0:00:14.718,0:00:16.045
A few years ago,

0:00:16.045,0:00:19.010
I ran into a colleague[br]I hadn't seen for a long time,

0:00:19.010,0:00:22.555
who said, "What are you working on now?"

0:00:22.555,0:00:25.010
And I said - I was in that kind of mood -

0:00:25.010,0:00:28.349
I said, "Oh, making the world[br]a better place."

0:00:28.349,0:00:32.092
And he said, "Could you[br]pin that down just a little bit?"

0:00:32.092,0:00:34.884
Well, I realized that what I actually do

0:00:34.884,0:00:40.132
is I try to provide other people tools[br]for making the world a better place

0:00:40.402,0:00:43.727
by giving them leadership skills.

0:00:43.727,0:00:45.642
So what's your goal?

0:00:45.942,0:00:50.569
Do you simply want to get things done[br]and maybe improve them a little?

0:00:50.569,0:00:53.774
Do you want to start something,[br]maybe a social venture?

0:00:53.774,0:00:55.836
You can be any age to do that.

0:00:55.836,0:00:59.512
I was amazed when Katie of Katie's Krops

0:00:59.512,0:01:02.468
got an award from President Bill Clinton

0:01:02.468,0:01:06.252
for a venture she started[br]to feed the homeless

0:01:06.252,0:01:08.896
when she was nine years old.

0:01:08.896,0:01:10.477
So anybody can start something.

0:01:10.547,0:01:12.216
Do you want to start something?

0:01:12.296,0:01:13.736
Do you want to grow something?

0:01:13.736,0:01:17.135
Do you want to start a business?[br]Do you want to lead a big business?

0:01:17.135,0:01:20.644
Or do you just want[br]to make the world a better place?

0:01:20.644,0:01:24.679
The leadership lessons[br]for being effective at doing that

0:01:24.679,0:01:26.498
are things that I have learned

0:01:26.498,0:01:30.650
from working with tens[br]of thousands of leaders

0:01:30.650,0:01:34.340
in dozens and dozens[br]of countries all over the world,

0:01:34.340,0:01:39.829
and I'd like to boil them down[br]to six positive things

0:01:40.169,0:01:45.343
that help us keep things moving up

0:01:45.343,0:01:49.257
or in a positive direction of progress.

0:01:49.257,0:01:52.549
The first is the universal lesson of life,

0:01:52.549,0:01:54.714
which is show up.

0:01:54.974,0:01:58.143
If you don't show up,[br]nothing really happens.

0:01:58.143,0:02:03.045
I remember a Peter Sellers' movie[br]of a number of years ago

0:02:03.045,0:02:05.017
called "Being There."

0:02:05.017,0:02:06.868
And it was a very instructive story

0:02:06.868,0:02:11.905
because Peter Sellers[br]played a fairly ignorant man,

0:02:11.905,0:02:14.319
Chance, the gardener.

0:02:14.319,0:02:18.332
And he was just hanging around[br]the place where he did gardening

0:02:18.332,0:02:21.642
when a very important meeting[br]was about to take place.

0:02:21.642,0:02:24.557
As people arrived for the meeting,

0:02:24.557,0:02:28.365
they didn't know that he[br]was only helping at the house,

0:02:28.365,0:02:29.721
so they said, "Who are you?"

0:02:29.721,0:02:31.768
and he said, "Chance the gardener."

0:02:31.768,0:02:36.077
And immediately, people misunderstood[br]and called him Chauncey Gardiner,

0:02:36.077,0:02:38.046
invited him into the meeting,

0:02:38.046,0:02:40.893
and he ended up solving their problems.

0:02:40.893,0:02:45.335
Well, it was a comedy,[br]but I thought how real that is.

0:02:45.335,0:02:48.729
The very fact of showing up,[br]of making oneself available,

0:02:48.729,0:02:52.674
of deciding that your presence[br]makes a difference,

0:02:52.674,0:02:54.878
is the first key to leadership.

0:02:54.878,0:02:59.114
And I think about President[br]Barack Obama of the United States.

0:02:59.114,0:03:00.763
He's been reelected,

0:03:00.763,0:03:04.212
but he started out,[br]basically, by showing up.

0:03:04.212,0:03:08.936
He was a fairly obscure state senator[br]from the State of Illinois

0:03:08.936,0:03:13.974
when asked to give the keynote speech[br]at the Democratic National Convention.

0:03:13.974,0:03:18.697
He showed up, he gave the speech,[br]and the rest is history.

0:03:19.017,0:03:22.736
Being there makes a difference,[br]but that's only the starting point,

0:03:22.736,0:03:24.598
that you're in the situation.

0:03:24.598,0:03:29.641
The second lesson that I've learned[br]is that it's important to speak up,

0:03:29.641,0:03:32.863
to use the power of voice.

0:03:32.863,0:03:35.591
No one knows what we're thinking[br]if we don't express it.

0:03:35.591,0:03:39.574
I say this to my students[br]at Harvard Business School all the time

0:03:39.574,0:03:43.003
because people get graded[br]on class participation,

0:03:43.003,0:03:45.051
and you know, there are some people

0:03:45.051,0:03:49.058
who think they're entitled[br]to have all the air time,

0:03:49.058,0:03:52.797
and so they often just talk[br]and continue to talk

0:03:52.797,0:03:56.266
until finally they hit upon[br]something they really have to say.

0:03:56.266,0:03:57.538
(Laughter)

0:03:57.538,0:04:00.905
But there are others in the class,

0:04:00.905,0:04:03.843
and sometimes it's the women[br]that I have to encourage,

0:04:03.843,0:04:06.534
that they can own that air space too.

0:04:06.534,0:04:08.860
Sometimes I'll say,[br]"Why aren't you speaking?"

0:04:08.860,0:04:13.934
And they said, "I want to make sure[br]that I really have something to say."

0:04:13.934,0:04:17.417
And I point out to them[br]that the men didn't feel that way -

0:04:17.417,0:04:20.478
just do it, just talk.

0:04:20.478,0:04:24.195
However, the power of voice[br]is not simply words.

0:04:24.195,0:04:27.631
The power of voice is shaping the agenda,

0:04:27.631,0:04:29.714
framing issues for other people,

0:04:29.714,0:04:33.356
helping them think about it[br]in a different way.

0:04:33.356,0:04:36.215
This is why thought leaders[br]can be leaders,

0:04:36.215,0:04:38.983
because they influence[br]the thinking of other people.

0:04:38.983,0:04:40.596
Have you gone to meetings

0:04:40.596,0:04:44.146
where you've noticed[br]that whoever is running the meeting,

0:04:44.146,0:04:47.157
the person who ends up[br]as the most influential,

0:04:47.157,0:04:53.291
is the one who names the problem[br]and gives people an idea for action,

0:04:53.291,0:04:57.134
and that gets things moving,[br]that gets things started.

0:04:57.134,0:05:02.684
I think about a Brazilian I know[br]whom I think the world of.

0:05:02.684,0:05:06.679
He's a journalist,[br]and yet as a journalist,

0:05:06.679,0:05:08.241
he has managed -

0:05:08.241,0:05:09.804
through his columns

0:05:09.804,0:05:14.217
but also through suggesting[br]to other people

0:05:14.487,0:05:15.951
actions that they could take -

0:05:15.951,0:05:20.923
he has managed to transform[br]an entire neighborhood in Brazil

0:05:20.923,0:05:25.018
into what he calls[br]"the learning neighborhood,"

0:05:25.018,0:05:28.485
where kids now not only learn in school,

0:05:28.485,0:05:32.508
the entire neighborhood[br]is mobilized to help them learn.

0:05:32.508,0:05:34.657
And that learning neighborhood

0:05:34.657,0:05:40.095
has helped make this section of São Paulo[br]considered an upscale section.

0:05:40.095,0:05:43.475
I just saw it in an airline magazine,[br]so it must be true.

0:05:43.475,0:05:44.521
(Laughter)

0:05:44.521,0:05:47.224
But my journalist friend

0:05:47.224,0:05:51.287
did this entirely through encouraging[br]many separate people.

0:05:51.287,0:05:54.397
He didn't have power;[br]he was just a writer.

0:05:54.397,0:05:55.874
He is just a writer.

0:05:55.874,0:05:58.862
What he did was encourage[br]many different people

0:05:58.862,0:06:00.870
through the power of his voice:

0:06:00.870,0:06:03.025
"Why don't you do this?[br]Why don't you do that?

0:06:03.025,0:06:05.570
We have a problem. Let's fix education."

0:06:05.570,0:06:07.282
The power of voice is big,

0:06:07.282,0:06:09.953
and I'm thinking about[br]another journalist I know,

0:06:09.953,0:06:13.120
using the power of voice[br]in a very powerful way.

0:06:13.120,0:06:14.459
It's Ellen Goodman,

0:06:14.459,0:06:18.148
whom many people know,[br]in the United States in particular,

0:06:18.148,0:06:21.175
as a former syndicated columnist,

0:06:21.175,0:06:24.899
who went through some things[br]with her own family

0:06:24.899,0:06:31.347
and decided that it's time[br]to have end-of-life conversations.

0:06:31.347,0:06:35.839
And as an individual[br]using her power of voice,

0:06:35.839,0:06:39.647
she has created something[br]called the Conversation Project,

0:06:39.647,0:06:43.554
which now has as a media partner ABC,

0:06:43.554,0:06:45.624
and they are spreading the idea

0:06:45.624,0:06:49.775
that one should just talk[br]about preferences for end of life

0:06:49.775,0:06:54.567
so that people can have[br]a humane ending of the kind they want.

0:06:54.567,0:06:57.349
But it's entirely the power of voice.

0:06:57.349,0:07:00.642
So speaking up is the second[br]attribute of leadership.

0:07:00.642,0:07:03.184
The third is to look up.

0:07:03.184,0:07:07.261
Look up at some higher principle,

0:07:07.261,0:07:09.990
bigger issue, bigger vision,

0:07:09.990,0:07:11.339
values.

0:07:11.669,0:07:15.648
Without vision and values,[br]leadership is hollow.

0:07:15.648,0:07:18.070
No matter what it is[br]that you want to achieve,

0:07:18.070,0:07:21.511
it's always important[br]to remember the principles.

0:07:21.511,0:07:23.953
And when I say "higher principles"[br]and "looking up,"

0:07:23.953,0:07:26.471
I'm not thinking about spiritual matters,

0:07:26.471,0:07:29.209
but for some people,[br]they would take it that way.

0:07:29.209,0:07:32.909
I'm simply thinking[br]about how important it is

0:07:32.909,0:07:36.532
for any leader to know[br]what they stand for

0:07:36.532,0:07:42.233
and to be able to elevate people's eyes[br]from everyday problems,

0:07:42.233,0:07:44.652
which bog us down,

0:07:44.652,0:07:46.062
in the weeds,

0:07:46.062,0:07:47.590
difficult to deal with.

0:07:47.590,0:07:51.121
And we're in troubled times[br]now, in the world,

0:07:51.121,0:07:55.762
and what we need is leaders[br]who help us get above that,

0:07:55.762,0:07:58.505
to gain a sense of hope

0:07:58.895,0:08:03.819
but also to remember[br]what's truly fundamental in our values,

0:08:03.819,0:08:05.237
and the best leaders do that.

0:08:05.237,0:08:08.719
In fact, one of my most recent books[br]is about great companies.

0:08:08.719,0:08:10.748
I realize I say that advisedly,

0:08:10.748,0:08:14.024
that many people wonder[br]if there are any great companies.

0:08:14.024,0:08:16.396
But there are some truly great companies:

0:08:16.396,0:08:18.627
IBM, for example, Procter & Gamble,

0:08:18.627,0:08:21.140
a bank in Brazil, a bank in Korea -

0:08:21.140,0:08:23.610
amazing that there can be good banks -

0:08:23.610,0:08:25.607
companies that I've seen[br]all over the world

0:08:25.607,0:08:27.819
that stand for vision and values.

0:08:27.819,0:08:30.138
When their leaders lead,

0:08:30.138,0:08:35.855
they're constantly reminding people[br]of a nobler purpose.

0:08:35.855,0:08:37.270
It isn't just making money;

0:08:37.270,0:08:39.610
we're trying to achieve[br]something for the world.

0:08:39.610,0:08:42.308
That's what we get from looking up.

0:08:42.308,0:08:47.057
I've learned this in my own work[br]in a project I manage at Harvard.

0:08:47.057,0:08:49.183
We can get bogged down in the details -

0:08:49.183,0:08:52.249
believe me, academic politics aren't fun.

0:08:52.249,0:08:54.971
There are always things[br]that we have to work on.

0:08:54.971,0:08:57.540
It can really drag you down.

0:08:57.540,0:08:59.250
And a wise person,

0:08:59.250,0:09:02.838
who was one of the first people[br]to work on this project with me,

0:09:02.838,0:09:05.185
said, "You know, we should remember

0:09:05.185,0:09:10.762
to start every meeting[br]by reminding ourselves of our mission,

0:09:10.762,0:09:13.724
reminding ourselves of what we stand for."

0:09:13.724,0:09:17.639
And you know, that lifts the spirits[br]like nothing else.

0:09:17.639,0:09:21.978
There's a purpose; there's a reason[br]that we're doing this,

0:09:21.978,0:09:26.462
and that's going to stand us in good stead[br]when I get a few skills down.

0:09:26.462,0:09:28.257
But the fourth skill -

0:09:28.257,0:09:31.505
and why vision[br]and values matter, in part -

0:09:31.505,0:09:33.861
the fourth skill is team up.

0:09:34.511,0:09:35.927
Team up.

0:09:36.217,0:09:39.458
Everything goes better with partners.

0:09:39.898,0:09:44.293
Nearly anything worth doing[br]is very difficult to do alone,

0:09:44.663,0:09:49.548
and the best enterprises,[br]the best projects, the best ventures

0:09:49.548,0:09:54.761
are one where there's a sense[br]of partnership from the beginning.

0:09:54.761,0:09:59.161
I did a study with a colleague[br]about technology start-ups,

0:09:59.161,0:10:01.061
some of them very famous,

0:10:01.061,0:10:06.474
and in recent years, which ones[br]came to dominant the industry?

0:10:06.474,0:10:09.652
Like Google in search, not AltaVista.

0:10:09.772,0:10:12.619
Like Facebook rather than Myspace.

0:10:12.619,0:10:14.945
And one of the things we discovered,

0:10:14.945,0:10:18.017
besides having a good value proposition,

0:10:18.017,0:10:23.148
was that they had[br]more and better partners faster.

0:10:23.148,0:10:24.678
Partners matter.

0:10:24.678,0:10:28.431
For the best social enterprises[br]that I see around the world

0:10:28.431,0:10:30.311
including one I'm very proud of -

0:10:30.311,0:10:33.678
I happen to be on the national[br]board of this forever.

0:10:33.678,0:10:37.546
It's an international[br]national service organization

0:10:37.546,0:10:39.174
called City Year.

0:10:39.174,0:10:42.999
And City Year was founded[br]by four partners.

0:10:42.999,0:10:46.965
Two of the co-founders[br]continue to build it and grow it,

0:10:46.965,0:10:50.380
and there was a sense of teaming[br]from the beginning.

0:10:50.380,0:10:54.055
Finding partners who believe is essential.

0:10:54.055,0:10:56.254
And when you find partners,

0:10:56.624,0:10:59.552
then you can do[br]incredible things in the world.

0:10:59.552,0:11:02.369
Here's something[br]that many people may not know

0:11:02.369,0:11:05.977
about Secretary of State[br]Hillary Rodham Clinton.

0:11:06.447,0:11:10.581
Hillary Clinton is very interested[br]in solving problems of the world

0:11:10.581,0:11:13.679
from her position at the State Department,

0:11:13.679,0:11:18.930
which has development,[br]social progress on its agenda

0:11:18.930,0:11:21.549
and not only international diplomacy.

0:11:21.549,0:11:25.393
But she sees development[br]as a part of diplomacy,

0:11:25.393,0:11:30.083
and she also wants to solve problems[br]that disproportionately affect women.

0:11:30.083,0:11:32.330
And there's been a problem in the world,

0:11:32.330,0:11:34.391
known for a long time.

0:11:34.391,0:11:39.715
It's the problem of women[br]cooking on open fires.

0:11:40.365,0:11:45.206
In fact, more women die[br]from cooking on open fires

0:11:45.206,0:11:49.098
than from major diseases[br]in the developing world.

0:11:49.098,0:11:50.816
That was something I didn't know

0:11:50.816,0:11:54.015
until I learned about[br]the Clean Cookstove Project.

0:11:54.015,0:11:58.159
So Secretary Clinton[br]and her office of global partnerships

0:11:58.159,0:12:02.459
picked this up and created[br]a massive teaming up

0:12:02.459,0:12:07.218
of governments and businesses[br]and NGOs all over the world,

0:12:07.218,0:12:09.012
and finally,

0:12:09.012,0:12:12.428
the Alliance for Clean Cookstoves[br]is beginning to make progress

0:12:12.428,0:12:16.897
in building an industry[br]in which households, women,

0:12:16.897,0:12:20.154
can have affordable access[br]to clean cookstoves,

0:12:20.154,0:12:23.710
which means, by the way, no air pollution.

0:12:23.710,0:12:28.372
It means they can cook in their home[br]without worrying about it burning up.

0:12:28.372,0:12:31.618
Otherwise, they had the cookstoves[br]at a distance from the home.

0:12:31.618,0:12:34.229
A massive example of teaming up,

0:12:34.229,0:12:37.844
and that's how we're going to solve[br]the problems of the world in the future,

0:12:37.844,0:12:40.410
by the way - make[br]the world a better place -

0:12:40.410,0:12:43.506
is because we take[br]lots of separate efforts

0:12:43.506,0:12:45.179
and we bring them together,

0:12:45.179,0:12:48.406
aligned in one big team.

0:12:48.406,0:12:52.380
So now I've had four skills,[br]and I want to get to the fifth,

0:12:52.380,0:12:55.110
which is never give up -

0:12:55.550,0:12:59.930
because of something[br]that I coined a while ago,

0:12:59.930,0:13:03.135
I call it Kanter's Law;[br]I hope you do too.

0:13:03.135,0:13:09.513
Kanter's Law is that everything[br]can look like a failure in the middle.

0:13:10.683,0:13:13.374
There's almost nothing we start

0:13:13.374,0:13:17.015
that doesn't hit[br]an obstacle, a road block.

0:13:17.305,0:13:22.183
It takes longer than we imagined[br]because we'd never done it before.

0:13:22.183,0:13:24.927
It may take longer[br]just to convene the first meeting.

0:13:24.927,0:13:28.266
I sometimes have my MBA students[br]do an action plan,

0:13:28.266,0:13:32.124
and they say, "Week One -[br]change the strategy.

0:13:32.124,0:13:34.655
Week Two - implement."

0:13:34.655,0:13:36.950
Well, you know, that's not realistic.

0:13:36.950,0:13:39.582
I mean, middles are very, very difficult.

0:13:39.582,0:13:42.075
You hit a bump in the road[br]you didn't know was there,

0:13:42.075,0:13:44.585
because you've never gone[br]down the path before.

0:13:44.585,0:13:47.310
The critics surface; they start attacking.

0:13:47.310,0:13:49.869
It doesn't work[br]the way it was envisioned -

0:13:49.869,0:13:52.234
true of all kinds of technology -

0:13:52.234,0:13:54.772
you have to go back to the drawing board.

0:13:54.772,0:13:57.183
And so never give up.

0:13:57.183,0:14:02.977
Because if you give up,[br]by definition, it's a failure.

0:14:02.977,0:14:06.016
You've stopped prematurely.

0:14:06.016,0:14:08.978
If you keep going, persist and persevere,

0:14:08.978,0:14:10.989
find a way around the obstacles,

0:14:10.999,0:14:13.122
flexibly redesign,

0:14:13.302,0:14:15.561
often you can produce a success.

0:14:15.561,0:14:18.801
Sometimes it's not the success[br]you first imagined.

0:14:18.801,0:14:19.995
A lot of technology

0:14:19.995,0:14:25.676
turns out to be applied in ways[br]we had never thought of in the beginning.

0:14:25.676,0:14:32.051
But that ability to hang in there[br]and not give up is a hallmark of leaders.

0:14:32.051,0:14:36.419
I mean, I think about a friend[br]and colleague in my own area,

0:14:36.419,0:14:43.090
Dr. Donald Berwick, who was recently[br]the chief administrator for Medicare,

0:14:43.090,0:14:46.102
the biggest health program[br]in the United States.

0:14:46.102,0:14:48.972
Well, for 20 or more years,

0:14:48.972,0:14:53.278
he has been pursuing the idea[br]of quality in healthcare,

0:14:53.278,0:14:55.425
he's been pursuing the idea

0:14:55.425,0:14:59.023
of innovation to raise quality[br]and reduce costs.

0:14:59.023,0:15:02.837
And do you know[br]that it sometimes takes 17 years

0:15:03.217,0:15:06.021
to get an innovation in healthcare

0:15:06.361,0:15:11.572
from the mind of those[br]who dream it up into use?

0:15:11.572,0:15:15.371
That's an amazingly long time,[br]but he never gave up.

0:15:15.371,0:15:21.516
And my iconic example of a leader[br]that we should all aspire to emulate

0:15:21.516,0:15:23.322
is Nelson Mandela,

0:15:23.602,0:15:27.809
the first democratically elected[br]president of South Africa.

0:15:27.809,0:15:32.112
He was in prison for 27 years

0:15:32.652,0:15:34.595
and didn't give up.

0:15:34.975,0:15:39.013
Finally, emerged from prison[br]to be elected president,

0:15:39.013,0:15:42.016
first democratically elected president.

0:15:42.016,0:15:46.520
You know, sometimes my students[br]say, "27 years in prison."

0:15:46.520,0:15:51.516
And he emerged[br]without a feeling of revenge.

0:15:51.516,0:15:55.977
He emerged ready to get on with it,[br]just interrupted in the middle -

0:15:55.977,0:15:57.711
get on with it and build a country.

0:15:57.711,0:16:03.112
They say, "I could never do that.[br]I could never feel that much forgiveness."

0:16:03.832,0:16:08.195
Well, I think, we hope, [br]that you're not in prison for 27 years,

0:16:08.195,0:16:12.458
we hope that your middles[br]are shorter and sweeter,

0:16:12.458,0:16:15.291
but find your inner Mandela.

0:16:15.291,0:16:17.844
Find the strength to persist

0:16:17.844,0:16:21.402
even against the naysayers,[br]the critics and the obstacles

0:16:21.402,0:16:25.492
because that's what makes a difference[br]between success and failure.

0:16:25.492,0:16:27.795
And then when you get to the point

0:16:27.795,0:16:30.631
where it looks like[br]what you're doing is working,

0:16:30.631,0:16:33.484
it's taking hold,[br]you have the first pilot,

0:16:33.484,0:16:35.719
you have a little more support,

0:16:35.719,0:16:40.245
you do the sixth thing,[br]which is lift others up.

0:16:41.235,0:16:42.936
Share success,

0:16:43.346,0:16:45.976
the credit, the recognition,

0:16:46.316,0:16:50.961
the idea of giving back[br]once you have a success

0:16:50.961,0:16:55.407
because that's what creates an environment[br]in which you can do it again,

0:16:55.407,0:16:56.840
you can do it the next time.

0:16:56.840,0:17:00.226
You build support [br]rather than lose support.

0:17:01.116,0:17:05.319
You must feel positively[br]about the achievement

0:17:05.319,0:17:11.056
but make sure other people[br]feel elevated by what you do as well.

0:17:11.056,0:17:15.015
So that, quickly, [br]are six secrets of success

0:17:15.015,0:17:18.220
if you want things to continue to be up:

0:17:19.070,0:17:20.402
Show up.

0:17:20.852,0:17:22.371
Speak up.

0:17:23.181,0:17:24.456
Look up.

0:17:25.476,0:17:26.839
Team up.

0:17:27.559,0:17:29.463
Never give up.

0:17:29.893,0:17:31.984
And lift others up.

0:17:32.284,0:17:33.496
Thank you.

0:17:33.496,0:17:34.924
(Applause)