ICON66 – Volume 6
ICON's CEO Leadership Summit
What do the UK's top CEOs think about leadership? ICON invited the stars of technology, private equity and corporate finance, along with one of soccer's highest profile managers to Chelsea Football Club to reveal the secrets of their success, what leadership strategies really work for them and how they organise their companies to succeed.
Graham Brant
Executive Chairman of Asia Broadband Inc and former CEO Microsoft (HK)
Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer has three powerful questions he uses all the time:
1. "How can we do it better next time?" Ballmer always did this by example on any project in which he was directly involved. He believed everyone could always do better, even after a terrific success.
2. "How can I change the basic thinking of the market in a way that would generate a sea change, not simple growth?" Besides looking for growth, Ballmer always included the "big plan" on top of the normal aggressive business plan.
3. "How did we win?" The anatomy of winning, it's not just the good news, but why and how did we win? In business reviews there was always an avoidance of blame. When things did not happen the main issue was why? And more importantly, how do we fix things? The next to worst case scenario is "I don't know why!" Or worse still: lies, denial, and blaming someone else. Then there is the "I don't know how to present ideas on how to fix it", i.e. no plan! (Where's the plan? I hear him screaming in my ears now.) Career development (to the horror of HR managers) is also important. "Everyone is in charge of their own career ...not the company... the company can only create opportunities... it's up to the individual to position and pursue these opportunities."
John Woodget
CEO Intel Corp
UK
Intel has been the world’s number one semiconductor supplier for some considerable time. What are the challenges? I’ve asked Andy Grove myself “What is our biggest challenge and who is our biggest competitor?” I’ve asked it three times. In the 80s, the 90s and a couple of years ago and the answer has always been the same. “Our biggest challenge is ourselves.” Being able to execute when your company is large with all the powers of bureaucracy and inertia setting in, you have to create a culture of change; so leading change is absolutely core. What’s the magic? You need to have inspired thought leaders at the very top but you also need to recognise that true leadership also happens at every level.
Otherwise a great CEO has to have a balance between tasks and people. The ability to execute, be accountable and deliver on the numbers. A great CEO also has to be good at sensing the environment and have an ability to tune into people, to speak to their hearts and souls.
Warren East
CEO ARM
ARM is the brains behind many of the world’s digital products and I’ve seen the company through various stages of development. When you’re running a real business, there are different leadership challenges that arise daily. Recognising that there are continuous changes in technology and positioning yourself to take advantage of that change is key.
James Urquhart
Co-founder
of ARM and
Venture Partner
of Pond Ventures
In any good team you need people to think about the ideas, people who get the team working and detail people who deliver on the fine points. If you have a whole board of similar types who may have different skills, but who are essentially the same, you have problems. Basically you need three core people, someone who can bring the business in, someone to count the numbers and some one to steer the business direction.
Guy Reavley
Manager of
Business Development,
Cisco Systems
The ideal CEO? A number of key skills are needed. Start ups need a headlong desire to change the world and do something fantastic. In large organisations like Cisco, IBM and Intel, a very different set of characteristics are needed, but certainly the common feature must be one of passion; passion for driving the business, driving change and the ability to bring people with you. Also, "sharing" the vision, having a clear strategy of five points or less of where you want to be and how you are going to get there, then it's all about the execution, which you need to articulate in a clean concise strategy.
Jon Moulton
Managing Partner
Alchemy Partners
In the US there are about a dozen individuals running IT companies whose net worth exceeds the market cap of Sage, the largest IT company in the UK. They didn't get there by mistake. These guys are really excellent.We don't have them in the UK.We have a lot of guys who are good at running things efficiently who are generally competent but are not good at making big creative leaps. The CEOs in the US who have made a bundle, like Ellison, are not noted for their warm friendly approach to decision taking. They are people of vigorous opinions, not always right but they force things through - they're big drivers. So the evidence from the States says the guys who are fairly unreasonable but pretty bright are the people we should be backing.
Vic Luck
General Manager
of Defence & Security
IBM Business
Consulting
Services
The thing that sets great CEOs apart is breadth and balance. The best understand what's going on inside the company as well as outside. They have the emotional side as well as the analytical side.
Chris Baker
VP Head of
Consulting
Oracle UK,
Ireland and
SA
Larry Ellison is exceptional at setting the vision, he distils it down to a simple three word statement of what he wants to happen and where he believes the organisation should be going. He employs "smart people" who can interpret that statement down through the organisation. Vision, tenacity and stability, the courage of your convictions and bringing your organisation on side are key attributes of a good CEO.
Mark Crosier
CEO DeepStream
Technologies
Persistence and tenacity are important qualities when you are starting a business: ~ Persistence in driving your team, continually moving and adapting their targets and goals as your business develops. ~ Tenacity in educating, pursuing and driving clients, investors and suppliers to support your ideas.
