Bob Nardelli

On this week's episode of A Call to Lead, you'll meet Bob Nardelli, who has an extraordinary breadth of expertise from a series of CEO jobs: GE Power Systems, then Home Depot, and then Chrysler. Bob, who spent three decades at GE, has an incredible perspective on business, operations, and leadership in times of disruption. Here, he shares lots of great advice about building teams and finding opportunity amidst near constant global change. Here are five things that my team and I found particularly insightful:

1. Diversity is most powerful when it’s practiced with its broadest definition. “When I think about diversity, it's not numbers, it's diversity of thought, diversity of opinion, diversity of ideas. Nobody has a corner on that, male or female.”

 

2. We talked about the need for speed in a business landscape that is constantly shifting. “Change is the only constant. Like my good friend Roger Penske says, "It's like NASCAR. If I slow down, I'll get lapped, and I don't want to get lapped."

 

3. Don’t let someone else push you to deliver an outcome that you could have achieved without any outside intervention. “It's far better to challenge yourself and win, than to be driven to the same point [by someone else].”

 

4. Business leaders know what shareholders and employees expect. “Be your own activist. You know what they're looking for, why give them a free throw?”

 

5. Purpose matters in business - and so does inspiring your team with a mission that matters. “What is prevalent today is having purpose, having mission, having integrity, having compassion and an intellect to improve upon everything you do and your team does. How are you continuing to encourage them to improve every day?”

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