General Session: The Courage to Lead: Executive Lessons for Living and Leading with Integrity
Courageous leaders confront fear, challenge inertia, elevate others and bounce back from mistakes. Fear is the biggest challenge, but pushing through is essential as "courageous leadership is the willingness to take on risk and put people ahead of yourself," said Erik Hawkins, director of global marketing for Facebook. Joining Hawkins were Chris Carr, executive vice president, Starbucks; Kathryne Reeves, senior vice president, enterprise marketing, Cardinal Health; and Sean Penn, vice president, Diageo. Inertia is another major challenge that requires a culture where employees leave their comfort zones. Facebook employees are encouraged to "fail harder" to innovate and learn, said Hawkins. Sometimes leaders stand alone even though "isolation is death in corporate America," said Reeves. "Yet, when you stand alone you truly have courage." Senior leaders live with integrity when they find a way to give and accept criticism from employees and gauge success by making others successful, panelists said. Being the same person you are in and out of the executive office is another sign of being comfortable in your own skin. "I think about what happens if someone sees me in the grocery store, are they happy or brushing me off," said Reeves. "I want them to feel the same way there as they do when I am pushing them at the office." High-profile senior leaders who run into trouble and generate headlines usually lacked transparency, failed to deal with their fears and lost perspective on what is important, panelists said. "There are no shortcuts to get things done," said Penn. "It’s easy to get twisted and lose your mental compass on what’s right and wrong in your industry." |
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