Shrader Talks About Leading in a Networked World
Booz Allen Chairman & CEO talks about three scarce resources for leadership in a networked world at the WEF in Davos.
Dr. Ralph Shrader, Chairman & CEO of Booz Allen Hamilton, was part of a World Economic Forum (WEF) panel discussion entitled, “Leading in a Networked World.” The discussion focused on how leaders gain fresh mandates to effectively move agendas forward in a connected world with new competition and increased weight of emerging economies, even as power shifts and disperses. The WEF Annual Meeting ran from January 24-28, 2007.
Dr. Ralph Shrader
In addition to Shrader, the panel included Marc R. Benioff, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Salesforce.com; Martin J. Sullivan, President and Chief Executive Officer, American International Group (AIG); and Ben J. Verwaayen, Chief Executive Officer, BT, among others.
When asked what has really changed over the past 10 years, Shrader said that leaders make assumptions and presumptions about people’s ability to deal with an interconnected society but they still can’t keep up with technology. “We have people at the lowest level who are much better at the new technology than the people at the top.”
When the discussion turned to key critical imperatives for corporate leaders in the networked world, Shrader cited leadership attention, leadership succession, and confidantes – knowing who the go-to people are in your organization. “Confidantes are the people who deeply understand the issues, have keen insight, the courage to tell you what they think, and no personal agenda to drive,” he said. “Confidantes are almost never the same as potential successors because successors have too much personal stake in a given outcome.”
Shrader also noted that the choice between “hands-on” and “hands-off” management no longer applies in a networked world. “You have to have your mind on but your hands off,” he said. “We are responsible for everything important, but we don’t have to do everything important – that’s the meaning of hands off. But by keeping minds on, responsibility stays at the top.”
Shrader believes that leadership in a networked world is more demanding, which limits the pool of qualified candidates. Booz Allen’s annual study on CEO turnover shows that globally more than 15% of CEOs at top companies left office in the past year, a 4% increase from the year before and 70% higher than 10 years before.
story posted January 29, 2007
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