REFLECTIONS ON CHARACTER AND LEADERSHIP

224 REFLECTIONS ON CHARACTER AND LEADERSHIP

throughout their organizations, they facilitated a commitment to their

way of looking at things.

Vision is important in that it provides a road map for the future,

generates excitement, creates order out of chaos, and offers criteria for

success, but it is useless if it is not shared by all members of an organiza-

tion. Branson, Welch, and Barnevik all recognized the importance of

impression management — the need to communicate their respective

visions in an effective way. For example, Branson has a showy, almost

exhibitionistic style, Welch is an aggressive, confrontational, ‘ cowboy, ’

and Barnevik is more rational but also humanistic. Although they dif-

fered in style, all three would exude enthusiasm and radiate self -

confi dence when talking about what they were trying to do, and where

they wanted to go, and this made their vision contagious.

One of the values Welch introduced in his organization was, ‘ Don ’ t

manage, lead. ’ And to make this statement more precise, he told every-

one in General Electric that he wanted them to be number one or

number two in whatever business segments they were in. If they were

not number one or number two, they should ask for the resources to get

there. Otherwise, they should get out, or ‘ disengage, ’ to use his particu-

lar terminology. Branson ’ s vision is one of fostering entrepreneurship.

He is looking for people with innovative ideas to start new entities,

people who are willing to be the best in what they are doing, be it

entertainment, communications, airlines, hotels, store management, or

even beverages. Barnevik ’ s vision was of creating the world ’ s number

one engineering group.

Barnevik, like other extremely effective business leaders, was very

good at creating meaning. He would say that he was motivated by a

desire to create a better world by creating employment (particularly in

Eastern Europe, where — at the time — he was the largest investor), and

help ensure the world remain inhabitable by providing clean energy and

transportation. This vision of engaging in good works, of looking

beyond the bottom line, performance with purpose has been a very

effective way of motivating and challenging the people who worked for

him. For Branson, too, this social concern is an important part of cor-

porate philosophy. He has put his money where his mouth is on many

occasions.

Power - Sharing

I have already indicated ways in which these three CEOs created organi-

zational structures that empowered people. They realized that one does

not become powerful by hoarding power. On the contrary, it is the CEO