,CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Leading the Way
1 Michael Bloomberg: Empower
2 Eli Broad: Competitor
3 Indra Nooyi: Purpose
4 Vicente Fox: Humility
5 Lieutenant General Franklin L. “Buster” Hagenbeck: Compassion
6 Coach John McKissick: Building Teams
7 Carlos Slim: Entrepreneurial Spirit
8 Liu Chuanzhi: Perseverance
9 Daniel Vasella: Self-Awareness
10 Drew Gilpin Faust: Catalyst
11 Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo: Courage
12 Anne Mulcahy: Resilience
Epilogue: Learning and Leading
Notes
About the Author
Index
,Chapter One
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG: EMPOWER
Michael Bloomberg has torn down the walls of city hall—figuratively, that is. Instead of
occupying the corner office that housed his predecessors, the 108th mayor of New York sat at a
desk much like any other in a huge room known as The Bullpen. The only element distinguishing
his desk from the others was the two Bloomberg computer terminals providing live news and
market updates—reminders of the namesake company founded by this former Wall Street
executive turned philanthropist and politician. All around him, desks were clustered together in a
hive of activity that resembled a trading room in look, feel, and intensity.
“I can't think of anything that keeps people from working together as much as a wall,”
Bloomberg remarked as he looked out over the open room.
The Bullpen seemed a fitting symbol of Bloomberg's leadership, setting the tone for what he
does by empowering others. During his long and varied career, Bloomberg has also empowered
himself as a leader through his courage to make and stand by tough decisions and the ability to
move beyond setbacks and never look back. It is these qualities that attract followers today.
The openness and transparency Bloomberg espouses as a leader were clearly evident throughout
the historic city hall in lower Manhattan. The corner office occupied by previous mayors has been
turned into an historic tribute, not to any particular person (although the furnishings used by former
mayor Rudy Giuliani were still in place), but to the position.
As a leader Bloomberg has taken risks to do things differently, shaking up the status quo with a
business imprint of how he runs city government. “The first time I put people in The Bullpen you
would have thought the world was coming to an end. Nobody gives me grief about that anymore,”
he said with a smirk.
Although Bloomberg does keep his hands on the wheel, the gears that move the city churn with
the efforts and ideas of others. His leadership style can be summed up in one statement: he
empowers and delegates. “You couldn't [recruit] half of these people [to come] here or anywhere
else if you didn't delegate,” Bloomberg said matter-of-factly.
It seemed only natural to delegate responsibility and authority in order to run a city of 8.3 million
people with 300,000 employees and an infrastructure that operates 24/7—just as it would to run a
multi-billion-dollar company. Yet, in some organizations, delegation is limited. Information,
power, access, and control are held tightly within a very small circle, which is neither particularly
effective nor empowering. In governments, power tends to be centralized, a style of management
that Bloomberg considered to be the sign of a “control freak.” To his way of thinking, in both
business and government, delegating is “a very big deal”—engendering mutual trust and igniting
passion to achieve a bigger purpose.
, “You only get good people if you give them authority. Why would people who are any good
want to go to an organization where they are going to be a clerk? You want to be able to do new
things,” he added. “That doesn't mean I'm always going to accept someone's ideas, but that person
has to know he's part of it; otherwise, he doesn't want to work here.”
Bloomberg gave the example of recruiting three senior people to serve as deputy mayors in his
administration. Any of them would be welcomed—and well compensated—in the private sector,
yet they chose to work for the city as part of Bloomberg's team. Instead of financial remuneration,
they were motivated by a sense of mission and a desire to make a difference; what they asked for
in return was respect and recognition. “Why would any of these three want to come to work for
me in a junior position? It's because they want to be part of a team—and I delegate. Delegation is
empowering people to make decisions and then backing them,” he explained.
During our discussion, it was easy to see why people want to work for Bloomberg: he was
accessible and real. No matter that he is mayor of one of the world's most important financial and
commercial hubs, that his name has been floated occasionally as a possible presidential candidate,
or that he is a successful billionaire entrepreneur, Bloomberg came across as an in-his-shirt-sleeves
kind of a guy who brushed off an attempt to address him as Mr. Mayor and insisted on being called
Mike. As a leader, Bloomberg was clearly in the trenches with his team.
“My job is to recruit, attract, and compensate people; provide a moral compass; match their skill
sets to different needs in the organization that I'm running, whether it's a company or a government;
and then to make sure that they work collaboratively and collectively,” Bloomberg said. “Find
problems before they get out of hand and give people advice.”
NEVER LOOK BACK
Asked to describe the key to his success, Bloomberg quickly answered “hard work,” which he
attributed to his background of growing up in a middle-class family in Massachusetts. He told
several stories that exhibited his old-fashioned work ethic of going in early and staying late. For
example, between his first and second years at Harvard Business School, Bloomberg had a
formative experience while working for a small real estate company whose main business was
renting apartments. The company ran generic ads for one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments,
and when people would call, appointments would be set up to show them what was available.
“I would go in at seven in the morning. The phone would ring off the hook. I would talk to
everybody, and I'd schedule appointments with them. Then all day long, everyone who came in
the door had an appointment to see Michael Bloomberg. I was just a kid. The other four desks
were occupied by four adults, and for them, this was their career. They didn't come in until nine
o'clock. And they could never figure out why I had all the appointments,” Bloomberg said, shaking
his head. “All you had to do was come in early! I made enough money to pay for room, board, and
tuition for my whole second year at business school that one summer. And it was just showing up
and doing the hard work.”
The same work ethic made a name for him at Salomon Brothers on Wall Street, which he joined
in 1966 right after graduating from Harvard Business School. His habit of being “the first guy in
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Leading the Way
1 Michael Bloomberg: Empower
2 Eli Broad: Competitor
3 Indra Nooyi: Purpose
4 Vicente Fox: Humility
5 Lieutenant General Franklin L. “Buster” Hagenbeck: Compassion
6 Coach John McKissick: Building Teams
7 Carlos Slim: Entrepreneurial Spirit
8 Liu Chuanzhi: Perseverance
9 Daniel Vasella: Self-Awareness
10 Drew Gilpin Faust: Catalyst
11 Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo: Courage
12 Anne Mulcahy: Resilience
Epilogue: Learning and Leading
Notes
About the Author
Index
,Chapter One
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG: EMPOWER
Michael Bloomberg has torn down the walls of city hall—figuratively, that is. Instead of
occupying the corner office that housed his predecessors, the 108th mayor of New York sat at a
desk much like any other in a huge room known as The Bullpen. The only element distinguishing
his desk from the others was the two Bloomberg computer terminals providing live news and
market updates—reminders of the namesake company founded by this former Wall Street
executive turned philanthropist and politician. All around him, desks were clustered together in a
hive of activity that resembled a trading room in look, feel, and intensity.
“I can't think of anything that keeps people from working together as much as a wall,”
Bloomberg remarked as he looked out over the open room.
The Bullpen seemed a fitting symbol of Bloomberg's leadership, setting the tone for what he
does by empowering others. During his long and varied career, Bloomberg has also empowered
himself as a leader through his courage to make and stand by tough decisions and the ability to
move beyond setbacks and never look back. It is these qualities that attract followers today.
The openness and transparency Bloomberg espouses as a leader were clearly evident throughout
the historic city hall in lower Manhattan. The corner office occupied by previous mayors has been
turned into an historic tribute, not to any particular person (although the furnishings used by former
mayor Rudy Giuliani were still in place), but to the position.
As a leader Bloomberg has taken risks to do things differently, shaking up the status quo with a
business imprint of how he runs city government. “The first time I put people in The Bullpen you
would have thought the world was coming to an end. Nobody gives me grief about that anymore,”
he said with a smirk.
Although Bloomberg does keep his hands on the wheel, the gears that move the city churn with
the efforts and ideas of others. His leadership style can be summed up in one statement: he
empowers and delegates. “You couldn't [recruit] half of these people [to come] here or anywhere
else if you didn't delegate,” Bloomberg said matter-of-factly.
It seemed only natural to delegate responsibility and authority in order to run a city of 8.3 million
people with 300,000 employees and an infrastructure that operates 24/7—just as it would to run a
multi-billion-dollar company. Yet, in some organizations, delegation is limited. Information,
power, access, and control are held tightly within a very small circle, which is neither particularly
effective nor empowering. In governments, power tends to be centralized, a style of management
that Bloomberg considered to be the sign of a “control freak.” To his way of thinking, in both
business and government, delegating is “a very big deal”—engendering mutual trust and igniting
passion to achieve a bigger purpose.
, “You only get good people if you give them authority. Why would people who are any good
want to go to an organization where they are going to be a clerk? You want to be able to do new
things,” he added. “That doesn't mean I'm always going to accept someone's ideas, but that person
has to know he's part of it; otherwise, he doesn't want to work here.”
Bloomberg gave the example of recruiting three senior people to serve as deputy mayors in his
administration. Any of them would be welcomed—and well compensated—in the private sector,
yet they chose to work for the city as part of Bloomberg's team. Instead of financial remuneration,
they were motivated by a sense of mission and a desire to make a difference; what they asked for
in return was respect and recognition. “Why would any of these three want to come to work for
me in a junior position? It's because they want to be part of a team—and I delegate. Delegation is
empowering people to make decisions and then backing them,” he explained.
During our discussion, it was easy to see why people want to work for Bloomberg: he was
accessible and real. No matter that he is mayor of one of the world's most important financial and
commercial hubs, that his name has been floated occasionally as a possible presidential candidate,
or that he is a successful billionaire entrepreneur, Bloomberg came across as an in-his-shirt-sleeves
kind of a guy who brushed off an attempt to address him as Mr. Mayor and insisted on being called
Mike. As a leader, Bloomberg was clearly in the trenches with his team.
“My job is to recruit, attract, and compensate people; provide a moral compass; match their skill
sets to different needs in the organization that I'm running, whether it's a company or a government;
and then to make sure that they work collaboratively and collectively,” Bloomberg said. “Find
problems before they get out of hand and give people advice.”
NEVER LOOK BACK
Asked to describe the key to his success, Bloomberg quickly answered “hard work,” which he
attributed to his background of growing up in a middle-class family in Massachusetts. He told
several stories that exhibited his old-fashioned work ethic of going in early and staying late. For
example, between his first and second years at Harvard Business School, Bloomberg had a
formative experience while working for a small real estate company whose main business was
renting apartments. The company ran generic ads for one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments,
and when people would call, appointments would be set up to show them what was available.
“I would go in at seven in the morning. The phone would ring off the hook. I would talk to
everybody, and I'd schedule appointments with them. Then all day long, everyone who came in
the door had an appointment to see Michael Bloomberg. I was just a kid. The other four desks
were occupied by four adults, and for them, this was their career. They didn't come in until nine
o'clock. And they could never figure out why I had all the appointments,” Bloomberg said, shaking
his head. “All you had to do was come in early! I made enough money to pay for room, board, and
tuition for my whole second year at business school that one summer. And it was just showing up
and doing the hard work.”
The same work ethic made a name for him at Salomon Brothers on Wall Street, which he joined
in 1966 right after graduating from Harvard Business School. His habit of being “the first guy in
