Top CEOs outline the skill sets business graduates must develop to thrive in an ever-changing business world
Paul Polman, Former CEO, Unilever
Most millennials, in the majority of the countries in which Unilever operates, now say we are their preferred employer. We’re the third most looked-up company on LinkedIn, with 1.8 million people applying to us because they want to make a difference in the world. Yes, they want to get paid, but that’s not the only reason for being here.
The skills we’d look for in a business graduate are changing because the world is changing. There are some skill sets we will always look for: integrity is one of these things; being hardworking probably comes second; and intelligence. So there are basic skills that will always permeate the centuries, but there are some that are different.
We are living in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world and this needs different leaders, who have a high level of awareness about what’s going on in the world, a high level of engagement in wanting to do something about it, and who operate with humility and humanity. These purpose-driven skill sets are coming to the fore. We look at other things, such as systemic thinking. The world is complex so we take the food/water/energy nexus and we need people who can solve issues together, deal with the complexity – distil it into simplicity and drive it into action. We look at partnerships – we cannot handle all these issues alone any more.
The skill sets and qualities we’re looking for are becoming significantly broader than the narrowly defined academic fulfilments for MBA programmes, which are sometimes too one-dimensional.
I think people who have multiple skills are a little bit more rounded. Every two years, there is a doubling of the science, information and knowledge that exists in the world. In a four-year course, what you learn in the first two years may well be obsolete by the time you finish. Our people need slightly different skill sets, depending on the department in which they work; procurement, research and development or marketing and sales, for example. But, broadly speaking, we want people who can work across areas, and see the broader aspects.
Often the moment in life when you become a good leader is when you realise it’s not about yourself; when you come to believe that investing in others, or investing in society (the common good, as I call it), is actually the best investment for yourself. The financial crisis we saw in 2008 is something I describe as ‘a crisis of morality’ because too many put their own interests ahead of the common good.
We look at people with broader experience, and hire them from different backgrounds, so we have different perspectives. If you’re single-mindedly focused on your own advancement, it wouldn’t go well in a company such as Unilever. We’re very mindful of not judging people who have different values to ours, but when interviewing, I would look more at this aspect, rather than the pure science parts.
Hikmet Ersek, CEO, Western Union
People are afraid to take decisions. Global leadership is about setting priorities and identifying what is important and what is not. A large part of this involves making difficult, sometimes unpopular, decisions. It involves making mistakes. It’s tough. It’s not always fun and sometimes it makes your stomach hurt. But it is also part of leadership.
Leaders cannot be afraid to make mistakes. Leaders have to make fast and competitive decisions, often with partial or unclear information. Some of them will be right, some of them will be wrong. But if 51% are the right decisions, it could be this 1% that sets great companies and great leaders apart. True leaders take the blame and give the credit. They are fully accountable when things go wrong and they acknowledge the role their people play in success.
Leaders of tomorrow must question the status quo; they must listen to customers and be willing to respond to rapidly changing competitive and market demands. Leaders of tomorrow must have a culture of testing and learning, making errors but learning from this. Asking ‘why?’ has been the theme throughout my business life.
During the Jack Welch period at General Electric, I went through the Six Sigma training and learned the concept of ‘ask why five times’. Only by asking ‘why?’ can you create change. Asking ‘why?’ generates simple solutions to address complexities. Often in my career when I asked the question ‘why?’, I heard the answer ‘because it was always like that’.
Even more often, I have seen business leaders defending acting in silos and protecting the old core business investment and resources. They don’t want to change if you don’t ask the question ‘why?’. New opportunities may initially appear less attractive than the core business. They are harder, they take longer to implement, they usually present lower margins and they tend to go to customers you don’t have today. Asking ‘why?’ allows leaders to transform companies, to stimulate innovation and to drive change
in culture.
Companies that have failed or struggled (such as Kodak) had challenges because they were slow to notice changing customer behaviour and slow to recognise their business model didn’t ask the question ‘why?’. Western Union was nearly one of those companies that failed and we had to really question our operating model, brand and identity – we had to ask how to stay relevant to customers and the ever-changing global business environment. Leaders of tomorrow ask questions and adapt, challenge and transform.
This is my favourite skill and it has helped me throughout all my career.
Tim Griffin, Former Global VP of Sales and Solutions, Dell (now MD of DCC Technology)
Any business graduate who wants to be ready to lead and contribute within the technology industry should have an understanding of both the art and science of selling. It’s also important to have a deep understanding of critical thinking and business management through the lens of disruption and evolution; vital components of the industry in which we operate.
We want to encourage creativity and innovation and this is often inspired by combining different skill sets and backgrounds.
The key to success is creating organisational agility. The ability to think innovatively at all levels is vital and this innovation is encouraged by leaders who have emotional intelligence as well as all the academic prowess a business graduate might bring. By creating a diverse workforce of members who bring their whole selves to work each day, and whose entrepreneurial spirit is embraced, an organisation can become
agile through innovation.
