McKinsey Quarterly 2023 Number 1

Author Talks

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Bill George on emotionally intelligent leaders The Harvard professor and former Medtronic CEO explains, in a conversation with McKinsey Global Publishing’s Rick Tetzeli, how navigating multiple simultaneous crises with high EQ helps distinguish tomorrow’s brightest leaders.

What is the relationship between developing your sense of purpose as a leader and developing your com pany’s purpose? - Before you can become an authentic leader, you have to know who you are. That’s your “true north”—your most deeply held beliefs, your values, the principles you lead by, and what inspires you. Until you define your true north, you won’t know what your purpose is. Your purpose is your North Star. You carry that purpose throughout your life, and you want to find a company where you can align with that. Crises are teaching leaders today that you can’t just rely on what you learned in business school, that everything is going to be long-range planning and process controls. Those things are important, but you have to be able to adapt very rapidly to changing conditions. I tell young leaders, “Go put yourself in a situation where you learn how to lead in a crisis. Don’t just lead in stable times, because you’ll never know what to do when the big crisis comes along—like the COVID-19 pandemic, where everything shut down, and you had to adapt your entire business model.” If you’re just waiting for the stable times to return, you’re not going to get there. In working with many leaders, I find many of them want to jump into leadership roles and get power too quickly. Maybe I fell into that trap too. Today, you have to know yourself first before you can be a great leader. Until you do, you’re always subject to what I call the “adulation trap,” where people on the outside are saying, “You’re terrific; you have this great title” or “You have all this power, all this money.” We need to have leaders today who take the time to know themselves, have good mentors, and take honest feedback—those who surround themselves with truth tellers who will tell them what they don’t want to hear. The hardest thing you have to do is see yourself as others see you. How have crises taught emerging leaders lessons on what not to do? Is it hard to convince leaders to explore their personal journey and sense of self in order to lead effectively?

McKinsey Quarterly 2022 Number 4 2023 Number 1

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