values. Under another layer, you’ll find what drives and online process in which all employees around the globe had the
motivates you. Still deeper lies your understanding of your opportunity to participate for three days in determining what
life story. In the deepest layers, you find your blind spots and IBM’s values should be. Palmisano is using the values emerging
vulnerabilities. At the core of your being is what you believe and from this process to integrate IBM’s 350,000 employees into a
how you envision your place on earth. global integrated network.
Self-awareness is only half the challenge; you still have As we search for our True North, it is important to
to accept yourself. But with self-awareness, accepting your acknowledge how easy it is to get pulled off course. By knowing
authentic self becomes much easier. By accepting yourself just as our ethical boundaries and testing our values under pressure, we
you are, you are prepared to interact authentically with others are able to get back on track.
who come into your life.
With the center of your compass solidly grounded in self-
awareness and supported by self-acceptance, you are ready to WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO BE
focus on your values and principles. A LEADER?
Because authentic leaders need to sustain high levels of
motivation and keep their motivations in balance, it is critically
PRACTICING YOUR VALUES important to understand what motivates them.
AND PRINCIPLES There are two types of motivations:
In gaining a clear awareness of who you are, you must 1. Extrinsic motivations are motivations measured by the
understand your values and the principles that guide your external world such as getting good grades, winning athletic
leadership. Staying centered on your values is not easy. You competitions or making money. Although they are reluctant
can easily drift off course as the temptations and pressures of to admit it, many leaders are motivated to achieve success
the outside world pull you away from your mental center. But by extrinsic motivators. They enjoy the feelings of success,
if you are centered through a high level of self-awareness, your recognition and status that come with promotion and
compass can help you get back on track. financial rewards.
Leadership principles are values translated into action. 2. Intrinsic motivations, on the other hand, are derived from
Principles enable leaders to prioritize their values and your sense of meaning in your life—your True North. Examples
demonstrate which ones trump others. After defining your include personal growth, helping other people develop, taking
leadership principles, you need a clear understanding of your on social causes and making a difference in the world.
ethical boundaries. Intrinsic motivations come from within you and are
Defining your values, principles and ethical congruent with your True North. They are more subtle than
boundaries: extrinsic motivations. John Thain, CEO of the New York Stock
Values: The relative importance of the things that matter in Exchange, said, “I am motivated by doing a really good job at
your life. whatever I am doing, but I prefer to multiply my impact on
Leadership Principles: A set of standards used in society through a group of people.”
leading others, derived from your values. Principles are values Many people never tap into their most powerful motivations.
translated into action. With society’s unprecedented attention on material gain,
Ethical Boundaries: The limits placed on your actions, temptations and social pressures cause many leaders to seek
based on your standards of ethical behavior. the world’s acclaim rather than doing what motivates them
Many companies these days are shifting from managing internally. In contrast to this mentality, Ann Fudge, CEO of
by objectives to leading by values. IBM CEO Sam Palmisano Young & Rubicam, took the lowest-paying offer she received out
is using this approach to unite IBM employees as a powerful of business school.
“It goes back to my days when I was rejected by my friend’s problem, by counseling with them, offering suggestions or
father,” Hooper said. “You have to accept people for who they assisting them in making vital contacts.
are. There are so many good people out there. All they need is an • Challenging leaders. Challenging people’s ideas and
opportunity and a platform.” helping them sharpen their ideas through dialogue is an
Gaining alignment around purpose is the greatest challenge extremely empowering response. Although people may be
leaders face. To sustain the motivation of teammates and a uncomfortable in being challenged at first, they are usually
successful track record, authentic leaders convey such a sense of engaged with the leaders and anxious to respond.
passion for their purpose that people share it and feel inspired by • Stretching people. Most people want to be stretched in
the mission. Leaders can sustain their effectiveness only if they assignments that enable them to develop.
empower employees around a shared purpose. As a leader, you • Aligning around a mission. It’s not easy to align an entire
must convey passion for the business every day while maintaining organization around a mission, but it is the most empowering
clarity about the mission of your organization. condition of all and it is worth whatever effort it takes.
ACTION STEPS
Get more out of this SUCCESS Book
Summary by putting what you’ve learned
into action. Here are few questions and
thoughts to help you get started. About the Author
1. Identify a mentor who has successfully maneuvered
Bill George is a professor of management practice at
your current leadership phase.
Harvard Business School. He is the author of four best-selling
2. Make a list of the key players on your team. What can
you do to help each of them excel? books: Seven Lessons for Leading in Crisis, True North, Finding
3. Peel back the layers. What are your core values? What Your True North and Authentic Leadership.
drives you? In what areas are you vulnerable? George is the former chairman and chief executive officer
4. Define your leadership principles. Translate your values of Medtronic. Under his leadership, Medtronic’s market
into actions.
capitalization grew from $1.1 billion to $60 billion, averaging 35
5. Are you motivated by your current work? What changes
percent per year. He currently serves as a director of Exxon Mobil
could you make to align your responsibilities with your
key drivers? and Goldman Sachs.
6. Make a list of the most important people or things in He has been named one of top 25 business leaders of the
your life. What are some things that are not important past 25 years by PBS, Executive of the Year in 2001 by the
to you but are draining your time and energy? Delegate
those activities or delete them from your to-do list. Academy of Management, and Director of the Year-2001–02 by
7. What is your team’s mission? Clearly define your team the National Association of Corporate Directors. He has made
goal and then communicate that goal to your team frequent appearances on television and radio, including The
members. Encourage others to stretch themselves to
contribute to this unified purpose. Charlie Rose Show, The Today Show, The NewsHour with Jim
Lehrer, NOW, CNBC, Bloomberg News and NPR. His articles have
appeared in The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Fortune,
Harvard Business Review and numerous other publications.
George received his bachelor of science in industrial
Recommended Reading
engineering with high honors from Georgia Tech; his MBA
If you enjoyed reading True North: Discover Your
Authentic Leadership you may also like: with high distinction from Harvard University, where he was
Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the a Baker Scholar; and honorary Ph.D.s from Georgia Tech and
Secrets to Creating Lasting Value by Bill George Bryant University.
The Flawless Consulting Fieldbook and He and his wife, Penny, reside in Minnesota.
Companion: A Guide to Understanding
Your Expertise by Peter Block © 2010 SUCCESS Media. All rights reserved. Materials may not be reproduced in whole or in part
in any form without prior written permission. Published by SUCCESS Media, 200 Swisher Rd., Lake
Dallas, TX 75065, USA. SUCCESS.com.
The New Solution Selling: The Revolutionary
Summarized by permission of the publisher, John Wiley and Sons, 989 Market St., San Francisco, CA
Sales Process That Is Changing the Way 94103. True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership by Bill George with Peter Sims. © 2007 by
People Sell by Keith M. Eades Bill George.