Personal Development: Learning from Mentors
This is a good article to learn from. Common mentors referred to, are parents and industry training gurus like Peter Drucker.
Are you learning from your parents?
How I wish I had the benefit of such great advice when I first started out. I have high-lighted in purple those I could relate to personally.
This is a good site to visit regularly if you are interested in finance or investment: http://www.bankstocks.com
Go out and make your world!
With love,
granddaddy
*****************
| Tuesday, March 29, 2005 Eric T Miller bankstocks.com |
Almost everyone is interested in the advice of wise people, whether that advice involves life or careers, or something more specific, like golf, acting, or what-have-you. In its 75th-anniversary issue, Fortune (3/21) provides a roundup of the best advice that successful leaders (largely business people) say that they’ve received over the course of their careers. The magazine doesn’t attempt to identify any themes that connect the various words of wisdom. And because the interviews are short, the answers risk becoming oversimplified and sounding like clichés. Even so, many of the comments warrant repetition: the people Fortune solicited are bright and successful, and presumably gave the question more than a moment’s thought.
To try to identify broad themes, we divided the responses in categories, such as one’s general approach to life, careers, and leadership. Not much is investment-specific, other than a short piece on Warren Buffet, who says the best advice he has received is from his father and from Ben Graham. Other than absorbing important principles from Ben Graham such as maintaining a margin of safety, Buffett says the important thing he learned early on from both mentors was to be an independent thinker.
Andrew Grove also emphasizes that. Buffett quotes Graham as saying: “You’re neither right nor wrong because others agree with you. You’re right because your facts and reasoning are right.”
Sprinkled among the various responses are references to Peter Drucker, another testimony to the broad impact he has had and continues to have on many of our business leaders.
General Approach
Meg Whitman, CEO of eBay, repeats what her father said to her when she was only 10. “Be nice to people. There is no point in being mean to anyone at any time…and by the way, you don’t change anything by being mean…” From her mother came another important bit of wisdom: “Remember that you can do anything you want to do. Don’t let anyone say ‘You’re not smart enough…it’s too hard.’” And from an early boss at Procter & Gamble: “Always do the best job you can do at whatever you’re assigned, even if you think it’s boring.” Whitman came to realize that any job she is given is a chance to prove herself. She had some other wisdom to offer, including giving credit to others, not hogging it. One of her bosses said that “you get ahead by crediting other people.” Whitman has gotten ahead, but she praises her husband with helping put her success in perspective and teaching some humility.
Herb Kelleher, the former chairman of Southwest Airlines who is widely applauded for his people skills, says his mother drummed into him when he was young that “people should be respected and trusted as people, not because of their position or title.” Accordingly, “I try not to judge anyone by superficial standards. I try to approach them with an open mind…You don’t have to have a doctorate to have an idea…Show that you care about them as individuals, not just as workers… If I’m talking to a person, that person is the only person in the world while we’re talking. They’re owed that.”
Clayton Christensen, professor at the Harvard Business School, makes many of the same points. He says that when he was in school he believed that you only learn from people who are smarter than you. He soon found out how that notion progressively constricted what he could learn. What followed was key: fundamental humility, “the belief that you can learn from anyone.”
Another airline executive queried by Fortune is David Neeleman, the CEO of Jet Blue. A Mormon, he credits Gordon Hinkley, head of his church, for reminding him that “it’s all about your family, your relationships. You’ve got to balance that with your work.” Neeleman says that advice helps him structure his life so that he can be with his family as much as possible in the evenings, on weekends, and for vacations.
Career
Several interviewees pass on career advice they have received. Ted Turner praises his father for getting him to go to work at his billboard company when he was only 12; Turner then put in 42 hours a week each summer at a variety of tasks. That taught him the basic lesson that a good business depends on good labor relations, enthusiastic leadership, making a profit, and reinvesting wisely. The experiences were the best business course he could have taken; Turner was able to take over running the company when he was only 24.
Klaus Kleinfeld, CEO of Siemens, and Ann Fudge, CEO of Young and Rubicam Brands offer seemingly contradictory advice. Kleinfeld suggests that before beginning in a new position, “sit down, lean back, close your eyes and think about what you really want to achieve and how you want things to look in a couple of years.” Ann Fudge was really talking about something else when she repeated the advice given her, “Don’t look too far ahead. Focus on what you’re doing right now.” She came to realize that she was better off “demonstrating capabilities at each level, really trying to excel in each job.” That’s a point made earlier by Meg Whitman.
In the entertainment field, an Academy Award winning producer, Brian Grazer, says that he had made a special effort over many years to solicit advice from people both within and outside the movie business--perhaps 1,000 people over 30 years. But he says that his whole career was built on the advice he received from two people, MCA’s Jules Stein and Lew Wasserman. They said to him separately, “In order for you to be in the entertainment business, you have to have leverage. Since you have none (i.e. money, pedigree, and valuable relationships) you must have creative leverage. That exists only in your mind. So you need to write what’s in your mind on paper.” Keeping that in mind, Glazer regularly mails his written-down ideas to himself, via registered mail. He says he now has about 1,000 letters in a vault.
Two respondents say that one key to success is loving what you do. Donny Deutsch, CEO of Deutsch, Inc. says his father told him to find something in his life that he loved, no matter how unimportant or menial the activity might seem. If you love something, you can be great at it, and money and success will come. Ted Koppel, anchor of ABC’s Nightline, says essentially the same thing. His career was shaped by another veteran reporter, who told him early on to do what he was good at and what he loved.
A slightly different viewpoint comes from A.G. Lafley, CEO of Procter & Gamble. Infused with his mother’s admonition to be independent and have the courage of his convictions, he says he was ready to leave P&G early in his career there because he found the bureaucratic atmosphere too stifling. But he was talked out of leaving: his mentor at the time convinced him that he’d just be running away from a tough job, and should have the courage to stay and try to change things, instead. Thus goaded, he spoke up more and helped change things. He eventually became the chief honcho.
On Leadership
Somewhat along the same lines, Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, says that after his first or second GE board meeting, a director, Paul Austin, chided him for not speaking up. He told him not to forget who he (Welch) was and how he had gotten there. Welch says he was never quiet again.
Sumner Redstone of Viacom (who probably has few quiet moments) says one of his longtime advisors was Ace Greenberg of Bear Stearns, who consistently advised him to follow his own instincts and not be influenced by the views of the naysayers or people with different visions. Paul Vivek, CEO of Wipro Technologies, says the best advice he ever received was from an elephant trainer in Bangalore. The trainer told him a parable about elephants, which teaches the lesson that we shouldn’t be limited by what we’ve been in the past, but should go for what we’re really capable of.
Another piece of advice, from Jack Welch, encouraged him to always think about regenerating himself, taking time to think what he should do differently.
Several others had comments on organization-building. Howard Schultz, chairman of Starbucks, praises Warren Bennis as a valued adviser and mentor. Bennis has had so many good ideas that it’s hard to single any one out, Schultz says. Bennis emphasizes that the art of becoming a great leader is your ability to leave your own ego at the door, and to recognize the skills and traits you don’t possess, that you need to build a world-class organization. In trying to broaden Starbucks’s skill base and quality, Schultz has tried to attract and retain people with like-minded values with the goal of achieving “the fragile balance of profitability, shareholder value, a sense of benevolence, and a social conscience.”
Another executive who’s been strongly influenced by a parent is Brian Roberts, CEO of Comcast, whose 85-year old father, Ralph, is his mentor. The elder Roberts helps by being a great listener and then asking questions. He sets the example of not taking the credit for anybody’s work. Roberts’s father told him, “if you let the others take the credit, it makes them feel like they’re part of something special.”
Along that line, Hector Ruiz, CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, says he tries to surround himself with the right people, who have integrity, and then get out of their way. People will feel all the pressure they need when they are trusted. The most influential leader in Ruiz’s life was Bob Galvin of Motorola, who told him, “A good leader knows he is doing a good job when he knows with certainty that he can say yes to anything his staff asks and feel totally confident that they will do the right thing.”
Dick Parsons, CEO of Time Warner, voices a slight variation in the treatment of people. He says the best advice that he ever received was from Steve Ross, the late CEO of Warner Communications, who said to him: “Dick, always remember this is a small business and a long life. You are going to see all those guys come around and around again, so how you treat them on each individual transaction is going to make an impression in the long haul...Leave a little something to make everyone happy…”
Facing Big Problems
Ann Mucahy, CEO of Xerox, has been trying to revive the fortunes of that once-great company. She says a customer gave her a piece of advice four years ago that has become a mantra at Xerox. When everything is complicated and you feel overwhelmed, he said, you have to do three things. “First, get the cow out of the ditch. Second, find out how the cow got into the ditch. Third, make sure you do whatever it takes so that the cow doesn’t go into the ditch again.”
Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic, says that when he was thinking about setting up his own airline, he sought the counsel of Freddie Laker, who founded Laker Airways. Laker told him that since he would never have the advertising power to outspend British Airways, he had to get out there and use himself, even if he had to make a fool of himself. The other advice from Laker was that, since British Airways would use every weapon it had against Virgin Atlantic, when they do: “Sue the bastards.”
Pete Drucker
Several leaders note the important role for them of Peter Drucker. One, Rich Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life, says that he still goes and sits regularly at the feet of Peter Drucker. One of the wisdoms Drucker drilled into him was the difference between effectiveness and efficiency. Doing things right is efficiency, while effectiveness is doing the right thing. Warren, founder of Saddleback Church, says that a lot of churches and business organizations are efficient but not effective. Results are always on the outside of organizations, not the inside.
Separate from the Fortune piece was an interview with Peter Drucker in Forbes (12/13) which covered some of the same ground. In the interview, Drucker says that successful leaders don’t start out by asking “What do I want to do?” Instead, they ask, “What needs to be done? And of the things that would make a difference, which is right for me?”
Effective leaders don’t try to be somebody else, or fake on what they don’t believe in or are not great at. The one thing they’re not afraid of is strength in others. They follow Andrew Carnegie’s practice of attracting people into their employment who are better than themselves. Good leaders are purpose-driven; they learn to say no and then stick with that decision. But an organization can break down if the employees don’t know the boss’s priorities. The boss should in turn be sure he understands the priorities of his associates and communicates back to them.
A sidelight in the Drucker interview is how he plays down the importance of charisma in a leader. He thinks charisma is overrated, and cites two presidents in the last 100 years who were unusually effective, to prove his point. One was Harry Truman, who was totally lacking in charisma but was effective because he was trustworthy and worshipped by those working under him. Drucker grades Reagan as the other effective president of the last 100 years, not because of his charisma, but because he was aware and accepting of exactly what he could and could not do.
Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, provides a wonderful tribute to Drucker in the Fortune article. After visiting with Drucker, Collins says he realized his greatness lay in his drive, still, to learn something himself. Drucker had said to him, “Go out and make yourself useful.” Pay back by giving something back. Not bad advice.
/ETM/
The author is a contributor to bankstocks.com, a public web site operated by a hedge fund. The fund often buys and sells securities that are the subject of his articles, both before and after the articles are posted. Under no circumstances does this article represent a recommendation to buy or sell stocks. This article is intended to provide insight into the financial services industry and is not a solicitation of any kind. Neither the author nor bankstocks.com can provide investment advice or respond to individual requests for recommendations. However, we encourage your feedback and welcome your comments on any of the articles on this site. Neither the author nor bankstocks.com has undertaken any responsibility to update any portion of this article in response to events which may transpire subsequent to its original publication date
posted by granddaddy @ 1:15 PM
0 comments
- The P/B ratio can be an easy way to determine a company's value, but it isn't magic! 