11-14-2024
Three prominent Purdue graduates shared guidance about the keys to leadership with students at Daniels Leads, a Daniels School of Business event sponsored by the Larsen Leaders Academy and Women in Business. A packed ballroom at the Purdue Memorial Union took in advice from Jason Girzadas, CEO of Deloitte U.S.; John Krenicki Jr., former president and CEO of GE Energy and current vice chair at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice; and Greg Hayes, executive chairman of RTX.
Girzadas told students they would be leading in a VUCA world, using a term coined by the U.S. Army War College and short for volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. “I’ve come to appreciate that we have to embrace this VUCA environment,” he said. “This is the new normal. Your job as a leader is to be a student of business, to rise above the environment, and provide leadership in the face of change.”
Girzadas stressed the need for lifelong learning, having agility to pivot, being an inclusive leader, and employing servant leadership. “It’s about lifting others up and seeing others succeed,” he said. “Even at your level, you can do that in your own project teams or as a classmate.”
Krenicki says an early lesson was to employ talented people who were better than him. “I hired people who made me better,” he said. “I was looking for people who were different than me, who complemented me and told me things I didn’t know, looking out for my blind spots”
Krenicki also stressed the need to be authentic, leading by example. “Character is everything,” he said. “Truth, trust and performance are the three key words, and they’re intertwined. Do what’s right for the business day in and day out.”
Hayes said a key to success is to “know thyself” and be surrounded by great people. Empathy is important, as is the ability to talk effectively and to speak truth to power. “Communication is the most important skill you can have as a leader,” he said. “If you can’t convince people to follow you, they won’t.”
He urged students to always do the right thing, even when no one is looking, and to work with a sense of purpose. “Time is our most precious resource, and it’s one we can’t create,” he said. “Our job as a leader is to instill the urgency to get things done as well and as quickly as possible.”
