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wharton economic summit in philadelphia
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i'd like to welcome mr. Jon M Huntsman
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founder and chairman of the Huntsman
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corporation one of the largest
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petrochemical and plastic companies in
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the world thank you for joining us mr.
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Huntsman thank you
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ethics and moral codes of conduct are
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somewhat different around the world and
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you've done a lot of business around the
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world with all kinds of different
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different folks and some would argue
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that there are different standards in
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some cases things might be ethical in
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one country but not in another what are
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the the traits that you see across the
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board that that are consistent in terms
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of ethics well the only important and
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critical and standard trait is is that
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found in an individual who travels
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between these various areas where there
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may be conflicts in ethical behavior
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that is to say that of course situations
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will be different in some countries in
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Asia and in some countries in Eastern
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Europe in some countries in South
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America even in North America but
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individuals who are responsible for
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their business must maintain the same
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standard standards of ethics and same
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criteria for honesty and integrity
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irrespective of what the country may
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believe in or their government may be
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based upon and that's very difficult
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because that means in certain cases you
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have to choose whether you want to
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invest in that country or not and I've
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had to pull the plug on a country which
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I loved we had two major manufacturing
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sites there but I would I refuse to get
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involved in bribery and people in that
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country all
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believed that if you were to be
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successful you had to give a certain
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amount of your your income to the
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leaders of that country I refused to do
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it I sold our plants and moved out of
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there since that event happened that new
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government has come in and have said
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please mr. Huntsman bring your plants
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back to this country we know why you
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left and that will never happen to you
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again
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the word also spread to other countries
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that have some sense of corruption
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within their government don't deal with
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a Huntsman organization in a corrupt
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manner they won't buy it they'll pull
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the plug they'll move out they'll take
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any investments with them you'll lose
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jobs and the word traveled ahead of us
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so we've never had another problem with
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that one of the most important jobs of a
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leader is to bring about change and
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transformation and I wonder if you could
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speak a little bit about how do leaders
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bring that about and also how do they
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involve their employees and motivate
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their employees to buy into the process
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of change let me talk first about about
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change it is very important for a leader
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to surround himself or herself with
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people who are more effective in many
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ways than they are for instance I don't
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wear a wristwatch as you can see I don't
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know how to do email I don't know in a
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computer I've thrown six cellphones away
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in the last year because I can't stand
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them I'm a man who really is it should
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be relegated back to the 40s or the 50s
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as far as technology but we run a very
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high technology oriented company because
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I've surrounded myself with people who
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are so much better equipped than I am to
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deal with the technological advances the
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research and and and development in in
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those areas we we have senior officers
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and in fact our CEO is very attuned to
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this he happens to be our son but the
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people around me including my personal
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assistants all our people much better
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qualified than I am in that area my main
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job as a CEO as a chairman now
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and it was as a CEO was to put my arms
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around people and commend them and thank
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them and build them up and lift their
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spirits but as far as any one individual
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being a master of many of the areas of
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involvement that just isn't the way
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business was run businesses run first
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and foremost by lifting the spirit of
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the corporation lifting the morale of
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the company spending a lot of your time
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out in the plants and out in the sites
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and out on the assembly lines getting to
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know families individual employees we
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call them associates and their families
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so that they know that I'm always
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supporting them and if I support them
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then they support they support me but
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when it comes to the technological
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advances and things of that kind I give
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way to those around me and and just
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remain silent and and and thank other
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people for the wonderful talents that
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they bring to her to our business this
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is sort of related to what you were just
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talking about in today's internet world
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where everything is 24/7 coverage
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there's talk radio there's talk TV as a
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leader you have to make decisions that
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are often in the public domain and
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they're being scrutinized how difficult
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is that is that a D view that as an
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opportunity or a challenge in terms of
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making leadership decisions because
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everything is so public well you're
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going to be criticized here but one is
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going to be criticized irrespective of
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the of the decisions they make but but
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you know life is a series of decisions
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to make no decision is a decision and so
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you know we were we were private
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business for 35 years now we're a public
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business our sales last year were about
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13 billion dollars annually and all you
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can do in making decisions is gather as
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much information as possible surround
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yourself with the best possible people
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gather all the facts that you you can
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you can gather and then make a decision
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and move and and not look back and I
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found that you have a pretty high
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batting average if you use good judgment
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you do what you think is right
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you're not swayed by other people's
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personal agendas and you do what's in
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the interest not of yourself but of the
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corporation and and the maximum number
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of people within the corporation and I'd
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love to make decisions I you know some
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people kind of falter away from it but I
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think that decision making is is is a
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very unique art and it's one that for me
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at least in my life
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has brought a lot of has brought many
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blessings into our family and into my
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own personal lives and I'll think
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outside the box a lot of the times many
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of the many many decisions that we make
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people think well well that isn't the
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standard type of procedure why are you
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doing that and I said well because I
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think it will help more people I think
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it will broaden our base I think more
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people might be educated if we go this
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route rather than this route and so you
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know I I don't fear decisions at all I
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think the key thing is to gather the
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facts surround yourself with good people
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and make a decision and never look back
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over your shoulder oh it's the biggest
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leadership challenge you have faced and
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how did you overcome it the the most
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significant leadership challenge for me
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has been to surround myself with
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competent and dedicated people and not
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believe that I know all of the answers
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and listen to them very carefully and
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respect their education and their
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experience in their background and we're
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in a business that operates in 55
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countries throughout the world we make
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12,000 different products I couldn't
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make one of those products myself I I've
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never taken a chemistry course in my
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life but we're one of the largest
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chemical companies in the world
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thank goodness for people who can give
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you advice and suggestions and so I
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think the most important decision in
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business assuming that the financial
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basis is is is solid because obviously
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without a solid financial basis any
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organization has is going to begin to
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crumble it really boils down to the
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people around you and listening to them
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and giving them credit and
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putting your arm around them and
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thanking them and recognizing that that
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they're as critical a part of the team
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as you are and and and recognizing them
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for their talents and abilities most
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people think of leaders as being at the
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very top of the organizational chart
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that they're they're charismatic they're
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on the front cover of the the business
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publications but there's that layer
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beneath of leaders how do you how do you
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at your your company train and groom
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those leaders at that sort of mid-level
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range and and how important do you think
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that is in terms of building a strong
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company well the mid-level people will
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be tomorrow's senior level people and
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it's always been very important for them
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to be part of a decision-making process
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to be called in to be recognized and and
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and to be listened to and and it's very
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very important to people on their way up
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through an organization that they feel
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they're making a contribution that there
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are superiors that their senior officers
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are are listening that they understand
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what they what they're saying that they
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have a role of participation in in a
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decision-making process and then if the
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decision-making Abraham Lincoln made a
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great statement once when he said the
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decision-making level should should be
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at the lowest possible level in the
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organization something to that effect I
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may have my words a little bit wrong but
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and so I've always believed that unless
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something involved a global decision I
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shouldn't make that decision it should
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be made at one or two or three levels
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below me it should be made at that level
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that affects that number of people and
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that particular product at that
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particular stage and then it's my job to
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support that decision to drop a little
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handwritten note since I don't do
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computers and I don't do email I
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I do literally hundreds a week of little
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handwritten notes to people and I think
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I'm the last species on earth that does
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that because you know people love to see
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that you've taken the time to drop them
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a note and and particularly if they're
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in mid management because they know that
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their decision has reached somebody at
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the top and that they're recognized for
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that there you know that they that they
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that they're important to that
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organization they're part of it and I
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think that's why our morale has always
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been very very high as it you know I
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love our people I love them all the way
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up and down the organization and and it
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doesn't matter what level they serve
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it's it's a matter that you know if you
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love people and you trust people and you
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go with what they recommend that they're
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gonna be very careful in what they
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recommend because they aren't going to
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want to hurt you they're not gonna want
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to disappoint you people like a leader
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who tosses the ball back to them and
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gives them praise and recognition and
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and and you know a little extra pay
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raise in the process as well that always
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helps along the line second gossip it's
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how do you define success how do you
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define success
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I think n word happiness success can
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never be defined by money because
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there's never enough money to satisfy
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some people success cannot be I don't
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believe defined by a position or a
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political appointment I think it has to
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be what's in someone's heart and the
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feeling that you have about yourself and
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my father was a rural school teacher and
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he considered himself to be a great
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success in life because he taught
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students in junior high in high school
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and he would see the finished product
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and many of them would go to college and
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I think when he passed away in life he
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thought he had been a great success
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because he had helped students in a
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rural high school move on to get a
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higher education and achieve something
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in life so I think if we if we could
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only just have the type of human heart
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and human outlook that we say to
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ourselves what I'm doing is it makes me
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happy I'm good at what I'm doing I'm
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prepared I'm educated in what I what I
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am achieving and I'm a success because
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of that and and and that's why we have
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to recognize the other person we have to
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respect them and we have to understand
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that not everybody is going to be a
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chairman or president
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not everybody wants to do that very few
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people in today's world wants to want to
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do that but it's fun to see people you
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can sit in their face you can sit in
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their eyes you can understand people who
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feel good about themselves and to me
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there are the great success stories of
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life thank you very much for speaking
00:13:31
with us for more information please
00:13:35
visit our website at knowledge Wharton
00:13:39
dot u Penn dot edu
