In this enlightening talk, Bill George, former Medtronic CEO and Harvard professor, discusses leading with authenticity in a rapidly changing world. He encourages emerging leaders to take initiative and solve unaddressed problems rather than waiting for titles. George shares insights on fostering innovation through direct customer engagement, emphasizing that breakthroughs come from empathy, not just data. He advocates for risk tolerance in leadership and highlights the importance of resilience and adaptability in driving meaningful change.
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volunteer_activism ADVICE
Seize Leadership Opportunities
Emerging leaders should actively seek opportunities without waiting for promotions or titles.
Volunteer to lead initiatives and demonstrate capability in your current role.
insights INSIGHT
Culture Limits Innovation
Leading innovation can fail if culture discourages risk, even with top engineering talent.
Europe's innovation struggles partly stem from lack of new company formation and risk aversion.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Incubate Ventures Independently
Incubate and protect new ventures outside main organizational structures.
Let innovations operate independently until they mature for integration.
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In 'True North', Jill Ker Conway continues her autobiography, detailing her experiences from her arrival in the United States in 1960 to her appointment as the first female president of Smith College in 1975. The book explores her academic pursuits at Harvard, her role as a public figure for feminism, and her personal challenges, including her husband's health issues.
In this wide-ranging and direct conversation, Bill George, former Medtronic CEO and Harvard Business School professor, offers a disciplined framework for leading in conditions of persistent volatility. Drawing from decades of leadership experience and research, George emphasizes that leadership today is no longer about managing processes, it is about confronting ambiguity, enabling experimentation, and sustaining purpose across shifting conditions.
Five themes stand out:
Opportunity Must Be Created, Not Awaited. George argues that emerging leaders should not wait for promotions or formal permission. Instead, they should identify unaddressed problems, volunteer to lead, and deliver results without demanding titles. Career growth, he suggests, is a function of action, not seniority.
Innovation Begins at the Front Lines. Whether referencing his early decision to cancel a Medtronic pacemaker program that lacked patient benefit, or urging leaders to spend less time in conference rooms and more with customers and staff, George insists that enduring breakthroughs stem from direct observation and empathy, not from internal data analysis alone.
Risk Tolerance Determines Strategic Renewal. George contrasts firms that institutionalize risk such as Medtronic’s venture incubation model, with those that allow internal resistance to block change. Innovation, he asserts, must be structurally protected from corporate inertia, and leaders should be judged on the courage to champion unpopular ideas that later prove transformative.
Culture Must Reward Learning Over Defensiveness. Drawing parallels between U.S., European, and Japanese innovation cultures, George critiques over-regulated, failure-averse systems that suppress experimentation. True progress, he says, requires the willingness to learn through trial, adaptation, and even initial failure.
AI Is a Strategic Imperative, Not a Cost Play. Rather than using AI to drive out labor costs, George advocates for using it to rethink business models entirely, supporting frontline autonomy, enabling new services, and unlocking unmet needs. He cautions leaders against adopting a defensive posture and urges them to fund experiments that explore the true potential of the technology.
Throughout, George offers a leadership mindset anchored in authenticity, courage, and customer-centric design. His advice is clear: future leaders must raise their hands, operate at the edge, and move fast before the window of relevance closes.
The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership | Critical Thinking | Problem-Solving 