“Being a CEO or visionary means at some point you’re going to be very unpopular,” warns serial entrepreneur and NYU Stern School of Business Professor Scott Galloway. “Whenever I get attacked on Twitter, which is about every other hour, I think to myself, if you’re not occasionally getting pushback or getting questioned, you’re not really saying anything.”
He explains that when a leader is being questioned, it means they are drawing outside of the lines and trying to do something different. “That’s a key component of leadership,” he says.
Galloway shares four attributes of strong leadership that he’s uncovered in his more than 30 years of participating in the innovation economy:
- Excellence. “The CEO has to be the best person in the room at one thing. It can be a very narrow thing, but people are generally drawn to people who demonstrate excellence outside of just general management.”
- Accountability. “Great CEOs hold people accountable and aren’t afraid to fire them. We don’t talk a lot about that because it’s not aspirational, but a strategic firing is just as important as a strategic hire. I think everyone in an organization needs to be able to look right and left and say, ‘Maybe I don’t like this person, but I understand why they’re here.’”
- Empathy. “People want to know you’re pulling for them. Make an effort to understand how people’s desires and aspirations are similar and different from yours and show behavior that reflects that.”
- Perseverance. “Be willing to break through hard things and keep going, recognizing some of your biggest lows and highs come from two things: children and your own company.”
Leaders are visionary storytellers
Galloway says there are two types of leaders. He considers himself the first, the visionary leader – someone who does well at outlining a vision and getting everyone to follow.
But, he says, “After a couple of years, people get a little cynical and tired of that rap. What they really want, who really inspires loyalty, is someone who is willing to sit down, pull their chair up and say to them, ‘OK, this is how we do this, this is how you can be better at this.’”
That type of leader, which Galloway says is the more sustainable style, is the ‘player-coach.’
But most importantly, leaders today must be able to tell a good story. Forty years ago, three-quarters of tech IPOs were successful; today only one-third are, Galloway says, adding, “The story has taken over. Now the entire market cap of some of these companies is based on the narrative.”
He cautions that there is a thin line between vision and fraud. “When your business makes no sense, you start talking about it in flowery terms and say, don’t look at the business. Look over here.”
The reality is, he says, that as a visionary, you “have to be able to stand in front of a group of people and say something that you believe but that feels almost unbelievable.”
But successful leaders know how to craft a story that’s visionary, truthful and inspires people – both investors and consumers. The best stories appeal to human instinct. Using the iPhone as an example, he says that Steve Jobs didn’t market a phone, he sold a means of communicating to the world a sign that you’ve achieved a certain level of success.
Another successful storyteller is Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. His story, Galloway points out, was consistent, an important element for successful storytelling.
“If you read the original 1997 letter from Bezos, he says he was going to focus on a few things, and he consistently reinforced these three things: value, convenience and selection. And Jeff has done an incredible job. Remember, from 1999 to 2001, Amazon lost 90% of its value, but they stuck to their guns and told a consistent story over and over, and it was a compelling story.”
Final leadership takeaways
Galloway shares the best advice he says he received from a mentor, the late founder and CEO of Genentech, Robert Swanson:
- Don’t ever say anything in meetings for the first 15 minutes. Just ask questions and listen.
- Recognize that most rooms you go into, you’re not as smart as you think, and they’re not as dumb as you hoped.
Scott Galloway addressed business leaders at EDGE, YPO’s premier annual event and the largest gathering of CEOs in the world. For three days in New York City, more than 2,500 chief executives from 80 countries gather with influential thought leaders and experts to learn about and discuss critical topics in business and beyond. EDGE fosters a culture of trust, respect and inclusivity, where global leaders emerge with solutions to drive change and help shape our collective future. YPO EDGE returns to New York City in 2023 and 2024 and is open to all YPO members. Learn more about EDGE
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