YouSaid · the spoken record

Bill George

lines on the record: 50
first: 2022-11-11
most recent: 2022-11-11
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

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“You can find the book on Amazon so you can go to Bill George. You can go to True North. It was not hard to find. Same at Barnes& Noble, going to the store or online. And, of course, I've got a website, BillGeorge.org. Now, of course, at BuildGeorge.org, and I'm on all social media sites. The LinkedIn is the biggest one. I'm active on Twitter primarily. So anyway, I hope people will read the book. So thank you for giving me this opportunity.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“At the same time. So I can do both. And I think it's very doable, but it's challenging. So I encourage everyone listening in, please, please think about how do I have the kind of life I want? And most important, Trey, can I be the same person at home as I am at work in my community, in my personal life? Can I be that integrated person? And if you can do that, then you can look yourself in the mirror and say, I feel good about myself. If I have to fake it to make it work, it's not going to work out. So be that same person that can work for having all of it and work hard at it.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I don't know what it's like to be a billionaire, Trey. I don't know, you may be, but I have not studied that. But I can tell you this when I started out at age 22, I thought I could be quite successful. But the thing I wanted to have is I wanted to have a good home life, a very fulfilling and meaningful home life, and a successful career. And I didn't want to have to hold back my home life, sacrifice my home life for my career, and I didn't want to have to sacrifice my career for my home life. I worked very hard at it, even coaching soccer for 12 years with my son's teams when I was EVP of Honeywell and CEO of Metroni. So, yeah, I think you can do it all, but you've got to make some trade-offs and you got to work really hard at it. But I encourage people to do that. Have a life. The idea of people you say, I work $100 a week. You're not going to have a life and be under third marriage. Nothing against second marriage is, most of my friends are happier. But I think you really have to think, what do I want out of life and how do I get that and have a successful career?”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, the guys in my men's group are peers, and we share challenges and problems we all face. Some of them had some health problems lately, and they were there for me when I was going from Honeywell to Medtronic and had great mentors. Warren Venice was a great mentor. And even when I started writing, unfortunately, he passed away. I had mentors in business like Ed Spencer and Honeywell were a great mentor that unfortunately passed away. I have younger mentors now, the Dean of Harvard Bisco. Nori is my mentor. He's 18 years younger. I'm Zach Clayton, my co-author, everything”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, they said power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. He's got total power. His board's more like an advisor.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But, yeah, I want you to split the company, but I worry about the core underlying values you have there as a company. When you get that big and that powerful, you better be thinking about that. So that's what worries me. I hope Meta and VR will be successful, and I hope they'll do some good in the world.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, first of all, the only reason you say the valuation attracts you because they lost 60% of their value. So they're no one else is losing that kind of money. I think Apple's down value and I realize all the tech stocks are down and others are down 29 to 30. But I think Mark built his company on a false premise on Facebook. And I think when he announced Meta, he kind of lost interest in Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp. And he's moving on to some new. It could be fantastic. It really could. He's investing $10 billion a year. Can he sustain that? It's a public company. Will they let him continue to spend money without producing anything? I think it's probably a 10-year move, and I'm not sure. I just soon see a little kid out running around on a soccer field or going to national parks. And I would see them just playing with these things like up and down, you know, with all the VR. There's nothing wrong with it, though. It's going to be a great thing in healthcare. He's probably going to do some great things.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Is you can't take it with you. So, why not do some good with it? And so to Gates' credit, he's doing a lot of, and he shifted from computers to healthcare. And look what he has done.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Absolutely. And what he has done is spectacular. I mean, he was the visionary about all the vaccines and pandemics and all that. We didn't listen to him. I didn't listen to him. I didn't see this coming. But he's what he's done in healthcare and communicable diseases, third world. He is amazing what he has done and how he's used his money. And of course, he brought in his bridge playing partner, Guy Marin Buffett, who's given him $40, $50 billion of his money. So that's one of the reasons he can go from $5 to $90 per year of giving it away. But think about the impact he ample, which I had that kind of money to have that kind of impact. Think about the impact that Elon Musk could have. You see any gifts he's made? He's worth $250 billion. Trey, I can't imagine we like to be worth a billion, but $250? What are you going to do with it? It was sad that Steve Jobs died now his widow is giving away a lot of money. But why not? You can't take it with you. I don't care what your religious philosophy.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So excited about Facebook. What happened? You know, they let Cambridge Analytica steal 50 million profiles and it came out that they're selling your profile, my profile. People may know I'm selling it to. That's wrong, but they wouldn't change. They haven't changed the model yet.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Created, but then they got so focused on growth, they lost sight of what was a key thing was creating a relationship between the Barissa and the customers and a good meeting place. And now it's just come in, take out and grab your coffee and go. That's fine. And they have long lines. But are they losing it? And so I think you have to work really hard Metronic. Back to my old company, Hast and other different CEOs has to say very true to we're an innovation company. We have to invest in innovation. That's what we do. We're not just a big, big company. So I think you have to stay true to what you believe. Okay. So you're in the healthy drink business. You don't want to go into the unhealthy drink business, I don't think, you know? So you want to keep that in mind. How do people identify your brand? People today, particularly millennials, think about the brand a lot. And they either identify it with it or they don't, but you can lose it too. Like Facebook.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think so. You know, you have to realize when you're a founder like that, Howard Schultz at Starbucks, you are the brand and people identify the brand with you and you can take your own brand down. Tesla saw us 36% of its value in the last year. Why? Why they lost so much. But I can say this about Elon. It's amazing what he's turned out. I lived in Michigan. I watched, you know, General Motors couldn't turn out for no one else turn out a car like a BMW. It's amazing what he turned out right out of the chute. So we got to give him a lot of credit. And he is transforming transportation. When Jonah Motors said, we're only going to do electric cars. They're serious. But it probably wouldn't happen if he hadn't stepped into that. And now everyone wants electric car and they're all behind. So he's a transformative leader. But don't get caught up in your own celebrity because it actually can hurt your brand. And so I think, you know, I love Howard Schultz. I've got him in the book. Starbucks, amazing.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Thought about that when they designed it that maybe they couldn't get it up into the ocean. But no, but the question is, why is he spending $500 million? One of the people I feature in my book is Alan Page, who is a NFL football player for the Vikings here. I know Alan well, we're neighbors. But he's more interested.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think so. Yes. I think he built a great company in Amazon. It was a sweatshop. It is a sweatshop. Andy Jassy's trying to change that a bit. But yeah, they drive people pretty hard. And they didn't mind at that high turnover. Look at Medtronica. I hate turnover. I want to turn over three, four, five percent. I couldn't stand it who it's 10, 12 percent. But they had 20-30% because they just burned people out. And I think maybe they did that in the startup phase. And by the way, they have the world's greatest logistics system in Walmart. But I think they have to take a different look. There's a problem of people making too much money. They get into the what I call the adolation trap. Zuckerberg's fall into that. Jeff has, Elon's right on the verge of it right now. Do you start getting too caught up on how great you are for all the things you've done? You're going to be in deep trouble. And so, yeah, he goes over, tells the Dutch, take down the bridge, let my yacht out of the harbor.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Made what they make 200 billion or something like that on Apple, some incredible amount. And she wanted to work with people that were more in the startup, mid-career, you know, early career stages that could build into great companies, but she would invest in them. So it's a different model. And these companies were too small for a virtual halfway to invest in. But she had the same philosophy, play it for the long term. So she's still a very good human being. In other words, it hadn't gone to her head, Trey.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Tracy's one of my students from Harvard Business School. And the thing it picks out on Tracy when you had a case, made people run in numbers, things like that, she saw the human side and she brought that out. And that was really important to her. And she had that great humanity and great depth of understanding of people. And so she actually solicited Warren to try to get a job there. And he finally gave her a chance. And I think he saw those qualities in her that she could figure out who we can work with. Because Warren's always been a kind of person, if you get this person positioned, you leave him in the job. A lot of private equity firms turn people over every two or three years. He wanted to keep them for the long term. And so she had that capacity to think about people. Now, he did mentor her. She got a lot of it. She told us. But on the other hand, she went out for her own firm with its own sound values. Why? Because Orange's business, Berkshire Hathaway, is so large that they have to make many multi-billion dollar investments. I mean, they just”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Versus quality, it always went for costs, not for quality. So they're willing to sacrifice quality to get a lower cost car. And then you get a cheap car, no one will pay for it. You just look at some cars that, hey, they never fail. Well, General Motors needs to get there and they're catching up. And so she's got a big challenge, but I think she's doing it.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, interesting enough, when they had the ignition crisis, she takes over. She gets blame for it because she didn't know anything about it. And she said, you know, she wants Congress and said, that's very courageous. Her first week, first month on the jump, she said, I don't want this crisis ever to go away. I want us to keep it in mind because our job is to produce safe cars, okay? And then she went beyond that and said, we want to have zero accidents, zero congestion, and zero emissions, which meant all electric cars. But, you know, she had the courage to do that and then rally people around that. And frankly, she had to make a lot of changes. A lot of the old guard was kind of betting against her and she had to move some of those people and bring in a whole new team of people, mostly from inside, that could step up and take these new challenges that weren't stuck in the old way. Let's put more chrome and aluminum on the car, more fins and everything else that really wanted to design great cars because in the old days our predecessor, every time their decision about cost,”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, that says bar about me, but there are different people. I mean, some people are really up for it. Some people are not. You know what I mean? And you have to sense that. Some people are shy and you might intimidate them. They might back off. And then you're not bringing the best of them. I made a rule at Medtronic that we will never make a decision until we'd gone around the room and got everyone to speak. Because if you just listen to the people that are moja outspoken, maybe the person with most thoughtful idea is a little hesitant to say so you draw them out and you get those opinions out on the table. So that's to me the engaged style of management, participative style where everyone gets a chance to say what they think. But I think it's important you draw people out their best qualities and not that you intimidate them. That would be a negative on me.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Absolutely, you know, and we have the whole we converted everything, a chapter called The Coach, the Leader is Coach, and that's an acronym. It starts with care because you're not going to give me your heart and soul. You might give me your brains, you might have meart and soul. You don't think I care about you. And if you're going through a rough time, do I have compassion? Do I recognize that? Or maybe your spouse has a problem or you're having a problem with your kids, whatever. Do I have care? But then, you know, I have to organize people in the right places. Bill Campbell is a genius at coaching people, but you've got to help people find their own hearts. That's why I say reach their full potential, but you have to align them around a common goal. But the most significant thing about Campbell and any good coach, you said you have one, is they challenge you. Trey, you know, you have tremendous potential. You're not being used your best game right now. What's going on? You turned off or, you know, you feel like you're in the wrong mold. That's a challenging and every good coach.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We can adapt. Trade, we got a problem here. COVID is affecting everyone. We're going to have to change everything we do. People are not going to be teaching in the classroom. We're going to be doing it online. We need to find how do we get to them. How can we broaden that base of people we can reach? So you have to adapt rapidly to changing conditions, I think, today. You've got to be very flexible. And leaders. So I think you can do that and still be Corey Verde. Do you hope you together and say, how do we have to change? Mary Barr is making a mega change in the General Motors culture, but she had to say, you know, we've got to look at things differently. It's a world's electric vehicle, so we're not making any more fossil fuel cars. That's a big change for GM. They've been doing it throughout their history. That takes a bold leader. So you have to have the vision of where you want to go, the courage to make the call to do it. But then you have to have the leadership to bring everyone with you. You can't leave them behind. They're not there. So that's what you have to be out with the people and bring.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Let's start with trust. Do I trust you to have a good conversation here? Okay. And I'm Arizona only once. I do a lot of immediate things, a lot of podcasts. Only once that I go on a particular TV station, they mock me because I was teaching at Harvard. And that's the last time I've been on that whole station, just the one person. But do I trust you? And how do you build trust? And once you have that trust, if you break it, then I'm not going back to it. I don't deal well with people that I can't trust. So I have no interest in being just doing transaction with somebody I can't trust. So that trust has got to be consistent. You've got to be trustworthy all the time. And that means you're true to when we speak, you tell me the truth. I tell you the truth. I'm open. I'm transparent. And that truth, transparency leads to trust. And so that's the consistency. On the other hand,”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“People, you know, the people concerned about quality and the production line, the people frontline in stores, hotels, restaurants, you name it. You need to be out with these people to find out what's going on. You're not just reading statistics. I can tell you in Mitronic, the quality was determined the people of the production, not the quality department. And they would tell you when I would sit and talk to a group of them, they'll tell you exactly what's wrong. So I think we've lost that site. We've gotten so big. So yeah, you're a $2 trillion market cap company. You still, you need to be out there and find out. Let's take Microsoft owns LinkedIn. They kept the LinkedIn culture. It's the one site social media I really love because you have to put your whole career history out there, education, everything. So people tend to be very thoughtful on LinkedIn, unlike Twitter or Facebook. They may just say anything because you don't know who they are.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, you got to be out with your people no matter how big you are. And if CEOs, we did a study at Harvard, my colleagues did. I didn't do it. 72% of the time of CEOs spent in meetings, average hour, average length, hour and a half, and 5% with employees and 3% with customers. This is a disaster. You know, if you're in the tea business, you go out to retail and say, how are people responding to your product? Do they like it or not? Talk to people that drink it. You know, what would they like? What don't they have? And he's available for any customer, any time to call any trust concern, complaints, that totally unlike his predecessor that you couldn't get through. You can't get through to Amazon, by the way. You could certainly go to Jeff Bezos. But I think this is really important that CEOs spend time with their customers. I think we need to flip it upside down because if you think about it, people that really leave the elastic impression of your customers are all the front line.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, she, you know, and that's true, a lot of women, you know, he asked the classroom, his raised job, people like me all up their hands. A lot of the women say, I'm not so sure I'm not sure. And she had concerns. She was very young, 43 at the time. And she got the job. And should she show her hat in the ring? And she got encouragement by her mentor, Hubert Jolie, encouraged her to do it. And she turned out to be a fantastic leader. Amazing. But he saw qualities in her. Maybe she didn't see in herself. She even wrote him a 10-page memo saying why she shouldn't take the job. And he just went down each of the 10 points in the 10-page memo saying, how she could do it. And yeah, now she's much more confident. But yeah, sometimes you got over the hurdle. She's not the first one that someone needs to encourage them to step up. And they came great leaders because people saw in them qualities they didn't see in themselves.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It could be tied into government subsidies. But hey, that was a very courageous move. But she said she never mentioned earnings per share. She mentioned that we're going to come out of this even stronger. And they changed her whole business model instead of just being a showroom where people went in and bought products. They did so much online and people could stop in and get the product. And, you know, it was a whole different.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think today leaders have to be very agile because that's why we need new generation of leaders that have led in crisis, not in good times back in the 80s and 90s, but people who can adapt. We now have, instead of one crisis, like, say, 9-11 or the financial meltdown in 2008, now we have multiple intersecting crises, from Russia's war in Ukraine to the post-COVID psychological fallout to 9% inflation and supply chain shortages. And you can't hire anyone. You know, 11 million open jobs. So I think we need leaders to know how to lead through that, keep their center, know what their purpose and the company's purpose. They stay on that, but they adapt very quickly. I'll give you an example, Corey Berry. When COVID hit early in March, mid-March, that was very early in COVID of 2020. She made the decision to close 1,026 stores in furlough 52,000 people. Very painful. They didn't believe in that. She allowed it to waited a month.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I think sustainability of their revenues, their culture, you mentioned culture earlier, and their values. And quantitative measures, I'd look at revenue growth because if revenues, you know, companies, great companies either building up or they're declining. When they start taking the company apart, you know it's not going to end well. They may just be 5,000 layoffs a day and stock price goes up because the short-term investors think you've got a good thing. I'd look at that because when you have, when your revenues are growing, you know people are liking what you do. I mean, one company, you look at PepsiCo since 2018, the revenue has just taken off compared to other food and beverage companies. What's going on? They have a very positive culture and they're winning. And so you look at things like that. I think boards ought to stop looking at quarterly earnings and I'll look at market share and what your customers feel about you and then the outlook and employee.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Earlier help the people reach their full potential. Well, how can I reach by writing? I can reach a lot more people. So I hope everyone reads the book because then they go to writing if no one reads it. So that's how I look at that. And that's why I'm not going to sit a rigid rule. Maybe it's 12. Who knows? But maybe it's eight for some people. But I think the point is that you only are once in life. So you've got to look at all the things you can do.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Had studied a lot of leaders who had stayed 13, 14, 15, 60. They always did less well after than they did in the first 10. First 10 they did better. I think high-tech companies that come from need, new creative leadership every decade. And things change. You have a great leader in healthcare at Mayo in the last 10 years, but we need a new leader that can figure out what's going to happen in the next 10. So I believe in this new leadership. Also, when you have a new leader, you open up opportunities for everyone else. Otherwise, you tend to keep people around you've had, the young people don't have a shot. So now that's on the professional side. On the personal side, you only go around once in life. And so I figured I want to see what else I can do. I didn't know I was going to become a teacher or writer. And, you know, last thing I thought I was going to become an author. And you do this and you say, that's the way I want to fulfill. My goal is to, as I said,”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“My advice is not good for it. But if you want to be a long term investor, then, like Warren Buffett, invest in people for the long term are going to get you there and figure who they are. And then watch the transitions. Look at GE was the world's most valuable company. Jeff ML comes in. They lost more money and shareholder value than any company in history. $320 billion. 80% of its value. And so just not have the right leadership. So that's my recommendation. Not just come in the image, but who's leading it?”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Down 60% a year ago, you would be way out. But look at the character of the people because it may feel good now, but if you're investing in something without character and values, you better know when to get out. And so leadership changes make bigger difference in corporate rising success than any other single factor, more in the economy, more than you can ride through the economy, you can ride through difficult times. But if you choose the wrong leader, it's not going to end well. If you choose the right leader, it could be great. They lose out to Amazon every time they turn around. He comes in, totally turns company around, a great leader. And he had learned through his own hard knocks how to lead, but he totally turned that company around. Now, Corey Barry's taking it on to the next level. But that's the kind of leader I would invest in. So I tended to, look, I'm not, if you want to be a day trader,”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Great question. I wish more investors did this. Looked at the leadership. Let me give you an example. Somebody, a feature in the book, Microsoft was a company I love to hate. I tried to work with them back in the late 90s, early 2000. And they were the most arrogant group of people I've ever met. They thought they were a God's gift of creation. FT Bomber was a CEO 14 years. They went nowhere. Satchya Nadelli comes in. Great dealer. I'd say he's good or maybe better than any leader in the world today. He totally transformed the organization, but he said, our customers are struggling. And if you want to work here and you can't be a know-it-all, you've got to be a learn it all. And I would invest in Microsoft just because of Sacha and the organization he's created, it's going to have ups and downs, all tech stocks. I invest in Facebook because of the character integrity of Tim Cook. I wouldn't invest in Facebook, even though the stock is not.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You get knocked down a pig, you lose your job. Maybe the boss comes in and you can't stand him. You have to resign. Or maybe you have troubles in your own marriage.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I think the most important one should coach him, what do you want out of your life? What's important to you? Who are you really? Let's overcome the what you are, where you went to school, your race, religion, all those things, the identity things everyone's talking about these days. Let's get down to what's his Trey want out of his life. What would feel really good at the end of the day if you could look back and say, you know, here are some things I've done, here's some things, here's what I've stood for, here are my values. And I'm going to stay true to these values. It may cost me some money. It may cost me some opportunities, but that's what I'm going to do. So I think that everyone on this call needs to look at decide that for themselves. And it's hard. You know, I think you have to process your life story as you ask me. You have to process your crucible, the difficult times you face before you can really figure that out. Look, when you're doing well and you go through school and you get good grades, you've got a good job. You get promoting a couple times. You start to think you're better than you are. And it's only when”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Went in and gowned up, put on the greens. So I'll be swimming to 700 and a thousand procedures while it was 12 years of Mettronics. So that was my kind of place. And just wandering around talking to people in their offices, going into the R&D labs and finding out what the engineers were working on, going to the production lines or going to the lunchroom and having lunch with a group of factory employees, or I used to have breakfast with Bill. Every time I met, I went to a different location. First-line people, no supervisors, just say, because I had to figure out what was going on. So that's what I love. That's what I love to be. And I think big corporations fall into the trap of too many meetings, too many PowerPoint charts, and not enough engagement with the people who are doing the work.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I've always wanted to be a letter. I started my career first 10 years running the Consumer Microwave Oven Business for Little Industries. And that was ideal. I loved it and it was 27 years old. And I did that for nine and a half years. And it was just great. I loved everything about it, building a team. I didn't like the parent company. I didn't want to buy into their culture out in Beverly Hills. So I went to Honeywell thinking this is the place. And it was hard for me to change that culture. It was kind of a locked in culture, slow moving, did not move innovatively. And so I'm much more a kind of person that likes to be out with employees, to be out with customers. And that was not, it was much more of a let's have a meeting, and customers are up to the sales department. And that was true in those days of a lot of companies. I remember Alan Ollie wanted to visit a factory when he became CEO of Ford and he said, oh, no, our executives don't visit factories. Well, how do you know what's going on? So when I got to Mettronics, totally customer oriented, I saw.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Had to grow a lot of leaders into the business that people probably didn't think they could lead, but they did a great job ultimately.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And Honeywell, the people were great, was the engineer's company, very dedicated. You weren't allowed to bring your passions inside the door. They had good values. You didn't talk about them. It was just everything straight. But when you got to the very top, it was all about how do you make earnings per share. And there are a lot of gamesmen in the room that kind of played games. And that's not who I am. I'm pretty straightforward. And so this gamesmanship or a lot of more selfishness among the top 20, 30 people just made me very uncomfortable. It was who looks good and how can you make yourself maybe aren't growing our business, but we beat our plan. That's the gamesmanship. So at Metronic, it was kind of, everyone's out there. They show you their strengths or weaknesses and put it all out on the table. And so there wasn't this. And so that made me a lot more comfortable. And so I tried to build it around that. And we did bring in and we did grow the business rapidly, but we never had enough leaders.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, yeah. And they weren't so much personal crucibles. I did have one with my wife's health. But in terms of that, it was more, you know, we put a lot of money in RD, a lot of new products, and it took three or four years, it wasn't happening. It took forever to get the FDA approve our new defibrillators, which were key to the growth. And finally, we did. So that was a challenge. And also, you know, I made some mistakes. I promoted someone to President of Europe and find out he's running a bribery fund. So I got, you know, I had to bit my own mistakes. But I think it was more, I could see the future. And we did have a big, broad goal, not just to be the world's leading pacemaker to fibrillator company, but to be the world's leading medical technology company. We set that in place. I did about the year after I arrived, even though I wasn't CEO at that time. I said, well, what's wrong with being OER? No, I saw potential to do a lot more good for a lot more people. And so I took on some of those things.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Absolutely, that was it. And it had to do more with my father's desire to have me run a big company, which Honeywell was, and it's a great company today, don't get me wrong, versus doing what I really wanted to do, what I was passionate to him, going to mid-sized company. And of course, I never dreamt of trying to grow so fast and be so big. But it was more someplace where this is where I really fit. I remember I went when I first went in the door. I'd had all my interviews off site. Felt like I was coming home, coming home to a place I'd never been before. I felt like, hey, this is where I ought to be. It just, I had the ego, as you say, in front of it and getting caught up with that, you know, and I always tell people, don't get caught up with money, fame, and power or the title.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The company's purpose was making money. And so I couldn't get excited about bowels in the boiler room and things like that. What I could get excited about was Mentronic, we're restoring people to full life and health. So I remember talking to the founder. He didn't even interview me about what I had done. He just wanted to know, can you align, can you get excited about this mission? We're trying to.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And didn't love the business. And so, you know, is it striving for a position? I'd kind of gotten away from what I really wanted to do is make a difference in the lives of other people. And no doubt chasing numbers. So I had to get out of that environment, say, I'm giving up on being head of a major company. And I'm going to take this wonderful company of Metronic with great mission and values. That's the best thing ever”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“They were spot on. And so I had to do a lot of rethinking. But you know, it's interesting, and I did come back and have a chance to lead a lot of organizations. But interesting, then I'm at Honeywell. I'm now early to mid-40s, and I'm en route to become that CEO. My father wanted me to come and got a nice family. My wife and I have been married for some time. We have two kids in junior in high school. You know what? One day I'm driving home. I look at myself in the rearview mirror and I see that ugly side of Bill George. I'm kind of faking it to make it and telling you, oh, I'm doing great. We're turning around these business. Actually, was deeply unhappy. And it was the best thing I ever did. But I think if I hadn't really faced myself and realized how unhappy I was, I went home and told my wife and she said, Bill, I've been trying to tell you for a year you just didn't want to listen. And she was right. And I was kind of traveling 80% of the time.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Sure. Back when I'm an only child of older parents, my father thought he was a failure. So back when I'm nine, ten years old, he's saying, son, I'd like you to become the leader. I never became. And I'd like you to run a major company. Even name the companies that, you know, you could be CEO of Coca-Cola. I've held stock in that company or Fractor& Gambler or IBM. Of course, I didn't know these companies. I'm a little boy. But kind of, even though I'm pushing him away at the same time subliminally, he puts the idea I'm going to be head of a major company. So I never got elected to lead anything because I hadn't learned what leadership was all about. I finally ran for the president's senior class in high school and lost by margin two to one. So then I went off 800 miles from home to Georgia Tech ran six more times, lost all six. So it's pretty clear I had a lot to learn. I remember some seniors pulled me aside and said, Bill, no one's ever going to work with you, much less be led by you because you're moving so fast to get ahead you don't take time for other people.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Leader edition is because I think it's time for new generation leaders because a lot of the baby boomers don't really get it. They're thinking, oh, these millennials, they're a bunch of slackers. I said, no, no, they're not. They changed jobs because your company has no sense of purpose. They're not just working for a third party. They want to actually make a difference. And why are you making them stand in line? Give them the opportunity right now. And that's how you're going to inspire them.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“For you, it might be creating these great drinks and we want to create a whole family of drinks to really make people healthy. That's a big audacious goal. Or I've got a podcast and, you know, there's a lot of really interesting stuff here. I want everyone to listen in because no one listens. For me, my big goal now almost sounds arrogant and almost asn to mention it, but I really want to change leadership because I grew up in an era of the command and control and saw a lot of toxic leaders that were just ordering people what to do. And they created pretty poisonous environments in the workplace. And if I could change it, I would have people that really are interested in inspiring people with their purpose and unifying them or on a common goal and a common set of values and getting rid of all the toxic leaders. So that's kind of my big audacious goal. And so in writing a book, just like your podcast, you want people to read it. So the reason I wrote the emergency.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Think five million is resonating. Went through a lot of time in business where it was all about maximizing shareholder value. Getting the quarterly earnings, buying back stock to raise the stock price, all this stuff that. Really, kind of lost sight of the humanity. And the people, then. So I think it definitely does resonate with people more than ever. And everyone. All the corporation I was talking about purpose, but the key is. Okay, there's a corporate person. Can I align with that? Do I feel a part of that? Is that something those values that resonate with me? That I want to put my life. You only got one life to live in the other.”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Which I haven't mentioned is before you can figure out your purpose, you really have to know who you are. You have to know what's important to you, where do you find fulfillment, where do you find joy. If you jump too fast to the purpose, like I want to change the world, well, that's interesting, but how are you going to do that? A lot of people have tried and have been unsuccessful. So, you know, where do you want to concentrate your energies?”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I figured out, you know, I've done a lot of different things in my life, been in business, worked in the government for a while, you know, ran a company called Medtronic, and then went at Harvard teaching the last 19 years. So what's the through line to all that? And for me, it's enabling people to reach their full potential. So these days, I'm not leaving anything. I always thought I wanted to be a leader, and I did have the privilege of leading a lot of organizations. But my whole goal right now is to enable everyone listening in this podcast to reach their full potential. And I've been working very hard at that. I do a lot of mentoring, a lot of teaching and writing. By the way, this book is almost entirely new. We held the title True North because people really seem to resonate with that. And the idea that”
2022-11-11 · We Study Billionaires · TIP493: Should CEOs Have Term Limits? w/ Bill George · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT