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Knowledge@Wharton Interview with Sydney Finkelstein

June 29, 2020 / 29:01

This episode features Peter Capelli and Mike Useem from the Wharton School interviewing Sidney Finkelstein about leadership, talent development, and his book, Superbosses.

Finkelstein discusses his research on effective leaders who excel at developing talent, highlighting key figures like Bill Walsh and Alice Waters. He explains how these leaders create opportunities and inspire their teams to achieve high performance.

The conversation touches on the challenges of leadership during the pandemic, emphasizing the importance of transparency and communication. Finkelstein also addresses how leaders can motivate employees and develop talent in a remote work environment.

Throughout the episode, Finkelstein shares insights on the traits of successful leaders, including their ability to push their teams while also inspiring them. He stresses the need for leaders to adapt to changing business landscapes and employee needs.

The episode concludes with a discussion on the evolving role of CEOs in addressing social issues and maintaining trust with their teams and customers.

TL;DR

Sidney Finkelstein discusses leadership, talent development, and insights from his book <i>Superbosses</i> in a pandemic-affected business landscape.

Episode

29:01
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folks good morning my name is Peter
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Capelli I'm professor of management here
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at the Wharton School and director of
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our Center for human resources my
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colleague Mike Useem was also a
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professor here and director of our
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leadership Center the faculty Center at
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Wharton and I are hosting this series of
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interviews this is our virtual version
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free annual Leadership Conference and
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it's also a joint program with our
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knowledge awarding partners or beening
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this around the world and it will be
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available later for you on podcast
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version with us today to talk about
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leadership every year we try to bring in
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some people who are not just leaders but
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people who study leaders and observe
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them and it's a great pleasure to have
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sidney finkelstein with us in sydney as
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a professor at the Tuck School at
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Dartmouth Tuck School of Business even
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wrong professor up there he also heads
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their executive education program he's a
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longtime observer and expert in the
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field of leadership but we're going to
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talk to him a little bit about his book
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super bosses and the more recent
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addition to this the super boss playbook
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that he's developed has come out
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recently Sydney is joining us form
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Dartmouth up in New Hampshire sandy
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welcome thank you very much Peter great
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to be talking to you and now the folks
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are beaming in saying you want to talk
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just a little bit about your book could
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you spend a fair amount of time not just
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in this book but in your classes and
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generally talking to leaders and let's
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start with the book if you could just
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tell people a little bit about why you
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wrote this book superbosses is a great
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title and I think it does suggest to
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people what you're after here but you
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went around interviewing these folks in
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spending some time with him and watching
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him tell me a little about why you were
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trying to do this book as opposed to
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something else about corporate leaders
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right now it's a great it's a great
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question I had written earlier a book
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called why smart executives fail which
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is about failure and what goes wrong and
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one of the things that came out of that
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research as I went to work with a lot of
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companies and gave speeches around the
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world is you know this is
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we understand what can go wrong but what
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what do you really need to survive and
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thrive into the long term as an
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organization and it got me on a path to
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think about you know what really is the
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most important thing and I and I came up
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with a hypothesis and hypothesis was to
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survive and thrive to be successful into
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the long term you need to be able to
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generate and regenerate talent on a
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continuous basis and I set out to find
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people who have that track record and
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then do deep dives into them and all of
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their protégées and colleagues to try to
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see what is it that they did that's
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different than typical leaders even
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successful leaders and what can we learn
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that maybe we didn't know before you
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know it's a really interesting
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hypothesis and I think in the past
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generation one that probably didn't get
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a lot of attention when you talk to
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people about leading and being
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successful in business you get a whole
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lot of discussion about strategy you get
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a whole lot of discussion about managing
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financial markets and you don't really
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hear that much about developing talent
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from within what kind of reaction did
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you get from your publisher or other
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people when you first started to do this
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you get a sense of people say yeah
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that's really important they say what
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that have you talked about yeah it's
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really interesting it was almost like
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they were they were waiting for this
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deep dive because any CEO you talk to
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fact when I talk to them as you had 20
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years ago and ten years ago and you
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asked what keeps you up at night what
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are you worried about it's always the
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same thing right how do I find the
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world's best talent on our way how do I
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develop them at or how do I retain them
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and they keep having the same problem
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year after year decade after decade now
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why is that because we haven't come up
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with solutions that really move the
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needle very much and that that's the
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reaction I got people said okay some of
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this some of these ideas around super
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bosses are not kind of standard but
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maybe that's what we need and so the
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reaction was wow this is a way to think
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about things mm-hmm you know I just
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wanted to pause on that one for a second
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because when you look at these surveys
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of CEOs they say exactly what you said
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right now that the top concerns are
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about talent but that perception never
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gets passed never seems to get out there
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my guess is if we polled our listeners
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right
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you know what they thought was keeping
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executives up at night that would
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probably not be top of the list but as
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you say in practice it is and it is in
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all the surveys the conference board
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survey why do you think that is why do
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you think this topic and your dive into
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this is something that is not more
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broadly appreciate it is it just not as
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much fun to talk about this as I just
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talked about strategy or something what
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do you think no I think the idea that
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people count that people are our most
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important asset amia we've heard that
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forever in people's eyes glass over and
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I think that and because it hasn't
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really happened because work is just not
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easy and it's been more and more
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pressure put on rank-and-file to
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managers to senior managers I think I
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think many people will say yeah they're
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that they might say that but they don't
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really believe that what they really
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believe is is hitting the numbers and
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pushing us harder and making us work
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work harder and give up more and there's
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a lot of cynicism and I think that that
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could be us behind this yeah yeah that's
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interesting so let's talk a little bit
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about about your book and maybe you
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could tell us a little bit maybe first
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about the people that you interviewed
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and how you picked them because there's
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a huge list that one could draw from
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you're trying to find some best s
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players here so tell us a little about
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who and how you got to him so I was I
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started off kind of small looking at one
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or two industries that I that I care
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about that I'm interested in so the
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high-end foodie industry you know chefs
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and restaurants and I looked at the
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National Football League there's another
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thing I'm interested in so it was kind
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of like just playing around at the
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beginning to tell you the truth and what
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I what I did is as for example Nana
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Fells a really good example I was
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interested in head coaches and the
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development of head coaches and who is
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really good at it and the NFL is a great
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example because there's really good data
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and what I did is I looked at the Super
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Bowl winners and losers the winning team
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and a losing team each year for the two
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best teams I looked at their head
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coaches and I did kind of a a
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genealogical study of them not of course
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their parents but who they work for and
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I created these kind of trees of talent
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and when you do that you discover that
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there's one or two names at the very
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very top over over decades and actually
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the name of the very top is Bill Walsh
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the legendary and longtime coach of the
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San Francisco 49ers now now passed away
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and so I was able to actually quantify
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it in that it's you really really well
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in other industries I have to do a lot
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of grunt work a lot of hunting a lot of
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qualitative research but it turned out
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in every literally every industry I
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looked at I was able to find the one
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sometimes two people that have this
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outsized influence development of talent
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so for example in hedge funds Julian
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Robertson from Tiger management tiger
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cubs mentioned you know high-end foodie
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restaurants Alice Waters from chef
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Penny's the creator of the California
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cuisine and many of the friends and food
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that we see today from farm-to-table the
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organic the local sourcing endowments
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and universities and other nonprofits
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David Swensen from Yale University who's
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kind of legendary has many of his
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protege involved in in running funds and
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running endowments now in an in fashion
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in the fashion industry American fashion
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history Ralph Lauren in the comedy
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industry Lauren Michaels from Saturday
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Night Live
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I mean goes on and on and and you go and
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look at these people and you say wow
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they have they have a track record of
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generating and regenerating talent
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really on a continuous basis and and the
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other thing you discover about them is
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not only that they create these
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opportunities for people and help people
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be more successful in their own lives
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and their own careers they actually
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perform much higher than everybody else
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and and this is actually really
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interesting Peter because sometimes
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people ask me you know they say you know
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Sid we don't have time to spend all we
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don't have all this time to try to
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develop our people they got to figure it
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out I went through the school of hard
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knocks
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they gotta figure it out and and I and I
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said can you imagine a situation when
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your team is getting better and better
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and better where you yourself won't
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benefit is there such a situation where
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you will be punished for helping the
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people around you get better and as a
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result making you better it doesn't make
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a lot of sense but that's kind of what
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what happens so not only developing
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talent but being among the highest
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performers in their industry I must say
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I'm really envious of the idea of
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picking high-end restaurants as a
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subject to study that's a smart one I'll
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try to remember too
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a lot of fun a lot of fun research I
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have to say let's go back to that I
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think one of the points you made which
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is which is really important for people
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listening around the world is that your
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legacy matters a lot and presumably you
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got to these and identify these people
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because their descendants people who
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would work for them we're willing to say
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you know this is the person who really
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helped me right which is a really
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important thing to at the end of our
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careers I'm going to a lot of retirement
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parties you know older executives and
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they always talk about that you know who
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who I thought I helped and how important
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that was but let's move back to the book
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here a little bit and so get to the
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heart of this so what did these folks do
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to develop talent I imagine it's not
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just sending them to the Tuck School or
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to the word in school and that sort of
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stuff what is what do they do there was
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fundamental adieu yeah well there's a
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lot but let me highlight maybe two or
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three things real real quick number one
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is how they source town how they find
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talent they're very they're very open
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minded these super boss leaders they're
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looking for a talent all the time I
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almost I called them almost
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entrepreneurial in how they think about
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talent anywhere they go everywhere they
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go their antennas are up to look for
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potential for potential talent and as a
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result they they often find people have
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been bypassed by by others which i think
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is really interesting because it creates
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opportunities for for people so that
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there's a lot more I could say about
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that but they cast a wide net and
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they're very open minded there they're
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also creative they value creativity I
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say they unleash creativity the people
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around them and this is particularly
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important from Millennials but I think
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it's important for everyone know what do
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we want we want a seat at the table we
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want to have a chance to have an impact
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the best people think that way pie
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aspiration people think that way you
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don't have to be again an MBA graduate
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from a top school to think that way and
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and so super bonds leaders will give you
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that seat and and they'll give you that
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seat and therefore expect a lot from you
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and that goes hand in hand it's not a
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you know get tenure in that seat you
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have to produce and and you're expected
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to keep coming up with new ways of
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thinking along with doing whatever you
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day job happens to be it's it's kind of
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it's kind of standard and how they and
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how they think about how they think
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about things and then you go ahead what
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you gonna say they get accountability
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right so they get some ability and
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accountability they really they really
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do and you know in kind of related to
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that is when you talk about motivating
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people so a lot of ways to talk about
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talking about motivation but there's two
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major things we found among super boss
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leaders number one is they push you hard
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they raise the bar it's not an easy
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place to work with respected the demands
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and the expectations not for it's not
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for everyone but if you're a high
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aspiration person that wants that
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opportunity are you gonna jump at it and
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then the second thing they do is they
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inspire you it's kind of you know kind
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of a weird we hear all the time right
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but they really do they inspire you to
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believe that you're the person you're
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the that you're the team that can
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accomplish this that you're that that
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with you we can do these great things
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and sounds maybe sounds a little soft
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but you combine both of those together
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and at the hard core you know we're
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gonna be tough we're gonna have these
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high demands and at the same time you
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know we I'm inspiring you to feel like
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and really believe that you that we
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together can do anything
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that combination turns out to be pretty
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powerful but maybe we should just tell
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people a little bit about the kinds of
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people that you were talking about can
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you tell us who these folks were yeah so
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when I mentioned a couple Bill Wallisch
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the the head coach from the San
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Francisco 49ers and you know Ralph
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Lauren who you know people know the name
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Ralph Lauren but the number of people
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that work for Ralph that went on to
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tremendous success in their own careers
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really unbelievable perawang Tory virgin
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Abood and John Barr bozos and I mean
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goes it goes on and on the CEO of
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Michael Kors John Idol that's another
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that's another great example in the in
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the food business high-end food is I
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mentioned Alice Waters it turns out that
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there are over 250 people that worked in
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her restaurant at some point that have
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become significant players in that
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ecosystem and I don't mean just you know
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a sous chef becoming a chef but someone
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who may have been baking too that
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creates a big bakery companies to even
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this people that were involved in
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running the
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running her restaurant are now some of
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the people involved in private equity
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and venture investing in some businesses
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really it's really kind of kind of
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amazing though it's lots and lots of
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industry industries ami frist and
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healthcare is another is another good
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example Larry Ellison at at Oracle which
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a lot of people give me grief over
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because there's no tougher executive
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that we know of
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CEO former CEO that we know of than him
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but if you could survive working for for
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Ellison the upside was unbelievable
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many of his top people ended up running
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gigantica you know I wanted to ask you
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about my favorite category out of your
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category of four personality types of
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these folks and that's the glorious
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bastards as and as Ellis in one of those
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just tell it tell us what sir please my
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postive like that else is my this is the
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thing keep in mind the word glorious is
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in front of bastard right there's plenty
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of bosses there that qualify for a team
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of the ladder the ladder adjective but
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what makes some glory and what makes
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these people glorious like a Larry
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Ellison is they understand that to be
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successful they need to have the world's
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best talent around them and they need
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those people to keep getting better and
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better so while they might not care a
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lot about you into personally if you can
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handle that pressure they're just gonna
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accelerate your career it's almost like
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somebody I think said this to me in one
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of my interviews working for Larry's
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like we counted in dog years one year of
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working for Larry's like seven years
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working for somebody else yeah and I
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could certainly see that let's see if we
00:15:00
can switch topic a little bit because
00:15:01
we're mindful of your time and the
00:15:03
audience here and and you've been
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watching this world for a long time and
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in the last year particularly with
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respect to the pandemic it looks like
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the context of business is changing
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quite a bit can you tell us a little bit
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about what you think businesses business
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leaders will be like after well I mean
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from now on the we're in the middle of
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this pandemic now what's a demand from
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these folks
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different isn't it you know this is this
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is obviously a watershed moment and we
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can we can also talk about the the
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racial crisis that has come that has
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come in front of the country and cannot
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be denied anymore
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and leaders are and CEOs in particular
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but leaders more generally are really
00:15:48
expecting to are expected to step up and
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do do things maybe a little bit
00:15:54
differently than they have and and that
00:15:55
starts with transparency being
00:15:58
completely transparent about what it is
00:16:00
you're saying as opposed to kind of
00:16:01
manage as opposed to you know we're in
00:16:03
an era of fake news but the stand-up
00:16:05
leader has never been more important
00:16:07
that's why you know so many people
00:16:09
resonate with Governor Cuomo from New
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York it's become such a star
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and we've been far from perfect but he's
00:16:14
up there day after day with a message
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that conveys action and seriousness of
00:16:19
intent and and maturity and and what's
00:16:22
the result it generates trust and it
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boosts the confidence of the people of
00:16:26
the people around you and so I think
00:16:28
that that attribute of what it takes to
00:16:31
be an effective leader to gain the trust
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of others is going to be even when it's
00:16:35
always an important but it's gonna be
00:16:36
even more and then then the other thing
00:16:39
I'd say and there's a lot more to say
00:16:41
but the other thing I'd say is how is
00:16:43
business changing and going to change
00:16:44
because of this I'm I'm talking to you
00:16:47
and everyone from my dining room right
00:16:49
now people are home people are working
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from home and and that's not gonna
00:16:54
disappear when we eventually get get
00:16:58
back to get back to work as normal and
00:17:00
what does that mean for managers how do
00:17:02
you manage a team when they are much
00:17:05
more likely to be virtual some or all of
00:17:07
the time and and learning how to do that
00:17:10
I think is going to be is going to be
00:17:11
more is going to become more important
00:17:13
than there's some kind of nuts and bolts
00:17:14
think supply chain management we've
00:17:16
discovered because of the the problems
00:17:19
with PPE that these long complex the
00:17:23
highly efficient supply chains didn't
00:17:26
give us any flexibility to be able to
00:17:29
kind of step in and and and produce what
00:17:31
we needed in real time and that's our
00:17:33
note to be a big that turned out to be a
00:17:35
big big problem and then speed of work
00:17:38
I'm going to say I think it's really
00:17:40
is really important you know the the
00:17:42
pace that decisions are being made we
00:17:44
didn't have to talk about the the pace
00:17:46
of you know aunt antibody treatments and
00:17:49
other treatments and vaccines of course
00:17:51
which you know hopefully will we'll get
00:17:52
there but the pace that it's going on it
00:17:55
says is tremendous and and and so we've
00:17:58
kind of knocked away a lot of
00:18:00
bureaucracy and a lot of oh we better
00:18:02
study this and study this and study this
00:18:04
well now the alternative is something
00:18:06
really really bad so we're doing less
00:18:08
studying and more action and many CEOs
00:18:11
I've talked to over the years they some
00:18:13
have said something like you know I
00:18:14
don't have to be right all the time
00:18:15
nobody's right all the time but if I'm
00:18:18
if I'm right more than half the time
00:18:20
that's pretty good as long as I know
00:18:21
when I'm not right I step in and do
00:18:23
something about that and try to fix it
00:18:25
that's that's gonna be I think a central
00:18:28
part of what makes for an effective
00:18:29
leader moving we're gonna get to our
00:18:33
questions in just a second here matter
00:18:34
one more for you before we get there and
00:18:36
that is if you think about the CEO today
00:18:39
and a lot of challenging social
00:18:41
questions of black lives matter issue is
00:18:44
right on the table right now and what do
00:18:47
you think about CEOs who are in a
00:18:50
position where maybe their personal
00:18:52
beliefs and what's going on in society
00:18:55
are not particularly well balanced
00:18:59
though for example we saw this earlier
00:19:01
on gay rights for example LGBT community
00:19:04
issues about all the CEOs were in favor
00:19:07
of those but maybe their employees were
00:19:09
what do they do there is they just
00:19:11
better to keep their mouth shut or do
00:19:13
they have to articulate positions that
00:19:16
make sense for the organization even if
00:19:18
it's not their personal positions what
00:19:20
do you see happening so this is really a
00:19:23
big big challenge because it goes
00:19:25
against it puts in conflict to kind of
00:19:28
core things that every leader is told by
00:19:30
one is you got to be authentic you got
00:19:31
to be true to yourself and and so
00:19:35
there's one then the other which is even
00:19:37
bigger is how business goes which is
00:19:40
customer focus we're all about customer
00:19:42
focus well you know we're not going to
00:19:44
sell our customers what we think is the
00:19:46
right thing to do the right the right
00:19:48
product unless we believe customers
00:19:50
and we have to convince them no Steve
00:19:52
Jobs is kind of this people say what
00:19:53
about Steve Jobs he created this stuff
00:19:55
nobody knew we needed a knife and iPad
00:19:57
or pod for that matter
00:19:59
well there's one Steve Jobs and there's
00:20:01
probably a hundred thousand others
00:20:03
that'll fail trying to do the same type
00:20:04
of the same type of thing we can't make
00:20:06
you know leadership practice based on
00:20:09
Uglies ultra exceptions so to follow
00:20:13
your own beliefs I think when that's not
00:20:17
what the your ecosystem is demanding is
00:20:19
is gonna be a really is gonna be a real
00:20:21
problem and it might it might fall on
00:20:23
boards of directors to start to think
00:20:25
about value systems at a very personal
00:20:27
level when they start hiring and
00:20:28
evaluating CEOs because there there is a
00:20:31
fit and you know if employees are in
00:20:34
revolt if the managers are not happy
00:20:37
with the way the CEO is running business
00:20:39
because of certain values that are out
00:20:40
of touch that's that not just that's not
00:20:43
gonna work yeah that's a really
00:20:47
interesting point I think we are at the
00:20:50
point in the show here where we turn to
00:20:52
questions and answers and I hope I've
00:20:55
got this at the right point so great
00:20:57
pleasure to have with us the Eagle Yomi
00:20:59
who is our knowledge of Wharton partner
00:21:02
the executive director there and Steven
00:21:04
been listening to what people in the
00:21:06
audience have been asking and I'm gonna
00:21:08
get all the way and turn it over to
00:21:09
Steve thanks Peter hi Sidney
00:21:13
we have time for a couple of good
00:21:15
questions we got lots of questions here
00:21:16
about talent development attracting
00:21:19
talent so so let's I'll ask this one how
00:21:22
can leaders develop talent effectively
00:21:24
while people are working remotely does
00:21:26
that pose more of a problem and the
00:21:28
other question was should maybe talent
00:21:30
development be sidelined for the time
00:21:32
being during this crisis take the second
00:21:35
question first the answer is absolutely
00:21:37
not it's the sideline talent development
00:21:41
is to send a signal of people around you
00:21:43
that you know what your future is not is
00:21:46
actually not that important now we got
00:21:48
to do something else how do you motivate
00:21:50
people you motivate people when they
00:21:52
feel like they're part of something they
00:21:54
are contributing something so I don't
00:21:55
think I would I don't think I would do
00:21:57
that and by the way that's not just
00:22:00
about spending money which is some
00:22:02
what motivates that type of mindset we
00:22:04
got to cut back we don't have money in
00:22:06
training budgets are often among the
00:22:07
very first things that get that get that
00:22:10
cut when when times are tough the best
00:22:12
way to develop talent is for in an
00:22:15
individual boss or an individual leader
00:22:17
to work directly with the people that
00:22:19
work for her one-on-one though that's
00:22:22
the best way that's what super boss
00:22:23
leaders do and it's not necessarily
00:22:25
going offer training and and the first
00:22:29
the first question was again see how do
00:22:33
you develop what can we do to develop
00:22:35
talent this situation and present barmen
00:22:37
yeah given the fact that people are so
00:22:40
dispersed and working on the other end
00:22:42
does that post more of a challenge for
00:22:44
talent development yeah well it does the
00:22:48
fact that it the fact that that's the
00:22:50
way we are doing work and we'll continue
00:22:52
to do work even more it's it's just
00:22:55
raises the degrees of difficulty I
00:22:57
always say know that before all this
00:23:00
happened when everyone's working from
00:23:01
home or almost everyone is working I
00:23:03
used to say well there will be time
00:23:05
times when you're face to face and when
00:23:08
you face the face that becomes gold and
00:23:09
that's an asset that's really valuable
00:23:11
you got to leverage that time so for
00:23:13
example you don't want your powerpoint
00:23:16
presentation so you don't want the
00:23:17
updates from from teams when when you
00:23:20
finally have a chance to be face to face
00:23:21
that could all be done offline you just
00:23:23
got to be smart about when you're face
00:23:25
to face it's about it's about talking
00:23:27
it's about learning it's about
00:23:28
interacting it's about pushing and
00:23:30
challenging and so I'd say using your
00:23:32
time much more effectively and thinking
00:23:34
about you know of all the things that we
00:23:36
do what could we actually push offline
00:23:39
and what do we absolutely need to be
00:23:41
doing face to face so even though it's
00:23:45
more difficult it doesn't mean that it's
00:23:47
going to go away it just means it's got
00:23:49
to get done and and this is another
00:23:50
thing to keep in mind the managers that
00:23:53
figure it out the leaders have figured
00:23:54
how to do this more effectively are
00:23:55
going to have a competitive manager
00:23:57
that's a pretty good sense try to put
00:24:00
your energy into that right right it
00:24:04
also during this time do you have any
00:24:05
advice for how managers can best lower
00:24:08
employee anxiety while they work
00:24:10
remotely because I think that it's a
00:24:12
very anxious time not only because
00:24:14
what's going on in the world but because
00:24:15
things
00:24:15
changed dramatically most people are
00:24:18
kind of in a zone now but but how can a
00:24:20
managers help to lower employee anxiety
00:24:23
during this time yeah I think there are
00:24:25
two things one one is communication and
00:24:29
more general level the best leaders as
00:24:31
managers know that they need to be
00:24:33
communicating communicating often and
00:24:35
effectively I think the bar has been
00:24:37
raised on that too you don't want to use
00:24:39
up everybody's time all the time people
00:24:41
are working and their kids are running
00:24:42
around the house and not everybody else
00:24:44
childcare etc but communicating what
00:24:48
you're doing and and what people are up
00:24:50
to and where and where you're going and
00:24:52
inspiring people a little bit I think is
00:24:54
is important and that the second thing
00:24:56
is more of an individual idea which is
00:24:59
for each individual on your team
00:25:01
carve out some time to have that
00:25:03
one-on-one conversation not the big zoom
00:25:06
thing or the Blue Gene thing or whatever
00:25:08
it is and one of the best ways you can
00:25:13
signal that you really care about
00:25:15
somebody and this will alleviate or help
00:25:17
alleviate their anxiety is if you if you
00:25:22
if you if you try to understand what it
00:25:24
is they need and they want in their own
00:25:26
careers at this point in time and and
00:25:29
that could be you know starting to think
00:25:30
about well you know within that within a
00:25:32
year hopefully we're we're on the other
00:25:34
side and here's what I'd like to do and
00:25:36
how we're going to continue or I have an
00:25:37
aspiration to be you know a senior VP or
00:25:41
a c-suite executives here to actually
00:25:43
spend the time I hesitate to use the
00:25:47
word coaching because coaching is a word
00:25:48
to use all the time that's a little bit
00:25:50
weak I prefer almost like partnering as
00:25:52
a better as a better word where you're
00:25:55
not only providing advice but you're
00:25:57
actually helping them execute on on this
00:26:01
so for example if somebody needs certain
00:26:03
skills to get to the next stage you help
00:26:06
them figure out how they can get those
00:26:08
skills with them and if that means a new
00:26:11
assignment a new opportunity you do that
00:26:13
so that's just good kind of managing
00:26:15
people activity but I think when you
00:26:18
when you do that especially now you're
00:26:20
demonstrating in a real way not just
00:26:23
with words which I think are important
00:26:24
but not just with words in a very real
00:26:26
way that you know you care about each
00:26:28
individual person and you
00:26:29
want them to succeed and you want to
00:26:31
understand what's going on in their in
00:26:33
their lives now and work together to try
00:26:35
to get them to the next stage whatever
00:26:36
that happens to be right right and I I
00:26:40
think that one one issue that does come
00:26:42
into play in these scenarios is
00:26:43
micromanaging or a tendency to
00:26:46
micromanage look what is that if what is
00:26:48
it in effect due to employees yeah so
00:26:53
micro managers the definition is someone
00:26:56
who does your work for you or does tells
00:26:59
you so much detail that it's as if
00:27:00
you're just filling in the connecting
00:27:02
the dots and you know some jobs that
00:27:05
that makes sense
00:27:06
automation actually does that to some
00:27:08
extent but for managerial jobs for
00:27:10
leadership jobs for people that want to
00:27:11
have a bigger impact want to have some
00:27:13
of their own personal capability it's
00:27:15
the last thing you want to do and and I
00:27:18
found you know that super boss leaders
00:27:20
they were hands on it's kind of one of
00:27:22
these paradoxes I'm hands on delegate
00:27:24
errs there were very big delegate errs
00:27:26
which means they're not micro managers
00:27:27
but they were also hands on they were
00:27:29
involved with people they they did some
00:27:33
of that partnering that I just that I
00:27:34
just described but if you're if if you
00:27:37
fall into this trap I mean it's a losing
00:27:39
formula if you're gonna start doing
00:27:41
other people's jobs for them how are you
00:27:44
ever gonna survive all right you know
00:27:46
when people tell me that you really well
00:27:48
the number one thing when people tell me
00:27:50
you know I don't trust my team or I've
00:27:53
run out of time or I I'm working day and
00:27:55
night it gets down to trust doesn't it
00:27:58
that you don't trust your team you're
00:27:59
not delegating enough and usually not
00:28:01
always but usually it's self-inflicted
00:28:03
right right so Trust is the main issue
00:28:05
there well I think we're actually out of
00:28:07
time so I'll switch back over to Peter
00:28:08
but thanks so much thanks Steve
00:28:11
thank you but thank you Steve and I
00:28:16
think we are at our times and now we
00:28:18
should probably first of all do a
00:28:20
virtual thank you for Sydney for being
00:28:22
with us
00:28:23
Denny Finkelstein is the Steven Roth
00:28:25
professor and have the executive
00:28:26
education program with the Tuck School
00:28:28
at Dartmouth and joining us today like
00:28:30
everyone is by video thanks very much
00:28:32
for being with a Sydney and we will have
00:28:35
this up shortly I hope on YouTube you'll
00:28:38
see some of this in knowledge of Wharton
00:28:39
as well and we look forward to following
00:28:41
up with you when we do this
00:28:43
again and sending out those enough thank
00:28:46
you all very much for being with us and
00:28:47
I hope to see you again soon
00:28:57
you

Episode Highlights

  • Superbosses: The Key to Talent Development
    Sidney Finkelstein discusses his book 'Superbosses' and the importance of nurturing talent.
    “To survive and thrive, you need to generate and regenerate talent continuously.”
    @ 02m 31s
    June 29, 2020
  • The Changing Landscape of Leadership
    Post-pandemic, leaders are expected to be more transparent and trustworthy.
    “The stand-up leader has never been more important.”
    @ 16m 07s
    June 29, 2020
  • Effective Leadership
    An effective leader knows when they're right and when to fix mistakes.
    “If I'm right more than half the time, that's pretty good.”
    @ 18m 18s
    June 29, 2020
  • Talent Development During Crisis
    Leaders should not sideline talent development during tough times; it’s crucial for motivation.
    “Sidelining talent development sends a signal that the future is not important.”
    @ 21m 37s
    June 29, 2020
  • Communication is Key
    Effective communication is essential for lowering employee anxiety during remote work.
    “The best leaders know they need to communicate often and effectively.”
    @ 24m 31s
    June 29, 2020

Episode Quotes

  • Talent is our most important asset.
    Knowledge@Wharton Interview with Sydney Finkelstein
  • Can you imagine a situation where your team is getting better and you won't benefit?
    Knowledge@Wharton Interview with Sydney Finkelstein
  • Working for Larry is like counting in dog years.
    Knowledge@Wharton Interview with Sydney Finkelstein
  • You don't have to be right all the time.
    Knowledge@Wharton Interview with Sydney Finkelstein
  • The best way to develop talent is one-on-one conversations.
    Knowledge@Wharton Interview with Sydney Finkelstein
  • Trust is the main issue in leadership.
    Knowledge@Wharton Interview with Sydney Finkelstein

Key Moments

  • Introduction00:06
  • Leadership Conference00:27
  • Superbosses Discussion01:09
  • Talent Development09:50
  • Post-Pandemic Leadership15:24
  • Leadership Authenticity19:31
  • Employee Anxiety24:10
  • Trust Issues28:05

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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