World Business Forum 2006

Event: World Business Forum 2006
September 12-13, Radio City Music Hall, New York City

What: The World Business Forum describes its event as "the year's most important gathering of business leaders in the world." With speakers ranging from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani to former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, it’s designed to hit key issues and concerns affecting top executive around the globe.

Day 2, Wednesday, September 13,2006

Power of numbers: Jim Collins, author of Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t, told the audience that he used to believe that one couldn’t make employees want to be great. "You just want people with that in their DNA," he said. But over the years his point of view has changed. He recounted how his wife, a high school cross-country coach, has never given a motivational speech in her life. What she did do, however, to inspire her team was create spreadsheets detailing how each runner did in last year’s race versus this year. "The kids were dying to get their scores," he says, adding that it taught how data can be used to inspire people to be great.

Innovation in action: In talking to attendees about the importance of creativity and innovation, Wynton Marsalis was forced to practice what he was preaching when the teleprompter jumped ahead of his presentation. The jazz musician, in his typical style, took it in stride, pausing to tell the teleprompter to slow down a bit. "I’m making this up as I go," he said. "Nothing wrong with that."

Connecting to connectors: Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink and The Tipping Point, emphasized the importance of organizations identifying those employees who are "connectors," or individuals who are in close contact with many people within the company. These are the employees, he said, who will help implement change. "If we are all off in silos, who can make a difference?" he said. "It’s the connectors."

Gladwell cautioned attendees against assuming that top executives must be connectors. Often, a connector could be the administrative assistant who has worked at the company for 30 years, he said. "The social power dimensions operate on a different plane than political and economic ones," he said.

When asked how to identify those connectors, Gladwell suggested that there are consultants who can create "social maps" of organizations.

Late leaders: While former Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived at Radio City Music Hall more than four hours before he was set to speak, conference organizers had to add a Q&A session with Gladwell as they waited for the next speaker, Bill Clinton, to arrive. The crowd, however, was unfazed by the former president’s tardiness and received him with a standing ovation.
--JM

Day 1, Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Word of the day: "Dysfunctional." That’s how both Welch and Larry Bossidy, former CEO and chairman of Honeywell International, separately described the board of directors at Hewlett-Packard during their talks. Referring to the recent news that HP’s board hired a private investigator who used illegal methods to access directors’ phone records, Welch said that he thought the real issue was the director who leaked the information. "The media is beating on the investigation, but the problem was the leaker," he said, adding that it is impossible to run a company if there is a board member sharing private discussions with the press. "The chairman should have been given the authority to remove the leaker," he said.

Differing viewpoints: Welch and Bossidy didn’t agree on everything. In his presentation, Bossidy said he didn’t believe in Welch’s 20-70-10 assessment plan that he applied at GE. Under that plan, the top 20 percent of GE’s workforce each year got big raises, while the bottom 10 percent were shown the door. "I don’t subscribe to that model," Bossidy said. It’s very difficult to build a team "if you are always wondering who you are going to kick off."

Welch’s two cents: Welch defended his compensation and all of executive compensation, saying that it’s a free market. As long as it is tied to performance, he said it’s acceptable. However, when asked by Alan Murray, assistant managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, about why is it that of Welch’s three potential successors—Robert Nardelli, now CEO of Home Depot, Jim McNerney, president and CEO of Boeing, and Jeff Immelt, who replaced Welch as CEO of GE—Immelt makes less than Donovan and McNerney, Welch shrugged it off to poor succession planning. Home Depot and Boeing didn’t have strong succession planning processes in place, so they had to "pay through the nose to get them," he said.
--Jessica Marquez