MGMT 371 - Leadership

Harvard Business School Professor John Kotter and other experts share their views on the topics of leadership, entrepreneurship, and employees. Kotter leads off the program by focusing on the qualities of leadership, as exemplified by Japanese CEO Matsushita, founder of the company that bears his name; General Electric’s Jack Welsh; and Walmart’s Sam Walton. Emphasizing the importance of good leadership at all levels, Kotter distills leadership into its key elements: the ability to strategize, to inspire confidence and enthusiasm, and to motivate all workers. In addition, he provides a profile of the basic leadership personality.

It took two years of negotiation for the BBC’s Fiona Bruce to get some face time with Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates. In this rare interview, Bruce gains insights into both the man and the icon—genius, business magnate, philanthropist, and one of the wealthiest people on the planet. In addition, Bruce probes what may be the key question facing Microsoft in the post-Gates era: with its hands tied by antitrust regulators in the U.S. and the E.U. and facing Google and other next-gen Internet innovators, can the software giant possibly win the battle for the Web? Anecdotes from key Gates supporters and outspoken critics are interspersed throughout. Produced by the Open University.

In the post-Enron and -WorldCom era, the spotlight of scrutiny is shining ever more sharply on corporations and their chief executives. In this program, Robert Nardelli, chairman, president, and CEO of The Home Depot, and Michael Eskew, chairman and CEO of United Parcel Service, discuss the white-hot issues of corporate governance and ethics as well as the special challenges they face as newcomers to the top job. What are they doing to expand their customer bases in the face of fierce competition? And how are they training the new leaders who will help them take their companies—tops in their respective industries—into the future?

The ESOP structure of Northwest allows labor representatives to sit on the compensation committee that determines Dasburg's compensation. Dasburg and his team are committed to tell the truth, to agree to disagree, and to keep open minds.

Both were founded in 1927. Both are still going strong. And both are counting on their abilities to implement new technologies and to react quickly to changing customer tastes to stay ahead of the competition. This program pairs up James Keyes, president and CEO of 7-Eleven, and Donald Carty, chairman, president, and CEO of AMR Corporation and American Airlines, to comment on the CEO as a catalyst for change and to share how they serve customers on the go and stay ahead of cost-cutting competitors.

Boeing President Phil Condit asserts that the United States has the ability to remain the world's industrial leader and he describes what it will take to maintain that position.

Chairman and CEO Gordon Bethune engineered the turnaround that moved Continental Airlines from worst to first. Former Honeywell International CEO Michael Bonsignore brokered a merger with Allied Signal to create a $26-billion colossus. In this program, these two masters of corporate reinvention share their views on customer service, mergers, and workforce inspiration. In addition, MBA students and faculty from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University ask questions about crisis management, balancing long-term and short-term goals, and the differences between leading and managing.

What lessons can Cervantes’s romantic knight from La Mancha offer the bottom-line world of today? Based on Professor Emeritus James G. March’s acclaimed course at the Stanford University School of Business, this program creatively examines how Quixote’s kind of self-knowledge might serve modern leadership. Narrated by Professor March, the program parallels episodes from Quixote’s adventures with illustrative examples in the modern world—from former President Richard Nixon and Martin Luther King Jr. to Bill Gates and Hewlett-Packard. Engaging interviews with contemporary leaders drawn from business, government, and education are interwoven with archival footage of historic leaders who demonstrate imagination, perseverance in the face of adversity, and joy in work.

One pioneered the built-to-order method of mail-order. The other set the standard for just-in-time delivery. Together, they have changed the way the world does business. In this program, Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of Dell Computer Corporation, and Frederick Smith, chairman, president, and CEO of FedEx Corporation, discuss their business models. In addition, MBA students and faculty from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin ask questions about crisis management, successfully growing a company, and balancing work with personal time.

Key elements of charismatic leaders are authority, energy, and happiness. Women now have access to more leading positions in the world. Women are more expressive and receptive than men.