Winning (30 page)

This question came from the reporter who moderated my Q & A session at a management conference for about three thousand people in London:

Do you plan to enter politics?

In a word—never.

It’s not that I don’t appreciate government. We’re all grateful to the public servants who have made national security and the eradication of terrorism their lifework. On top of that, government provides other services that are vital to a thriving society—schools, hospitals, and police, to name just three.

But government, for all the good it does, is filled with all the problems that business has, but nobody seems to have the latitude to fix them.

Basically, government is riddled with bureaucracy, waste, and inefficiency. In a company, you can clean those up, and you have to. In government, they’re forever.

Why? For one, because it’s difficult to move people up or out based on merit. Most government agencies have no differentiation to speak of. You can work for forty years, never excel or make a dent in results, and still get an annual raise. For another, you just cannot speak or act candidly in government without getting nailed. It is a world filled with compromise, patronage, and quid pro quo.

Yes, all these behaviors exist in business, but managers can rally against them on their own, or join a company that does so as a matter of course.

Finally, governments can afford to be bureaucratic because they don’t compete. During the last election season, the governor of Indiana created a big hoopla around the fact that he was going to withdraw the state from an outsourcing project that one of its departments had started in India. There was much cheering him on as a role model of patriotism. It had to make you laugh. It was easy for the governor to withdraw from India—in the public sector you don’t have to provide the highest value products or find the lowest cost solutions in order to create revenue. You can just keep raising taxes to pay for everything.

So, as important as government is, it’s just not for me. This book makes the point that it is always better to do something you love.

I’ve taken my own advice on this one.

I’ve received this question everywhere:

How’s your golf game?

Wow, do people love golf! Everywhere I go, perhaps because I stuck a chapter on golf in my last book, people ask about my handicap and whether it’s improved since I retired.

The answer is, I don’t play anymore.

And, believe it or not, I don’t miss it all that much.

My obsession with golf lasted almost sixty years, from my first days playing and caddying at age ten until my first back operation in 2002. I’ve had two more back operations since then, and thankfully, my back is better now. But I’m sure not inclined to test that proposition with a golf swing. If you’ve had back problems, you probably understand where I’m coming from.

But in the absence of golf, a whole world of new interests has opened up to me. You can’t believe how much time is available when you’re not on the golf course all the time! I’ve loved consulting with several companies and their CEOs. I’ve also found I’m crazy about modern art, and I’m getting to live out my lifelong devotion to the Red Sox by attending as many home games as I can. I’ve been able to travel around the world with my wife and four stepchildren and enjoy the sights beyond conference rooms and factories, and been able to meet the many interesting people whose questions grew into this book.

I have always loved new stuff. Looking forward, learning, and growing have always felt good to me. Golf was wonderful. It gave me great friends that I’ve enjoyed for decades and always will, and all the fun of competing.

But when you can’t play, you can’t play—and amazingly, the world doesn’t even end.

And finally, this question was posed by an audience member at a management conference in Frankfurt attended by about twenty-five hundred people:

Do you think you will go to heaven?

After a few seconds of stunned silence, my first answer to this one was, “Well, I sure hope that’s long-range planning!”

But after the audience stopped laughing—they were as surprised by the question as I was—the man who asked this question made it clear that he wanted to understand what I considered my legacy.

First off, I hate the word
legacy.
It just sounds so arrogant. Presidents and prime ministers have legacies. I ran a company and wrote a book or two.

But here we are at the end of this book, and the question did get asked, so I’ll attempt an answer.

If there is anything I would like to be remembered for it is that I helped people understand that leadership is helping other people grow and succeed. To repeat myself, leadership is not just about you. It’s about them.

I would also like to be remembered as a huge advocate of candor and meritocracy, and believing everyone deserves a chance. And I’d like to be remembered for trying to make the case that you can never let yourself be a victim.

Now, it is no secret that I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my career. I’ve made some bad acquisitions, hired some wrong people, and moved too slowly on some opportunities. And that is just a fraction of the list.

As for my personal life, I have four great children and nine terrific grandchildren. My love and admiration for them cannot be expressed with words, and their happy, fulfilling lives today give me no end of pleasure. I had two marriages, however, that did not work out. Life goes on and usually for the better, but no one lives through two divorces and feels proud that they happened.

So, as for heaven, who knows? I’m sure not perfect, but if there are any points given out for caring about people with every fiber of your being and giving life all you’ve got every day, then I suppose I have a shot.

Given the choice, of course, I’d rather not find out anytime soon!

There’s so much more to do.

ABC

accountability

mission and

victimhood vs.

accounting fraud

mission-values disconnect and

prevention of

Sarbanes-Oxley Act and

acquisitions.
See
mergers and acquisitions

Africa

African American Forum (GE)

A.G. Edwards

Ahold

AIDS

AIG

Ailes, Roger

Airbus

Albertsons

AlliedSignal

Amazon

American Standard

Ames, Chuck

Amgen

AOL-Time Warner merger

Arthur Andersen

Artigas, Ric

Asian financial crisis

authenticity

career management and

in job choice

in job search

leadership and

autonomy

Bagby, Robert

Bank of America-Fleet Bank merger

Bank One

Bauer, Nancy

Begley, Charlene

Belichick, Bill

Ben & Jerry’s

best practices

as competitive advantage

continual improvement of

seeking out and improving

sharing of

three warhorses of

values and

work-life balance and

big aha, the

biotechnology

Blair, Jayson

Boeing

Bonsignore, Mike

bonuses

budgeting and

motivation and

See also
compensation

Borg Warner

bosses

boss’s top priority

confrontation and

enduring difficult

going over boss’s head

political capital and

self-assessment and

trade-offs and

work-life balance and

boss haters

Boston Red Sox

boundarylessness

See also
best practices

BP

Bronfman, Edgar

budgeting

candor and

implementation of

link to compensation

Negotiated Settlement approach

operating plan as alternative

Phony Smile approach

stretch goals for

Buffett, Warren

bureaucracy

organization chart and

See also
layers

business and society

AIDS and

corporate governance and

government contracts and

tsunami victims’ aid and

U.S. Steel Kosice and

volunteering and

business culture.
See
company culture

Campbell, Jim

candor

benefits of

in budgeting

implementation of

importance of

integrity and

leadership and

in people management

in performance reviews

rarity of

reasons for lack of

career lust

career management

evaluation system and

factors in

finding first job

finding right job

gender and

getting fired

getting on radar screen

getting promoted

hindrances to

job choice and

job fit, characteristics of

luck and

mentors and

mergers and

political capital and

setbacks and

stalls in

working for adversarial boss

work-life balance and

“car wrecks,”

Case, Steve

Case Corporation

Cathcart, Si

Cavuto, Neil

CBS

celebration, importance of

change

hiring and promoting to implement

importance of connecting to clear purpose

response to resisters

seizing adverse opportunities

change agents

charged relationships

Chase Manhattan-J.P. Morgan & Co. merger

Chemical Bank-Manufacturers

Hanover merger

China

competition and

future of

joint ventures with

resource allocation and

Churchill, Winston

Citigroup

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice

CNBC

CNH Global N.V.

CNN

Coca-Cola

communication

about change

during crisis

with customers

about mission and values

strategy and

company culture

candor and

deviance from

differentiation and

good corporate governance and

integrity and

job fit and

learning culture

merger fit and

mission and

societal concerns and

values and

voice and dignity and

work-life balance and

compensation

budget operating plan and

differentiation and

job choice and

mission and

as motivation

severance packages and

See also
bonuses; rewards

competition

best practices and

as boss’s top priority

budget process and

candor and

change initiatives from

China threat and

conventional responses

differentiation and

European Union and

Five Slides assessment approach

job seekers and

mergers and acquisitions and

Six Sigma and

strategic position and

three warhorses of

unions and

Conaty, Bill

conqueror syndrome

continual improvement

Continuum Series

Cooke, Janet

corporate boards

corporate culture.
See
company culture

corporate scandals

mission-values disconnect and

cost reduction

candor and

as competition response

Six Sigma and

Cox, Vivienne

crisis management

changes wrought by

company survival and

emotional experience of

five assumptions of

full disclosure in

ineffective

media and

ownership of solution in

plan of action for

prevention of

underestimation of problem

Culligan International

cultural differences

differentiation and

mergers and acquisitions and

work-life balance

cultural fit,
See also
job fit; work-life balance

culture.
See
company culture

customer loyalty

DaimlerChrysler

Dammerman, Dennis

Dance, Dave

Dead Man Walking effect

deal heat

De Beers

Dell

de Molina, Alvaro

differentiation

controversy around

cultural values and

definition of

fairness of

firing and

importance of

leadership and

management of middle

management of top

underperformance and

dignity.
See
voice and dignity

Dimon, Jamie

Disney

Disney World

disrupters

diversity

Donegan, Dick

Dunne, Jimmy

DuPont

earn-out package

eBay

Ebersol, Dick

edge

EMI

employee brand phenomenon

energize

energy

and leadership

positive

Enron

entrepreneurship

change and

China and

New Europe and

See also
leadership

ethics.
See
fraud; integrity; values

EU (European Union)

evaluation system.
See
performance evaluation

execution,
See also
best practices

Expedia

exposure quota

face time

fairness

family.
See
work-life balance

Fast Company
(magazine)

FedEx

feedback.
See
performance evaluation

Fernández-Aráoz, Claudio

Fiat

Financial Times

firing

aftereffects of

candor and

of change resisters

Dead Man Walking effect

for economic reasons

emotional impacts of

for integrity violations

job comeback after

as manager’s job

mistakes of

mutually agreeable parting vs.

for nonperformance

performance evaluation system and

surprise elimination in

See also
layoffs

first job

Five Slides assessment

Fleet Bank-Bank of America merger

flexibility

budgetary

work arrangements

Ford, Henry

Fortune
(magazine)

4-E (and 1-P) framework

for new ventures

Fox News Channel

France

fraud

prevention of

Sarbanes-Oxley Act and

See also
corporate scandals

Fresco, Paolo

Friedman, Stew

FTD

Fubini, David

Gandhi, Mohandas

Gartner, Michael

Gary Drug

Gates, Bill

GE (General Electric)

audit staff of

best practices and

core values of

corporate board of

Crotonville training center of

diversity and

exposure quota and

globalization and

mission of

unions and

GE Aircraft Engines

GE Appliances

GE Capital

GE Consumer Products Group

GE Fanuc Automation

GE Medical

GE90 engine

GE Plastics

GE Power Systems

GE Transportation

Giuliani, Rudy

globalization

GM (General Motors)

golf

government,
See also
Sarbanes-Oxley Act

Grossman, Larry

growth

budget process and

career and personal

mergers and acquisitions as

organic

strategic competition and

Grupo Bimbo

gut calls

Gutoff, Reuben

Harrison, Bill

Hasbro

Heidrick & Struggles

Henson, Dan

Hewett, Wayne

hiring

acid tests of

FAQs (frequently asked questions) about

4-E (and 1-P) framework for

gut calls in

interview process and

of leaders

mistakes in

See also
people management

Hitachi

Home Depot, The

honesty.
See
candor; integrity

Honeywell

HR (human resources)

qualities needed for

strategy and

work-life balance and

Hume, Brit