In this episode, Sam Shriver, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at The Center for Leadership Studies, talks with George Morrow about leadership evolution.
Episode Transcript
Introduction
Welcome to The Center for Leadership Studies podcast, an exploration of contemporary leadership issues with experts from a variety of fields and leadership backgrounds. In this episode, Sam Shriver, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at The Center for Leadership Studies, talks with George Morrow about leadership evolution.
Sam Shriver
If a leader is naturally directive, can he or she ever become participative?
George Morrow
Can leaders evolve? Absolutely. In fact, not only absolutely, they better evolve. Certainly, as they go up the chain of command, their style has to morph somewhat. I think everybody has the capability of learning things and then incorporating them into their repertoire. So if you’re not doing it, then I think you’re going to fall behind. Having said all that, I think you have to be authentic. The worst thing for me, for example, would have been to try to become the charismatic leader, the guy that gives the great speech, the great rah-rah speech. My strength was more straight talk with people, and if I tried to become something else, I think I would have looked pretty phony to people.
As a leader, I think I learned how to consolidate my point of view a little more fully before I maybe articulated a response to something. I learned to take some of the emotion, including my own add of situations, and kind of get down to breast tax. I think I learned to really dig in there to find the root cause or root causes before I sanctioned any kind of action. I think I learned to listen better. Listening to conclude means listening to all of the facts, asking questions to make sure you get the full slate of issues or facts on the table, and only then trying to reach a conclusion. I thought, boy, I’m promoted. I must be really good. I must have all the answers.
And my job is to let people have their say, then tell them what the answer is and exactly the opposite. My job is to listen, hopefully, tap the collective intelligence and really listen, then draw my own conclusions. So all that was part of an evolution for me. I think you absolutely have to evolve. I think leadership is just an ongoing process of learning how to be a good leader.
Conclusion
As an Executive Vice president at Amgen, the world’s largest independent biotech company, George Morrow led global commercial operations, the division responsible for the commercial activities of approximately 3800 staff in over 50 countries. He also oversaw global government affairs, which manages Amgen’s policy and strategies with various government agencies. Before joining Amgen, George had 20 years of commercial pharmaceutical experience, with 10 years at Merck and 10 at Glaxo.
Thank you for listening to The Center for Leadership Studies podcast. Through its innovative leadership development programs, The Center for Leadership Studies has helped millions of individuals across the globe become more effective leaders and has helped thousands of organizations build more productive and engaged workforces. For additional information on our services and products, please visit Situational.com or call 800. 330.2840. At The Center for Leadership Studies, we build leaders.