I'll admit the following is an unabashed reductio of Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE's leadership philosophy for the coming Century. That is to say, the 21st century we have only recently, and tumultously, entered. This century, though an infant, has been inseparable thus far from tremendous growing pains and global uncertainty. If paraphrased correctly, Jeff Immelt, it seems, does not imagine this volatility abating within the near or medium term.
I find Jeff's vision particularly compelling in view of the heightened volatility to which he points in his leadership panel discussions. Post-GFC, it certainly appears that societies and corporations have entered a 'new normal' environment within which they must operate. Inevitably, some societies/businesses will flounder while others will prosper. The question, for me and, I think, for Immelt is how corporations, including MNCs will scale and expand with a view to giving back to our communities, regions and societies.
From my perspective, Jeff's blueprint for evolving leadership draws on two key insights: the primacy of market-based analysis in a rapidly changing world and the power of emerging markets in terms of global market share. Financially, Immelt, in his Stanford Business School Talk, 24 June 2010, predicted that approximately 80% of global growth will come from emerging markets within the next two decades.
In consequence, the whole world - all of us - are required to adjust to a 'globalist' mindset to pursue and procure future opportunities. Fundamental to Jeff's otherwise pragmatic approach to corporate and social development is the importance of 'listening' and deep expertise. Analytical listening, as Jeff describes in several of his addresses, presumes true engagement with potential business partners and crucial stakeholders. Looking around the corner, Immelt thus conceives a growing involvement from government in regulating and partnering with business and a broad range of stakeholders and their concerns. These concerns especially pertain to nuances in energy conservation, resource extraction and public policy within energy markets.
With regard to strategic and substantive depth - something covered in Jeff's strategic outlook for the next decades - corporate leaders will need to obtain deep 'domain expertise' to succeed in a reset global landscape. The mantra, if you will, of 'Go Deep, then broad' necessitates several years (rounded to a five-year range) within which to gain sectoral knowledge, for example in energy markets, financial services as the case may be. At least for the moment, general managers won't cut it or, as a rule, will not exist within large corporations. This is an interesting topic to which I have no ready answers but one for long-term consideration.. Nevertheless, it seems fairly clear that GE and, I suspect, large and medium sized "agile" businesses and their leadership team wish to cultivate domain expertise within their organisations.
Perhaps two overarching principles, or just plain values further emerge from Jeff Immelt's leadership philosophy for GE and for businesses within the developed world. Strive for simplicity, which activity engenders optimism. Whereas the future appears very uncertain and highly complex, organisations will succeed based on the core simplicity of superior insight and close alignment with their key values. In a "networked society", Jeff indicates that this still entails an uncompromising belief in integrity, together with the analytic ability to enmesh corporate mission with accountability. By having the courage and patience to seek solutions, companies can reduce process complexity and noise to comprehensive, powerful metrics and social values which drive winning corporate-social behaviour in the 21st century. And that is something to be optimistic about!
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I summarise Immelt's '5 and 10' principles below with respect to leadership competencies and his leadership vision.
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