Last month, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos released his annual letter to shareholders. This has become a major news event each year as people both inside and outside Amazon wait to hear the latest musings from the leader of one of the world’s most successful companies.
Thought leadership is something that has always been an important part of my professional life. I’ve invested a lot of time creating my own thought leadership through writing, speaking and research. I’ve also created and implemented thought leadership strategies in the professional services firms in which I’ve worked.
In 2007, Bill Gates gave a commencement speech at Harvard University in which he shared how his mother, Mary, and his wife, Melinda, had positively influenced his life’s work, in particular his charitable endeavors.
My life is dominated by two important priorities. The first is my family. My children and my spouse are my number one priority. The second priority is my role as a leader and my work with senior executives.
I laughed a little, and shuddered a lot, as I watched a powerful new television ad campaign created by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA).
One of the things I’ve come to learn about leadership is fairly simple: as humans we expect more from leaders; we expect them to live up to a higher standard of behavior. This is an idea that I’ve validated in hundreds and hundreds of discussions with people around the world.
This past year has been another year of fascinating experiences with clients, business leaders and colleagues from around the world. What better way to finish it off than one last grand trip—this time to the United Kingdom.
It was a question I had never been asked before. “Vince, how much experience have you had working with leaders in a post-communist environment?”
You never know where you’re going to find a leadership lesson. Recently, I worked with a supplier that my team has used for years. Ron runs the company and it’s a successful business.
Whenever I work with senior leaders, there is one question I always ask them. What kind of culture would you need to be at your best and make your fullest contribution as a leader?