Leadership Lessons from Jim Hackett
Congratulations to Jim Hackett, on being named CEO of Ford Motor Company! Jim was my guest at my LEADERS CONNECT Breakfast in Ann Arbor in 2016. From this event, here are some of his insights about leadership.
In the 20 years of presentations at Leaders Connect, Jim Hackett’s discussion about leadership is absolutely one of the best we’ve ever heard. Like most excellent speakers, Jim not only told great stories, but he gave sound and inspiring advice. Here are some of the highlights of the leadership lessons we heard from Jim Hackett.
- “Three important questions to ask when coaching: what do you want to do less of, what do you want to do more of, what do you want to stop?”
- “Employ human centered design thinking in your planning: this means divergent thinking and taking a thorough deep dive into analytics.”
- Ask yourself: “on your death bed are you going to remember what you did for yourself or for others?” The answer to this question leads to servant leadership. Your value as a human being is not diminished by failure. Have the self-confidence never lose sight of yourself as to who you are.
- “In carrying out your strategy, think long term. As an example, it took months of planning and detail execution to come to an understanding with Jim Harbaugh to coach at Michigan.”’
- “Treat everyone with equal respect: from the janitor to the board members.”
- “Thinking long-term enables you to recognize when your industry is likely to be disrupted. The university is one sector yet to face the full impact of disruption.”
- Good boards are ‘eyes in, fingers out.’ Choose board members for their capabilities and their ability to work together.”
- Diversity is critical and essential. “To gain more diversity, you must look for it. Look at it as an equity, an equal opportunity... to find talent, build networks with minority communities.”
- “Success as an executive depends on continuous learning. Ask yourself what system you are using for continuous learning.”For example: Jim watches the Charlie Rose Show every day, reads continuously about science, and has attended Tedx for 30 years.
- “Leadership is having a point of view. Decide what to do, set the course, and stick with it.”
- “Empathy is crucial for effective leadership.”
- “Organizations must be willing to give up some of the old to get to the new.”
- “If someone is rigidly opposing what you want to do, ask them “what would you have to believe to allow this to happen?”
- Encourage self-reflection.
- Jim’s sweet spot for a job: “working on hard, abstract problems with great smart people.”