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As Bain's Worldwide Managing Director, actually, my job looks very similar to any typical CEO job.
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I'm responsible for leading teams that develop and execute our global strategy, that manage operations across our 37 offices.
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That focus on developing new and innovative products and capabilities and bringing those to market.
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Recruiting, attracting, developing, retaining great people and talent, managing the financials of the business, right?
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Running the income statement, cash flow, balance sheet, even communicating with shareholders.
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But actually on some very important dimensions, my job is quite different than the typical CEO of a corporation.
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Bain and Company is a private partnership, it is owned by the partners, and therefore I am ultimately accountable to them as the shareholders.
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Now, they also happen to be the line executives of the business, the people responsible for executing on the front line.
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Now, I am not their boss, I do not have a command and control management infrastructure, right?
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Those 400 partners elected me to serve and support them and the other 4,000 members of our global team.
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So they don't have to do what I tell them to do, >> [LAUGH] >> Can you imagine that?
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So I have to lead through a combination of inclusion, involving people in the decision making process, inquiry, listening and asking the right questions.
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Insight, using the answer to those questions to set a clear direction for the organization.
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Influence, articulating a clear rationale for a specific course of action, and finally, incentives, making sure that we consistently reward the right behaviors and the right outcomes.
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So inclusion, inquiry, insight, influence, and incentives, if it doesn't begin with in, I can't do it.
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>> [LAUGH] >> Now, this is what we at Bain call the servant-leader model.
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It's actually the foundation of our leadership model, applies to me and to every person in the organization who plays a significant leadership role.
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Now, you might conclude by listening to this description that, this is unique to private partnerships, or unique just to professional service firms, actually, that's not the case at all.
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They're many, in fact, I would argue most professional service firms and private partnerships are managed with a command and control infrastructure, and they have a leader that fits that mold.
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Conversely, and more importantly, there are lots of large corporations, both public and private, that are managed and led by servant leaders.
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In fact, Jim Collins in his book Good to Great, profiled these types of CEOs and in fact, he labeled them level 5 leaders.
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And honestly, that is really the threshold that I aspired to achieve at some point in my career.
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So with the benefit of that is a little bit of context about how I think about leadership.
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Let me see if I can share with you a few of the lessons that I've learned in working alongside some truly great leaders, both clients and colleagues of mine.
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And also what I've been able to draw from my own successes and failures as I've worked to refine my leadership skills over the years.
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And I really think it's funny, as I was reflecting on this, there are probably 15 important leadership lessons that I could share with you today.
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But the truth is most of them are actually really well documented in great books, or in case studies you guys are reading, or frankly, in the stories and experiences that you share with one another both inside and outside the classroom.
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But I think there are three leadership principles that are actually not that frequently talked about by the experts, and I think disproportionately explain what separates a truly great leader from the many good ones.
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Now, the first of these principles is what I like to call authenticity, and quite simply, that is the answer to the question, who am I?
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Now, how many of you in the last 12 months have asked yourself the question, or been asked by others a question like, so where do you want to go?
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Where do you want to take your career?
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What do you want to accomplish? What's in your future?
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Well, I think those are all important and legitimate questions, but I would argue they're the wrong place to start.
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I think it's absolutely essential that you begin with a clear understanding of what your strengths are, what motivates you, what really ignites your passion as an individual.
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And let me see if I can maybe share a personal story with you that explains why having that sense of who you are, that authenticity is so important.
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Now, when I came to the GSB in 1988, a long time ago, I actually had a really good understanding of who I was.
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I understood my strengths and weaknesses, I understood the specific capabilities and skills I wanted to develop while I was in school.
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I knew what I liked and what I disliked about the business world, and I even had a pretty good idea of where I wanted to take my career.
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Now, that wasn't because I was a particularly thoughtful, or introspective person, actually, just the opposite.
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I had just been forced to go through these silly questions on all these business school applications, right?
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So in preparing my remarks today, I actually went back to my draft GSB application from 1987.
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>> [LAUGH] [APPLAUSE] >> And as painful as this is for me, >> [LAUGH] >> I am going to read you an excerpt in hopes that this is the one thing you remember from this presentation.
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Now, this is in response to a question that had to do with leadership and the role it was going to play in your career.
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I have always gravitated to leadership positions, in part because I seek them out and in part because they seek me out.
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>> [LAUGH] >> That sounds just a little bit arrogant, doesn't it?
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>> [LAUGH] >> Now, while I have not always succeeded in these roles, nice recovery, >> [LAUGH] >> I have always enjoyed the challenge of leading others.
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I know from my own experience that I have grown the most when working under people who know how to lead and inspire individuals, teams, and large organizations.
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My aspiration is to earn a leadership position in the business world that allows me to do the same.
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The greatest rewards in my career will be the impact I have on the lives of those that I have the privilege to lead.
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It just makes you want to cry, doesn't it?
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>> [LAUGH] >> Well, actually, when I read this, it brought tears to my eyes, but not for the reason that you think, because actually As I looked at it, I realized that I misspelled the word privilege.
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>> [LAUGH] >> Speaker 1: Anyway, so they still let me in, which was great. A miracle, but great.
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And after slogging through my first year at the core, I actually had a fabulous experience over the summer.
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I worked in the corporate finance and M and A groups at Salomon Brothers in New York.
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And for those of you who are Wall street historians, 1989 was an amazing year.
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Salomon Brothers was at its peak.
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Michael Lewis had just published his book Liar's Poker and it was at the top of the best sellers list right when I was there during the summer. So fabulous experience.
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I met some really, really talented people and I actually almost accepted a full-time offer before I left New York.
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But I came back to the business school and I had the opportunity to take some phenomenal courses.
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The ones that come to mind in particular are venture capital and entrepreneurship with Pitch Johnson, who was absolute legend in Silicon Valley small business management from Jim Collins, who wasn't quite the celebrity back then that he is today.
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But it was interesting, those classes in combination with a lot of hype that was going on around campus with respect to school startups and frankly, a little bit of peer pressure that I was feeling to not go corporate.
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I actually made the decision about halfway through my second quarter to do a startup with my former boss at the boutique consulting firm I had worked for before business school.
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Now, I don't regret having made that decision, but it was a mistake.
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If I had stopped and asked myself the question, who am I really?
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What is it that I enjoy doing?
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What really plays to my strengths, I would not have become an entrepreneur.
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I really did want to go to work for a large organization where I could learn from the best, where I could work alongside great leaders and hopefully someday earn the right to lead a high performance team.
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I wasn't being authentic.
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I wasn't being true to myself.
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I wasn't following my internal compass, my true north, if you will.
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Now, the reason that this is an important lesson, I believe, at least from my standpoint, is that as I was struggling as an entrepreneur, and frankly a only modestly successful one, one of the things I realized is that I wasn't really in my zone.
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I didn't feel like I was really playing to my strengths.
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I didn't feel like what I was doing was really inspiring me and generating a sense of passion in what I was doing.
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In some respects it actually felt like I was running in the sand. You know how that feels? You're running in sand.
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You're making progress, but you're doing so with twice the effort and at half the pace.
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Now, don't get me wrong, I learned a lot as an entrepreneur, lessons that I still carry with me today and I think are extraordinarily valuable.
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But in the end, it really wasn't true to who I was.
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So when the opportunity in 1993 came up to join Bain & Company, it was very clear to me early on, by looking at the organization, its culture, its mission, its people.
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That suddenly this was a place that really did in fact, play to my strengths, play to who I was actually lined up with what I wanted to accomplish with my own passions and sense of purpose.
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And so it actually felt like I was coming out of the sand and stepping onto what was a really highly responsive surface like the Stanford track.
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And suddenly my strides became more effortless, my pace accelerated, and I was actually training with people who had competed at the highest levels.
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Now, this is not meant to be an advertisement for Bain.
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Actually, I'm certain that there were many other organizations where I could have felt a similar level of alignment or maybe even greater alignment.
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The point is that it is essential, I think, for all of you, particularly at the stage of career where you are today, to step back for a minute and ask yourself the question, why have you taken two years out of what I'm sure are very successful business careers to come to the Stanford Business School? Why have you done that?
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Make sure that you take inventory of where you are, of what it is you want to accomplish.
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Don't be lazy, don't be distracted, don't be afraid.
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This isn't a dress rehearsal, right? This is your life.
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And you can make a real difference if you're thoughtful about the industry you choose, the business, the company, the team, you can, in a large degree determine the probability that you're going to be a great leader just by those choices that you make.
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So take advantage of going back to your original business school application if necessary.
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Or better yet, use all the resources you have available to you at the business school to really take inventory and ensure you understand what makes you tick.
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Now, as I reflect on what happened to me after I joined Bain and Company, the other thing that comes to mind for me is what I believe now are two lessons that go beyond just authenticity, that touch on the two additional leadership principles.
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The next one is what I'll call courage.
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You could call it a lot of different things, but the truth is courage is an essential leadership attribute, I believe.
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And courage means a lot of different things to different people.
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In fact, if you go to the Webster's definition of leadership, it says the quality or state of mind or spirit to face danger or hardship with confidence and resolution, okay?
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The quality or state of mind or spirit to face danger or hardship with confidence and resolution.
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Now, in my experience, great leaders are successful in embedding courage in their organization that enables people to do the right thing, not the easy thing, to persevere during periods of adversity and to strive for greatness without having the fear to fail.
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So if you look at today's world, if you look at what the typical business leader today confronts, I would argue that the dynamics of the global economy, the new rules of the global economy present two significant challenges that I believe require a lot of courage.
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The first is this sort of sense of permanent levels of uncertainty and turbulence in the world, whether it's economic, geopolitical, technological.
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The second is the relentless and absolute imperative need to focus on innovation.
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If you in your organization today are not focused Focused on figuring out how you're going to obsolete your own business model, somebody else is going to do it for you.
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So let me see if I can give you a couple of examples from my Bain experience to highlight why I think courage is so important to address these two challenges.
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Let me go back to a story, the time is 2001.
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I was then, as Bob mentioned, the managing partner for the San Francisco office of Bain.
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We were at that point in time coming off the Internet bubble having burst.
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We were in the middle of a recession in the US and then September 11th happened.
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Our industry was thrown into an unprecedented level of turbulence.
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It forced many companies like ours, to go through significant restructuring and many companies had to do layoffs, for the first time in their history.
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Now, under the leadership of John Donahoe, we were actually able to pull together as a team, and have the conviction and the courage to invest in our business for the long term.
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Unlike a lot of our competitors, we didn't do any layoffs, actually, contrary to that, we invested.
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Doubled down, in fact, on recruiting, on people development, on training, on product development, because we had the courage.
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And John did an extraordinary job of instilling that courage at all levels of the organization.
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So despite the fact that the partners were going to experience some severe short term economic hardship, by virtue of this investment, the organization had the will to persevere, even as the headwinds in 2002 got stronger.
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But because we had the courage, we took full advantage of that period of turbulence.
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In fact, we hired a large number of partners from many of our competitors, to fill key geographic gaps or even specific practice areas where we needed to be stronger.
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And as a result of having had that courage and the confidence and the belief, that John was so effective in instilling in all of us, we ended up coming out of that period with an extraordinary foundation.
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And in fact, it has propelled what has been a rapid period of growth for us over the last four or five years.
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Now, let me shift to the second topic, which is innovation.
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I'd argue that today you have to have an organization that can continuously and reliably drive innovation, or you are going to be taken over in today's economy.
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Now, fortunately, at Bain company, I joined an organization that had a long track record of innovation, it's core to our mission.
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And we have a reasonably good track record of a steady stream of business model innovations, that challenge the traditional definitions of our industry and really test the boundaries of our own capabilities.
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If you look at our track record, we have lots of visible successes, Bain Capital our private equity practice, Bridge Span, our contingency based pricing model that Bob referenced.
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But we also have some visible failures.
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Banelab, which is a business incubator that we launched, Evolution, which was an Internet operating company that we launched back in 2000 with Kleiner Perkins and TPG.
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Now we like to embrace, as any good innovator does, the lessons of failure.
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And as it turns out, actually the lessons from both Bain Lab and Evolution are the basis for several new business model pilots that we're running today.
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Our innovation track record is defined by both our successes and our failures.
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And in fact, we've learned over the years that, in fact it's the failures that teach us more oftentimes than our successes.
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Now, one of the things I will tell you, it's easy to talk about these things, but when you are confronted with the decision, or the prospect of real failure, it is really, really hard to stand your ground, it's scary.
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And so one of the questions is, how do you, in a world where you must continually innovate, you must continue to take risks, how do you ensure that you have an organization that can do that consistently?
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Well, in my experience, I think there are three ingredients to making that happen that are important.
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The first is, you've got to understand whether the innovation is worth it.
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Is it something that's really going to transform your business, and what really are the costs if you fail?
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Now, these might sound like obvious questions, but you would be amazed at how many innovation efforts are launched without ever going through that screen, and consequently, many get shut down at the first sign of any adversity.
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The second ingredient, you have to find champions.
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At Bain, anytime that we launch an innovation initiative, we have to ensure that there are a threshold level of really passionate, influential partners around the business who believe in the idea, who are confident that it can succeed.
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And this is essential because this is the only way that you create the endurance, and the perseverance to power through what are inevitable market resistance or even internal resistance, to really innovate about new ideas.
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And then finally, you have to set reasonable time frames, and you have to be transparent about communicating progress.
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Innovation is a lot like remodeling a house,it always, no matter how well you plan, it takes twice as long and costs twice as much.
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So if you don't keep, set realistic timelines and keep the people in the organization informed, being honest about where you're succeeding and where you're failing, you run the risk of everyone actually turning on the contractor and firing them if you're not careful.
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So absolutely essential to keep those three ingredients in mind.
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Now, at Bain, we've been reasonably good, not always as disciplined as we should be in applying these principles to our business.
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And one of the things that has enabled us to do, Bob referenced the statistic that in 2007, a third of our global revenue came from clients, where we had an aligned incentive in place, where our fees, a portion of our fees, were contingent upon actually delivering the results that we jointly defined as being the objective of our work together with our clients.
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One third of our global revenue, now, nobody else in our industry can say anything close to that.
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Now, we have by no means, by no means achieved our aspiration, and it may take us a long, long time to do so.
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Our aspiration is to redefine the basis of competition in our industry.
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And I consider it one of my primary responsibilities, to ensure that the organization continues to have the courage to deliver on that objective.
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If I'm not willing to put my commitment and my reputation on the line to innovate, then how can I expect others in the organization to do the same?
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So, first principle, authenticity, second principle, innovation.
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The third principle is a topic that is, I think, talked about a lot, but oftentimes misunderstood in its culture.
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I think all great leaders know that they have to have their hand on the pulse of their organization's culture.
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They understand the power of culture, and they make it a priority.
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Now, that sounds simple, but actually it's challenging because unlike a company's strategy, Or its vision or its operating metrics or its financials, you can't really touch culture, it's not nearly as tangible.
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In fact, culture really operates in some respects under the surface or in the background, but it is absolutely one of the key determinants of any organization's health.
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So I was trying to think of a good metaphor to talk about culture and what would really resonate at Stanford, so I chose a tree.
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>> [LAUGH] >> It's a little bit of a stretch, but work with me, okay?
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You can think about culture as the root system of a tree, okay?
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A tree has a trunk, it has branches and leaves, which are the visible manifestations of the tree, what everybody admires and looks at.
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But what we know is that the root system is actually what provides nourishment for the tree and strength so that it can grow, and it can survive storms and high winds.
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Now, a root system has to grow proportionally with the tree as the tree grows.
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And if it doesn't, the tree either stops growing or, even worse, it succumbs to the next strong gust of wind.
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Now, great leaders know that it is their responsibility to constantly reinforce and nurture the root system of their organizations.
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They make it a priority, they make time for it, and most importantly, they actually love doing it, they actually love doing it.
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Now, one of the challenges I find in my role day to day is actually scheduling time to reinforce the culture.
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You know, a lot of the things that I do on a given day can fit in my Outlook calendar very nicely, all right?
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A budget meeting, a lunch with some consultants, a meeting with a client, presentation of the GSB.
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But I never have anything on my calendar that says, nurture culture, time to reinforce culture, and the truth is, right?
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That actually, culture is really defined by the behaviors of the leaders in the organization, right?
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That, in the end, is really what defines culture, so if you're a senior executive of a large company, a small company, the truth is, every single interaction you have is an opportunity to either reinforce or degrade the quality of your culture.
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Every single interaction, no matter how large or how small, is an opportunity to reinforce or degrade the company's culture, now, that is an immense responsibility.
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But what I've noticed, particularly among really great leaders, is that it's a responsibility that they take with them every single day.
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And let me give you just a couple of examples, when you lead a large organization, there are, in any given day, tens, if not hundreds of people who need or want something from you, right?
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I mean, it could be anything, a decision for a major Investment, improving a budget.
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It might just be that there's a major problem with a customer, a team member has a crisis, or somebody just wants personal career advice.
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You have to bring your best to every one of those interactions as the leader of that organization, you bring your best to every interaction, now that's not always easy to do.
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The interesting thing about it is that people don't bring issues to the chief executive of a company unless they think it's really important, at least to them, right?
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So how you respond to every one of those interactions is a test, the way you react, the tone of your voice, your body language actually has a lasting effect on many of the people that you touch each and every day.
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And more importantly, it tends to have a ripple effect deep into the organization that sometimes you can't measure.
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So one of the things that is critical as a leader is that you have to keep in mind that you are always either reinforcing or degrading the culture.
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And it's your responsibility to act consistently with that culture, the culture you espouse and the culture that you believe is so important.
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Now, it's not always easy to do this, on a good day, it's not easy, and what if you're not feeling well?
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Or worse, what if you just got off the phone, it's 8:30 in the morning, and a very close friend of yours just told you that they have terminal cancer.
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And there's a team sitting outside your office that has been up all night working on a very urgent project, and they're eager to come into your office and share their results with you.
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Now, how are you going to muster the emotional energy to be present and to live the values of your organization while setting aside your personal issues for that 30 minutes?
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Of course, this is an extreme example, and it is, but it's a real life experience that I had a couple years ago.
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And the reason I tell the story is because I think it illustrates one of the most challenging, relentless, and potentially exhausting demands that are placed on any leader.
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Which is the responsibility to always be present and to act consistently with the values and the culture of the organization.
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Now, as I watch great leaders, one of the things that I observe is that they seem to have an endless reservoir of energy that enables them to bring their best to every one of these interactions.
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They're present, they're balanced, and they're always reinforcing the culture in every one of these interactions, and I am just awed by that capability.
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And one of the reasons why, as I've learned over the years, that they can do that is because the act of reinforcing the culture actually generates energy for them, it doesn't drain it, right?
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So when the relentless demands of the organization to constantly reinforce the culture descend on them, they're actually gaining strength from it, fuel, if you will.
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That gives them the ability to live the culture every day and by virtue of doing that, establish the authenticity of their leadership.
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So let me just wrap up my formal remarks with a rather embarrassing story.
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Not that I haven't already embarrassed myself today, but I'm going to take you back to March 1st of 2005.
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Now, I actually took over as Worldwide Managing Director, was elected into the position in January of 2005, but I didn't formally take over the job until March 1st.
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And I happened to be in Tokyo that day, I was meeting with the leaders of our Asia Pacific business, and the Tokyo office team was going to have a reception that evening.
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That would involve the entire staff of the Tokyo office, along with the leaders of our Asia Pacific region.
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And I, of course, had prepared for this trip, this was going to be my first official duty as Worldwide Managing Director.
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And I made sure that I was up to speed on all the appropriate Japanese protocol, and so I was ready.
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So we go to the reception that night, and unbeknownst to me, there was going to be a very large tea ceremony Ceremony, it's okay, I'd done my homework.
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I was worried about being perceived as a culturally insensitive American.
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So I knew how to bow, when to bow, how to kneel, how I was going to tip the cup and so forth, so I was all right.
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So as I stood behind the mat, of course, where the tea ceremony was being placed, I started to take off my brand new loafers.
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So as you can see, I was really prepared.
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And all of a sudden they stopped me and they said, no, no, no, there's several steps in the ceremony before you have to kneel onto the mat.
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I said, okay, all right, no problem, I can wait.
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So the ceremony, very elegant, elaborate ceremony, carries on, and then they signal to me, okay, now it's time to take my place to kneel on this beautiful, very delicate rice paper mat.
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And I said, okay, great, but unfortunately, I had sort of been lulled into this false sense of relaxation because of this beautiful and melodic tea ceremony.
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And I just instinctually, as they motioned me to kneel onto the mat, took a step forward and all of a sudden the entire audience was deathly silent.
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And as I took the step forward, the crackling and crumbling of the mat under my brand new Allen Edmonds loafer was deafening, absolutely deafening.
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And I looked down and, of course, I had not taken off my shoe and I looked up and the entire audience was just aghast.
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And I swear to you, it felt like because everyone went, [SOUND] all the oxygen went out of the room >> [LAUGH] >> And I couldn't breathe, and I said, my God, what have I done?
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I have not been in the job 24 hours and I've just desecrated an important cultural symbol in front of the entire office.
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Well, that was a moment for a little bit of authenticity, right?
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And all I could do was as I stepped back, I just looked up at the audience and all I could say is, boy, talk about getting off on the wrong foot.
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>> [LAUGH] >> Well, fortunately a few people laughed and- >> [LAUGH] >> A couple of months later, I was in Shanghai and I was up giving a presentation, my first formal address to the global partner team at our worldwide partner meeting.
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And as part of that, I was going to be presenting our strategy for the next three to five years.
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Very, very high stakes presentation for the new kid on the block, a relative newcomer to many people in the audience.
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And it was critical that I established my credibility and my competence to this group.
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So how do you think I opened the presentation?
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I told the tea story, why?
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Well, because it's funny.
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>> [LAUGH] >> But more importantly, because it communicated a little bit something about Steve Ellis, the human being, Vulnerable, clearly fallible, willing to laugh at himself.
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But more importantly, as I then went through the rest of the 55 minutes of my presentation, where I absolutely did the best I could to communicate confidence, command, and competence.
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It was important to me to ensure that the entire audience knew something a little bit more revealing about the person delivering the message.
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And it's interesting to this day, and maybe this isn't too surprising, but most partners who were there that day remember the tea story vividly, and they remember very little of the other 55 minutes of the presentation >> [LAUGH] >> In my view, I think that's another great example of the power of authenticity.
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So thank you all very much for your time.
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I wish you all the best, and I think we have at least a few minutes here for some questions, if that interests you, thanks.
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>> [APPLAUSE] >> All right, questions from the audience.
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Yes, please stand up so we can hear you.
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>> Speaker 2: You mentioned [INAUDIBLE] going along with that, there's so many different things, everything every single day, [INAUDIBLE]?
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>> Speaker 1: Yeah, so the question is, given all the resources of the school, how do you filter through all that and really focus on a few things that will make a difference?
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It's a very, very personal choice, actually.
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But, I would encourage you, outside of just making sure that you get your coursework completed, to make sure that you spend time talking to as many people as you possibly can.
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Presentations like this are interesting, and you can learn a lot, I think, from listening to leaders and formal presentations.
37:56
But I don't think there's any replacement for being able to talk to your colleagues, your classmate, maybe people who are recruiting on campus who you actually look at and say, hey, there's somebody who I can identify with.
38:09
Somebody who appears to have a similar skill mix to me, same values and beliefs, and somebody who I can really identify with, and really ask them about their experiences, ask them how they made choices and what has really been effective as they've guided their own career.
38:27
And I think those tend to be the most insightful conversations.
38:30
And if you had a choice to trade off, I would look for those opportunities and invest. Yeah, stand up, please.
38:39
>> Speaker 2: [INAUDIBLE] pay attention to the [INAUDIBLE].
38:47
>> Speaker 1: [COUGH] So the question is, with John Donahoe now becoming CEO of eBay and all the visibility around Mitt Romney, what effect has that had in terms of attention on Bain or on me, anyway?
38:58
I actually get asked not to infrequently, so given all of this and the visibility of it, so what are you going to do next?
39:10
>> [LAUGH] >> Are you going to run for office?
39:16
And the truth is Mitt and John are just a few of our very prominent and successful alums and we're very, very proud of what both of them have accomplished.
39:30
We admire what they're doing with the skills they developed at Bain, and obviously, they're a big part of the extended Bain family and of our brand and reputation around the world.
39:40
So I think it's really all quite positive. It raises visibility.
39:44
I think personally, for me, it does generate a lot of speculation and inquiry about what I'm going to do next.
39:52
And my simple response to that is I think I have one of the best jobs in the world and I couldn't imagine doing anything other than this for as long as my partners will have Me in this role.
40:01
So thinking about what I'm going to do next is frankly not something that I spend a lot of time doing.
40:08
Did you have a follow up?
40:10
>> Speaker 1: Just wondering what impact did this have then, [INAUDIBLE]?
40:14
>> Well, so the question is, so what impact did it have?
40:18
I must say, I look at the people who have been in my role at Bain and Company, but also many, many other people I've interfaced with clients, other colleagues.
40:28
And watch what they've done, post their experiences at Bain, and draw sort of enormous interest and curiosity from what they've done.
40:37
But I don't sort of study the careers of other people beyond just understanding a little bit about their path.
40:44
Because to me, the guide for me and again, if I've shared anything this morning, it's that the answers actually are right here, right about what you're going to do.
40:53
And as long as you're being smart about rounding out your skill set, and being true to what it is that you really enjoy and love doing, you're going to migrate to roles.
41:01
And roles will migrate to you in a way that your career will be really fulfilling and successful.
41:06
So I have a tad a bit of a fatalistic view of sort of career management, which is, if you just do the right thing, be mindful, treat everybody with respect, hold yourself to a high ethical standard, and performance standard, a lot of things take care of themselves.
41:23
So it really hasn't changed my view of my career, or where I'm headed, or really at all. Other questions, yeah.
41:36
>> Speaker 1: Can you talk a little bit about when you figured out that you were going to be the next worldwide managing partner, and kind of when did you figure that out, and how did you see yourself?
41:45
>> Speaker 1: Okay, so that's a good question.
41:47
>> Speaker 1: The question was, what were the circumstances around which you found out you were going to be the worldwide managing director, and how did you think about it at that sort of juncture in your career?
41:57
Well, I'll be honest, I had always, as you could tell from some of what I shared with you today, had an interest and an aspiration to play a meaningful leadership role.
42:10
But I was doing a lot of that at Bain long before I was tapped on the shoulder to play this role.
42:16
So frankly, when the nominating committee, which is the committee that is responsible for facilitating the election process for the worldwide managing director, tapped me on the shoulder and said, John's going to be stepping down.
42:29
And we want to consider you as one of a small group of partners who are going to be considered to succeed John, it caught me off guard completely.
42:39
And I only had literally about three weeks between the time I was tapped on the shoulder and the time that the final decision was made.
42:50
It felt right to me, frankly, it would have felt great if it was somebody else.
42:54
I would have been very happy, the candidates were phenomenal, and we were lucky to have deep leadership bench at Bain.
43:00
But I also knew very early on as I tested this with sort of who I was, and what I was prepared to, I had an important conversation with my spouse about what the commitment and the demands would be.
43:10
But it really didn't take too long for us to say, you know what, this seems like a logical step.
43:15
And my partners are asking me to serve in this role, and I feel some obligation to do that.
43:20
So I didn't really overthink it, it felt right, felt consistent with what might be a next step for me, and a role that could add some real value for the partnership, at least in their eyes. [INAUDIBLE] >> Hi.
43:35
>> Speaker 1: I guess building on that question, what were some of the greatest challenges for you as a leader in transitioning from leading San Francisco to leading the firm overall?
43:44
>> Speaker 1: So the question what were some of the challenges from leading just San Francisco to leading the firm as a whole?
43:53
I think there are two, one is the global nature of the business.
43:58
Fortunately, my experiences after Japan were a little more smooth as I traveled around the world.
44:05
And there's no question that the challenge of being able to actually manage your responsibilities as a leader in multiple cultures, in non English speaking countries, in different religious settings, particularly as we expand our business into places like the CIS.
44:29
In the Middle east, and so forth, where it really is different to do business in those places than it is in the US, or other Western European, or developed economies.
44:40
That was really challenging and continues to be one of the most challenging parts of the job, but it's also incredibly exciting.
44:47
The second thing I think was, just figuring out how to manage the volume of activity.
44:54
I mean, one of the things that, for those of you who played real general management roles, one of the real tricks is how you 80, 20.
45:00
How you filter the millions of things that come in and be comfortable with 80% of the things not getting done, or not getting addressed by you, because they're the ones that don't really make a difference.
45:10
It was hard in the early days to have the discipline, and I didn't always do it right.
45:15
And I still don't today, probably of knowing exactly which things to focus on and which things to allow to be handled by others or frankly, to just be deferred?
45:26
And, it's sort of a constant stress of the role, and I think over time, you develop enough of an instinct and enough confidence in your own judgment that it doesn't create a lot of unnecessary stress and anxiety.
45:37
But it's a real challenge, and as the firm grows, I continue to be challenged, just when I think I'm catching up with outpaces me.
45:47
Maybe just a couple more questions, yeah.
45:50
>> I'm curious, in your role and particularly as you look at the candidates who come from MBA programs in Dubain, what are the gaps in the marketplace?
46:01
I'm on the faculty here, what can we be doing to better support and better prepare our candidates that they're overcoming the gaps that you and your colleagues see in the marketplace?
46:12
>> Speaker 1: So the question is, what can the school and the faculty do to ensure that all of you are better prepared to come into the business world and participate, I guess, at Bain & Co, or in other businesses?
46:27
I think first and foremost, I think that there is a need for a level of pragmatism that again, you guys heard my story, right?
46:43
I came out of the business school, and I love the business school, and I love the curriculum, but I came out, frankly, having been influenced to a large degree by the people around me in a way that I think probably didn't end up in the optimal career decision.
46:58
Again, I wouldn't trade it for the world, but probably didn't end up in the optimal career decision.
47:02
And my sense is that there could be potentially more balance in the way that the curriculum gears the students for thinking about their career choices, that it's okay to go into a large company, it's okay to not be the next founder of Facebook.
47:19
It's okay to aspire to be a general manager, a middle manager, or somebody who runs a factory.
47:28
And because actually, I think that's where you develop, honestly some of the best management and leadership skills there are.
47:35
It may not be the sexiest thing in the world, consulting goes up and down as being a favorite destination.
47:41
It ebbs, it flows, it depends on what's happening to the markets.
47:45
But I think it's just important that the faculty, and all the resources at the business school maintain a very, very open mind, and try and fight some of the sort of populist beliefs that can sometimes make it hard for students to make good choices.
47:59
And unfortunately, that manifests itself sometimes in the recruiting process in ways that I don't think reflect well on the school.
48:07
But I'm a huge believer in the new curriculum, huge.
48:09
And I think what you guys are doing is going to significantly improve what is already a phenomenal set of credentials as future leaders, current and future leaders. >> Speaker 1: Mr.
48:20
Ellison, on behalf of the student body, I want to thank you so much for that excellent speech. >> Thank you. >> [APPLAUSE]