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For our 100th episode – and our final episode of the 2022 season – we bring you a guest who is the true embodiment of the Lead From The Heart philosophy.
Bill George is formerly the CEO of Medtronic – a Fortune 200 medical device company which has 90,000 employees across 120 countries. And, for the past twenty years, he’s been a professor at the Harvard Business School where he’s long insisted that workplace managers at all levels possess a “moral compass” to guide their actions. He believes ‘the four most important qualities of leadership are passion, compassion, empathy and courage.”
It may come as a surprise that any top business school professor would so strongly emphasize a leadership philosophy tied to values, character and, heart – but George is also the author of the leadership classic, “Discover Your True North” which he’s recently revised and republished.
In his new edition, he makes some stunning assertions – starting with his belief that people running large companies today have lost touch with the needs of younger workers & must step aside. In his words, “current business leaders must move the next generation of leaders to their rightful place.”
George also believes business – and society as a whole – would be wise to repudiate CEOs who intentionally harm people by their actions. In no uncertain terms, he calls out Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg for being as a leader who lacks both ethics & any spiritual center.
And, most remarkably, he says business has long valued intelligent, intellectual workplace managers when what leadership truly needs today is a shift to the heart. He believes this approach to managing human beings is truly reflective of the future style of leadership. And he explains why in the compelling conversation.
