What are the five principles of 'The Power of We'?

The five principles are: 1. Be in service of something (prioritize others' needs). 2. Building belief is endless (appeal to hearts and minds). 3. Recognize what must endure, not just change. 4. Steward good tech (manage upsides and downsides). 5. Be resilient (rely on relationships and attitude).

How can leaders effectively manage change in an organization?

Leaders should ask not only what needs to change but critically, what must endure. They also need to focus on changing *how* work gets done and developing the necessary future skills for their team, rather than just demanding increased efficiency.

What is Ginni Rometty's approach to hiring and employee development?

Rometty advocates for hiring based on skills and the propensity to learn, rather than solely on traditional degrees. She stresses building skills internally, recognizing that employees will need to acquire new skills every 3-5 years due to the pace of technological change.

How should leaders navigate the ethical challenges of new technologies like AI?

The core focus should be on building and maintaining trust. Leaders must set clear principles for technology use (e.g., augmenting, data ownership, transparency, lack of bias) and ensure technologies are introduced safely with appropriate guardrails and clear use cases.

What leadership traits are considered most important for the next five years?

Based on insights from ATD 2024, key traits include digital fluency, building employee motivation, and critically, trust. Creating psychological safety, fostering continuous learning agility, empathy, effective communication, and a growth mindset are also vital.

Key Moments

Building trust as a leader: Lessons from former CEO of IBM, Ginni Rometty

Big Think

Education4 min read22 min video

Jul 11, 2024|10,003 views|236|3

Big Think BigThink Big Think+Big Think Plus business training learning and development L&D coaching

Save to Pod

Key Moments

TL;DR

Ginni Rometty emphasizes trust, good power, and continuous learning as key leadership principles.

Key Insights

Trust is the foundational element for effective leadership, impacting customer and employee relationships.

'Good Power' involves leading with purpose, building belief, recognizing what must endure, stewarding technology responsibly, and fostering resilience.

Building belief requires co-creation, personalizing communication to connect with hearts and minds, and painting a realistic yet hopeful vision.

Leaders must ask what should endure and how work gets done, not just what needs to change, adapting processes and skills for the future.

Hiring should focus on aptitude and skills, not just degrees, creating more inclusive and diverse workforces.

Leaders must embrace lifelong learning, focusing on building skills within their teams rather than just buying them, as technology rapidly evolves.

THE CORNERSTONE OF LEADERSHIP: TRUST

Ginni Rometty, former CEO of IBM, asserts that trust is the paramount principle for modern leaders navigating constant change. Whether dealing with customers or employees, building and maintaining trust is crucial for success. This focus on trust underpins her concept of 'Good Power,' which emphasizes the importance of ethical and people-centric leadership. Rometty believes that how leaders achieve their goals is as significant as the achievements themselves. Her personal journey, including being abandoned as a child, informed her conviction that leadership lessons learned early can scale and enable leaders to accomplish difficult tasks positively.

FIVE PRINCIPLES OF 'GOOD POWER'

Rometty outlines five key principles within her 'Power of We' framework. First, 'be in service of something' means prioritizing others' needs, which naturally fosters trust and fulfillment. Second, 'building belief' requires appealing to both hearts and minds to envision and move towards an altered reality. Third, 'recognize what must change and what must endure' involves preserving the core essence of an organization while modernizing other aspects. Fourth, 'stewarding good tech' means managing both the upsides and downsides of technology responsibly. Finally, resilience is built through strong relationships and a positive attitude when facing challenges.

CO-CREATION AND BUILDING BELIEF

A critical aspect of leadership, particularly during turbulent times like corporate integrations, is the concept of 'building belief.' Rometty learned the importance of co-creating initiatives, emphasizing that leadership isn't about solitary idea generation. When merging large entities, finding a 'third way' that respects different approaches, rather than imposing one, builds essential support. Personalizing the leadership message, by being honest about shared risks and understanding individual sacrifices, resonates deeply and connects with employees on an emotional level. Leaders must 'paint reality and give hope,' being brutally honest about challenges while charting a clear path forward.

DEFINING WHAT ENDURES AND HOW WORK GETS DONE

When leading through change, Rometty stresses two vital questions: what should endure and how should work get done? It's easy to focus on what needs changing, but identifying elements that must endure—like core values or mission-critical functions—is crucial. Straying too far from these enduring aspects can be detrimental. Furthermore, leaders must actively improve the processes and environment that enable work, rather than simply telling employees to 'go faster.' This might involve adopting agile methodologies or design thinking at scale to enhance efficiency and empower teams, fundamentally changing how work is accomplished.

PRIORITIZING SKILLS OVER DEGREES IN HIRING

Rometty advocates for a fundamental shift in hiring practices, moving away from traditional qualifications like college degrees towards prioritizing skills and aptitudes. She discovered that focusing on skills, rather than just degrees, opens doors for diverse talent pools that may lack access to higher education. This inclusive approach leads to a more diverse and capable workforce. The emphasis is on recognizing that where someone starts shouldn't dictate where they can end, and that building new pathways based on demonstrable skills is essential for companies to thrive and remain competitive.

THE IMPERATIVE OF LIFELONG LEARNING AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT

In an era of rapid technological advancement, continuous learning and upskilling are non-negotiable for both leaders and their teams. Rometty emphasizes that leaders should focus on 'building skill' within their organizations rather than solely 'buying skill' through external hires. Given that essential job skills may need refreshing every three to five years, fostering a culture of perpetual learning is paramount. This requires hiring individuals with a strong 'propensity to learn' and providing them with the opportunities and resources to adapt and grow alongside evolving technologies and industry demands.

STEWARDING TECHNOLOGY ETHICALLY

Navigating the ethical challenges of new technologies, especially AI, requires leaders to focus on trust. Rometty believes technology can bring immense good if introduced safely and with clear principles. Key tenets include technology augmenting, not harming, humanity; clarity on data ownership and benefits; and transparency and freedom from bias in technology. The rapid adoption of tools like ChatGPT, outpacing historical user growth, highlights the need for guardrails, defined use cases, and an understanding of varying tolerance levels for error, particularly in sensitive applications like healthcare versus entertainment. Companies face stricter scrutiny than individuals or smaller entities when trust is compromised.

THE CRITICAL ROLE OF TRUST IN MODERN LEADERSHIP

Echoing Rometty's core message, discussions at ATD 2024 reinforced the indispensable role of trust in leadership development. Professionals highlighted the necessity of psychological safety and open communication, with trust serving as the bedrock for constructive feedback and organizational advancement. Building trust is fundamental to creating an environment where employees feel secure and valued. This aligns with Rometty's belief that leadership effectiveness is intrinsically linked to the quality of relationships and positive communication within an organization, especially when confronting rapid change and uncertainty.

Mentioned in This Episode

●Software & Apps

●Companies

●Organizations

●Books

●Concepts

●People Referenced

Building Trust and Leading Through Change: Key Principles

Practical takeaways from this episode

Do This

Be in service of others, putting their needs before your own.

Build belief by appealing to both people's hearts and minds.

Recognize what must endure, not just what needs to change, during transformations.

Be a steward of good technology, managing both its upside and downside.

Cultivate resilience through strong relationships and a positive attitude.

Co-create ideas and enlist support to build trust.

Personalize your approach to connect with people on an emotional level.

Paint reality honestly while also offering hope for the future.

Focus on how work gets done and the skills your team needs for the future.

Hire for aptitude and propensity to learn, not just degrees or current knowledge.

Focus on building skill within your workforce, as skills will need updating every 3-5 years.

State and live by principles for technology, such as augmenting mankind and ensuring transparency.

Avoid This

Drift too far away from your core enduring principles or mission.

Simply tell your workforce to 'go faster' without changing how work is done.

Overlook the downsides of technology in favor of the upside.

Treat compromise as a loss; aim for a 'third way' when different approaches exist.

Let the starting point (e.g., lack of a degree) determine a person's ending point in their career.

Rely solely on traditional qualifications like college degrees for hiring; prioritize skills and learning ability.

Common Questions

'Good Power' is a leadership philosophy emphasizing that how a leader leads is as important as what they accomplish. It centers on building trust with employees and customers through principles like being in service of others and stewarding technology responsibly.

Mentioned in this video

bookGood Power

Ginni Rometty's debut book that crystallizes the idea that how one leads is as important as what they achieve, emphasizing trust with reports and employees.

eventATD 2024

The Association for Talent Development's annual conference where insights on future leadership traits were gathered.

companyFreeman

Company where Lonna Hendrick serves as Senior Director of Training.

conceptDesign Thinking

A methodology adopted by IBM at scale, alongside Agile, to change how work gets done.

companyMarriott

A company for whom IBM was doing work, where the CEO advised Ginni Rometty to focus on being the best IBM possible, illustrating the concept of 'what should endure'.

personAnne Creedy

Strategic Business Partner for the Center for Creative Leadership, who stressed the need for trust and psychological safety in leadership.

companyPricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting

Consulting business acquired by IBM, which Ginni Rometty managed the integration for, highlighting lessons in co-creation and building belief.

personGinni Rometty

Former Chairman, President, and CEO of IBM, named Fortune's number one most powerful woman three years in a row, and author of 'Good Power'.

organizationCenter for Creative Leadership

Organization where Anne Creedy works, focusing on leadership development and the importance of trust and psychological safety.

conceptAgile

A methodology that IBM adopted at scale for hundreds of thousands of people, as part of changing how work gets done.

personKen Chenault

Former CEO of American Express, who shared with Ginni Rometty the idea that the job of a leader is to 'paint reality and give hope'.

Found this useful? Build your knowledge library

Get AI-powered summaries of any YouTube video, podcast, or article in seconds. Save them to your personal pods and access them anytime.

Try Summify free