Stephen H Baum Leadership

BACKGROUND

Prior posts have described how to spot gravitas in a leader, a bit of how to develop gravitas and, in one post, insights into inside-the-CEO who has gravitas while observing President Jimmy Carter at a press conference.

At a regional Vistage International conference of 500 CEOs and 200 guests, Alan Mulaly spoke about his time at Boeing and at Ford, his approach to leading; then he spent considerable time answering questions.

In a future post, we will summarize his approach to leading. For now, we focus on his “presence” at the conference.

OBSERVING THE UNICORN

The most memorable aspects of observing Alan Mulaly on stage:

• His kindly, self-effacing “aw shucks” demeanor
• The clarity and simplicity with which he described his management system
• The honesty with which he answered questions
  • “What would you have done if <nameless> had not stepped up?”
  • “Not a clue. Had no back-up plan.”
• The passion with which he focused on transparency, accountability and the all-for-one, one-for-all spirit of spontaneous teamwork
• The inclusion of a family story to illustrate how leaders “hold the values” of the family (which is applicable to what we call “parenting at work”)
• The apologetic humor with which he behaved on the spot after a minor gaffe – using a phrase that produced titters of laughter because it could be interpreted as a sexual reference
• His adaptation of principles to businesses of any size (many represented in the room are small businesses)
• The simplicity and power of his answers to most questions (and his ability to duck a few without seeming to do so)

I believe that 500 business owners and CEOs in the room witnessed a presence to which we all aspire. And someone who, if in the room with you, would capture your rapt attention (as he did in the huge conference room).

To learn more about the CEO membership organization Vistage International, and the brain trust it represents, go to:

http://VISTAGE.COM

That’s just my view. What’s yours?