Leadership Part One: Lessons from a CEO

Green technologies, politics, automotive survival and humanitarian efforts. What do they all have in common? Leadership.

America is a nation of problem solvers. When a problem arises or a situation is in need of improvement, innovators and entrepreneurs create plans to solve global dilemmas. J. Bryne Murphy, author of Le Deal, explains how such characteristics define America. We are driven by a constant desire to individually innovate and devise diagnoses to better understand technology, medicine and life sciences.

Most importantly are the individuals behind the concepts. I recently came across Adam Bryant’s Sunday Business section of The New York Times titled, “Corner Office.” Bryant interviews various CEOs and business leaders about essential questions behind leadership.

According to Clarence Otis, CEO of Darden Restaurants, leaders “have their wits about them, so they're looking as much for the opportunity that's inherent in that as they are for the risk…provide leadership in whatever area you choose to dedicate your life to."

“I think to be a good leader it’s key to know what it’s like to be an employee, and to have had a lot of the different level jobs where you’ve been the scrappy little nobody,” said Dany Levy, founder of DailyCandy.com. “I’ve had crazy bosses and I’ve had wonderful bosses, and it’s important to figure out that if you’re working for someone who you don’t gel with, there can be a way to manage that.”

My uncle frequently reminds me of this very point. Until you have worked for the worst of them, he says, you will not know how to lead like the best of them.

So how is this relevant? As businesses experience generational replacement, employees must understand that the corporate ladder is not padded with entitlement. As one CEO indicated, “There’s definitely, in this generation…more a sense of entitlement, a bit of, ‘Why should I go work for ‘the man’ and put in the time.”

If you happen to be among the few who have developed revolutionary technologies and are on track to your first nomination for a Nobel Prize, best of luck. But there are some key things to learn from the grunt work. Pay attention to the wisdom offered by today’s leaders. Believe it or not, the millennial generation is ready and excited to learn from the Baby Boomers: embrace one another.