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Discover Your True North |  |
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Discover Your True North | |
Discover Your True North is the best-selling leadership classic that enables you to become an authentic leader by discovering your True North. Originally based on first-person interviews with 125 leaders, this book instantly became a must-read business classic when it was introduced in 2007. Now expanded and updated to introduce 48 new leaders and new learning about authentic global leaders, this revisited classic includes more diverse, global, and contemporary leaders of all ages. New case studies include Warren Buffett, Indra Nooyi, Arianna Huffington, Jack Ma, Paul Polman, Mike Bloomberg, Mark Zuckerberg, and many others. Alongside these studies, former Medtronic CEO Bill George continues to share his personal stories and his wisdom by describing how you can become the leader you want to be, with helpful exercises included throughout the book.
Being a leader is about much more than title and management skills—it's fundamentally a question of who we are as human beings. Discover Your True North offers a concrete and comprehensive program for becoming an authentic leader, and shows how to chart your path to leadership success.
Once you discover the purpose of your leadership, you'll find the true leader inside you. This book shows you how to use your natural leadership abilities to inspire and empower others to excellence in today's complex global world. Discover Your True North enables you to become the leader you were born to be, and stay on track of your True North.
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At first I was a bit skeptical about this book. It looked like one of those self-help kind of books that just state the obvious and are nothing more than a positive feedback loop. Nonetheless, it came highly recommended to me from one of my friends taking Bill George's course on Authentic Leadership at Harvard Business School. To my surprise, the book was excellent. If you read this book with an open mind focused on improving yourself, then there is a lot that can be learned here. Not sure? Here's a summary of my thoughts on the book as well as the lessons learned.
<b>Your Life Story</b>
Bill George begins by explaining that leadership follows from understanding your 'True North' (purpose). While this may seem obvious, it's actually not very often practiced. Many people want to be leaders just to be important or climb the ranks in a company. Often people want to be leaders because that seems to be what one ought to aspire to. Bill George uses the lift stories of other iconic leaders and shows how that the best cases of leadership are derived from following your True North. The best example is that of Howard Schultz (CEO of Starbucks). Schultz says:
My inspiration comes from seeing my father broken from the 30 terrible blue-collar jobs he had over his life, where an uneducated person did just not have a shot.
For those familiar with the business of Starbucks, Starbucks provides health-coverage to even part-time workers. In addition they have a world-renowned training program that many Starbucks employees have called 'life-changing'. This has led to many Starbucks employees and executives looking up to Schultz as a true leader. I doubt Schultz would have been seen as the iconic leader he is if he didn't derive his leadership from identifying and following his True North. The moral of this chapter? <i>Reflect on your life story and examine how it shapes you and your reason to lead</i>.
<b>Losing Your Way</b>
This chapter ties in very well to the previous one. We all have at least a somewhat decent understanding of our True North, but more often than not we forget about it. We become <i>grotesque</i> as Sherwood Anderson explains in [book: Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small Town Life|23838169] (an excellent read). The <i>grotesque</i> is simply a metaphor how we often let society distract us from our True Purpose. This can happen because we start to chase extrinsic rewards such as money and fame. This can also happen because we become a slave to others' expectations of us, instead of doing what we really want. Bill George gets it right in his analysis of the fallen-from-grace Rajat Gupta who went from being an iconic leader of McKinsey to being in jail for insider trading. He writes:
Maybe he started to define himself by his net worth instead of self-worth.
It is important to not lose your way and become one of the <i>grotesque</i>. By following your True North, you will inevitably end up a more fulfilled person.
<b>Crucibles</b>
We are often defined by our biggest moments of failure or loss. Sometimes we let this define us in a negative way. We let these moments fill us with rage, hate, and resentment. Even worse, we let it distract us from our True North. Instead, we must see these as opportunities to learn and make the world a better place. Bill George uses the story of Marilyn Nelson (owner of Carlson Inc.) and how she was able to use her daughter's untimely death to make the world a better place for others. Bill George puts it best when he says:
Use the event to transform your wound into a pearl.
It may sound cliche, but it's nonetheless true.
<b>Self Awareness</b>
It is at this point in the book that Bill George starts to tie in the idea behind one's True North to leadership. Here, Bill George makes the distinction between Authentic Leadership and Leadership. Many of us are leaders, but not many are authentic leader. What's the difference? It should be obvious if you've ever met a leader that isn't authentic. Something just feels off about certain leaders and that is usually because of a lack of authenticity. It is important to be an authentic leader. People follow authentic leaders much better than leaders who are not authentic. The key to building this authenticity is self-reflection. Many leaders have a natural tendency to try and appear invincible and even have a holier-than-tho air about them. This is a mistake for two reasons. It makes you appear not authentic AND it breaks you down as a person when you fail to use any of the existing support structures around you. He writes:
To protect yourself from harm, you may develop a false self by building protective layers. In doing so, you become less authentic. Without being aware of your vulnerabilities... it is easy to go off the track of your True North...
John Bryant (CEO of Hope) explains that vulnerabilities left untouched are weaknesses. But, vulnerabilities exposed to your support structure and peers can actually be strengths. He says:
If I've got nothing to hide and admit my faults before you can call them out, what are you going to do to me?
<b>Values</b>
We all have values that are important to us, as derived from our True North. Bill George says:
Leadership principles are values translated into practice.
When being a leader it is important that we let our values define how we act, not letting how we think a leaders should act define how we act. This makes a leader authentic and able to lead with purpose.
<b>Sweet Spot</b>
The Sweet Spot can be viewed as a culmination of the lessons mentioned above. It is important to identify what makes us tick and use it as a basis for acting on our values. Once we do this, we can truly lead. Bill George uses Warren Buffet as an example. Being one of the most successful people in finance, one may think Charles Schwab is just in it for the money. It turns out, that's not true in the least. His sweet spot was helping others. He founded his company with the purpose of trying to end the "thieving" he saw rampant on Wall Street. He sought to make financial independence an achievable goal for even the average American through a variety of financial tools. By leading from his sweet spot he ended up wildly successful, likely much more successful than if he led from just the desire to make money.
<b>Support Team</b>
As Bill George mentioned earlier, part of being authentic is exposing and talking about your vulnerabilities. From this follows the necessity of a support team. These are people who you can trust for honest feedback and will stick around you even (and especially) in times of failure. They will help you stay on the path of your True North. In this chapter he uses a host of different examples of how to take advantage of and where to find support teams.
<b>Integrated Life</b>
This chapter serves as a necessary example that a good leader isn't just a person that works relentlessly 24/7. A good leader needs to have a well-rounded life. This includes making time for friends, family, exercises, personal time, and hobbies. Most of this should be obvious and going into the science behind why well-rounded people are actually more productive than pure workers isn't really necessary here. Nonetheless, this is an important chapter that will illuminate how you may be able to live a happier and at the same time a more productive life.
<b>I to We</b>
This is one of the most important chapters in the book. Here, Bill George presents the idea of a <i>servant leader</i>. That is a leader that serves others in order to lead the group forward. In order to do this, a leader must make the transition from I to We. It should be a bit eye-opening to think:
You have to realize, it's not all about you.
One may think that now that they are a leader (whatever that means) that it is finally about THEM; that now they are the important one. This couldn't be further from the truth. One shouldn't view leadership as a manifestation of power in one's self. It's incomplete. Instead, one should view view leadership as <i>a manifestation of power in one to help others achieve</i>. By thinking on the <i>we</i> level instead of the <i>I</i> level, one can truly become a great and influential leader.
<b>Purpose</b>
Bill George explains here that in order to lead an organization, we must have a strong idea of purpose. He says:
Purpose is the motivating force that binds people together to drive the organization toward common goals.
It is important to have a clear and defined purpose, otherwise everyone is simply running in every direction. By having a purpose the transition from I to We can become a lot smoother.
<b>Global Leadership</b>
Here, Bill George talks about the value of being a global leader in a world that is becoming increasingly interconnected. Personally, it was difficult for me to find value in or apply any of these lessons since in order to be a global leader you need to be fairly far along in your journey. Nonetheless, exposure to this idea was very important and this section could be very important to others.
<b>Empowerment</b>
This the final section that brings the book full-circle. Once one has made this journey, it is important that we always focus on empowerment and creating other leaders. This is a critical aspect of going from I to We and becoming a servant leader. If leaders focus on empowering others, than those that follow them will do so happily and everyone will prosper in the end.
All in all, a great read. The most important tip I have is to actually write down answers to the questions at the end of each chapter. The self-reflection is very useful and will immediately result in the book becoming relevant to your daily life.
Bill George takes us even further than he has before in what it takes to be a good leader in the 21st century. Building off his previously successful books, "Authentic Leadership" and "True North," Bill goes deeper and farther leveraging insights from dozens of global leaders, each with a compelling story.
Bill redefines one's True North, showing the critical differences between leaders in the last century and now. Everyone has a life story, but successful leaders reflect on their stories and reframe them to learn and grow, especially from their crucible experiences. Bill provides a graphic compass for your True North journey composed of one's values and principles (north), sweet spot (east), support team (south), and integrated life (west) to arrive at one's center of self-awareness. It's a simple and powerful graphic.
One's self awareness derives from one's story, including sometimes losing your way and the crucibles encountered, and progressing through introspection and honest feedback to self-compassion, self-acceptance, and self-actualization. Another powerful graphic.
Healing through vulnerability is a critical concept. If one is open and vulnerable to others, then how can others do something to you that you haven't already revealed? In such vulnerability, there is power. Power, not to dominate, but power to build relationships. Beautifully described.
All this is not soft, sappy stuff because organizations led this way are mission driven and values-centered. They engage people unleashing innovation and superior service which delights customers, grows revenue and profits, and enhances the shareholder value. It's not only the right thing to do, but it pays off financially. Again beautifully described.
Another winner from a master leader and thinker.
Bill George does well with research for his presentation. the reader encounters the usual "experts" in the field of leadership. In addition, the reader is exposed to several quality authors from the realm of educational leadership. The book follows a model made popular by Jim Collins (Good to Great). Thus, the chapters are illustrative of the points the author achieves. The book is a good read, and the principles explored are worth the readers' time and investment.
This is a great book for those who are looking to become authentic leaders. Though I am reading this book due to a class I am taking, but I am glad that I was introduced to read this book! I would recommend this book for any executive management as well because we truly need more authentic and selfless leaders in this world!
Leadership is so much more than a set of instructions to follow. Authentic leadership involves bringing you whole self to the endeavor and aiming the culmination of the whole self to higher purpose.
Discover Your True North provides the inspiration and tough questions to help guide you in your journey towards authentic leadership and the direction of your own personal true north.
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