Do you have growth traits?
June 4th, 2006
Just a quick post today before I fly off to North Carolina this afternoon. Check out the very interesting interview with General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt in the June 2006 issue of Harvard Business Review. Immelt discusses at length how he is trying to lead G.E. to organic growth that is 2-3 times faster than world GDP, which is a rate of about 8%. Imagine that as a goal for your organization! Among the many strategic approaches and tools the company is putting into practice is a focus on identifying and developing leaders with five specific growth traits. They are:
- External focus
- Clear thinking
- Imagination
- Inclusiveness
- Domain expertise
Obviously, there is much more to these ideas than just these five bullet points, but they still sparked my thinking about a crucial question, given my “growing” obsession with growth in the association marketplace: how many association leaders possess all five of these traits and are able to use them effectively in their day-to-day work? What’s more, are we doing enough in the association community to develop these capabilities in our leaders? We will continue this very important conversation going forward. In the meantime, happy Sunday!
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Entry Filed under: Principled Innovation Blog, What's New?, Innovation, Associations, Extreme Makeover, The Association Innovator
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