WHARTON LEADERSHIP DIGEST 

October, 2000, Volume 5, Number 1 

Contents 

Leadership Below Zero:  Enduring Lessons from Ernest Shackleton in the Antarctica
International Leadership:  Japanese CEOs
Leadership Portrait:  General Peter Pace of the U.S. Marine Corps
Leadership Article:  Firing Up the Front Line
Leadership Portrait:  Jeanne Jackson of Wal-mart.com 
Internet Leadership:  What It Takes
Leadership Portrait:  Nancy Barry of Women’s World Banking 
Leadership Quote:  Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., on Upward Feedback  

Leadership Below Zero:  Enduring Lessons from Ernest Shackleton in the Antarctica 

The story is legendary.  Ernest Shackleton sailed on December 5, 1914 from South   George Island southeast of the Falklands with 27 men for what was to be the first full crossing of the Antarctica.  Rapidly congealing ice trapped his ship, Endurance, some 60 miles from the continent, and 282 days later it crushed and sank the vessel.  The marooned crew clung to ice floes and survived on seals.  At many points it appeared that all were doomed, but through perseverance, ingenuity, and extraordinary leadership, Shackleton saved everybody.  

Company consultant Dennis N. T. Perkins has extracted ten leadership lessons from the ill-fated expedition.  He finds that the same principles are often followed by mountaineering expeditions, combat units, and business firms facing periods of acute uncertainty and hostile challenge: 

1. Keep sight of the ultimate goal but focus energy on interim objectives.  Shackleton was ever riveted on the safety and survival of his men.  When morale severely plummeted at one point, Shackleton organized a trek to cross 314 miles of ice floe to an old food cache.  It floundered, but the collective endeavor restored the crew’s life-sustaining esprit.  

2. Use symbolic actions to send indelible messages.  Shackleton knew that disposing of all unessential personal effects would be vital for the crossing, and he insisted that each man carry no more than two pounds.  To drive the point home, he visibly disposed of his own gold watch and coins. 

3. Engender optimism.  As a sustaining contrivance, Shackleton openly plotted their next expedition – to Alaska.  

4. Sustain your stamina.  When a crew member succumbed to the numbing temperatures, Shackleton was quick to dispense extra clothing. 

5. Maintain your team.  “Little cliques and factions would grow up,” recalled one crew member, “but Shackleton’s tact and diplomacy soon destroyed” the divisions.  

6. Minimize your differences.  Ten of the 28 castaways were forced to use inadequate sleeping bags after the ship sank, and Shackleton assigned the sub-par bags by lottery – except for one that he assigned to himself.      

7. Diffuse conflict.  Shackleton arranged for two of the crew’s most difficult and disruptive personalities to share a tent with him. 

8. Celebrate.  On December 5, 1915, one year after their departure, crew members knew they should have been on a triumphal return to England.  Mindful of the potentially demoralizing anniversary, Shackleton arranged a holiday to commemorate their great success in surviving a full year. 

9. Risk nothing needlessly, bet everything when essential.  When the crew finally reached an inhospitable Elephant Island at the edge of the Antarctic, they stood on land for the first time in 497 days.  Yet the welcome patch of terra firma offered no respite.  The nearest point of civilization – South Georgia Island – still lay 800 miles across the one of the most daunting sailing courses in the world.  With virtually no navigational aids, Shackleton set out with five others to cross it in a 22-foot craft.  Eighteen days later, in one of the most daunting feats of steerage and survival ever, their tiny boat landed on South Georgia.  

10. Never, never, never give up.  Shackleton unfortunately landed on the wrong side of the island, and he would still have to make a perilous crossing of uncharted mountains and crevassed glaciers to a whaling station on the far side.  It required 36 hours of extreme climbing, but at 3 PM on May 20, 1916 he announced to a startled station manager, “My name is Shackleton.”  On August 30, he rescued the remaining crew he had left on Elephant Island, 634 days after first setting out.     

Source:  Dennis N. T. Perkins with Margaret P. Holtman, Paul R. Kessler, and Catherine McCarty, Leading at the Edge:  Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Saga of Shackleton’s Antarctic Expedition.  New York: American Management Association, 2000.  Dennis Perkins can be reached at <dennis.perkins@syncreticsgroup.com>.


International Leadership:  Japan   

Kazutaka Okada, a Wharton MBA student, has compiled a set of links to articles in English with profiles of and information on 38 leaders of Japanese companies, including: 

   Fujio Cho, president of Toyota
   Takuya Goto, president of Kao
   Nobuyuki Idei, president of Sony
   Yotaro Kobayashi, chairman of Fuji Xerox

                                Fujio Mitarai, president of Canon
                                Kunio Nakamura, president of Matsushita Electric Industrial
                                Masayoshi Son, president of Softbank
                                Keiji Tachikawa, president, NTT DoCoMo 

These links can be viewed at <http://leadership.wharton.upenn.edu/l_change/Interviews/JBL.shtml>,and Kazutaka Okada can be contacted at <okadak@wharton.upenn.edu>.
 

Leadership Portrait:  General Peter Pace of the U.S. Marine Corps 

By Jason Santamaria, Wharton MBA Student 
       and former U.S. Marine Corps officer   

Four-Star General Peter Pace, U.S. Marine Corps Commander in Chief of the United States Southern Command, visited the Wharton School on October 4 to speak about leadership in the military and business environments.  In a presentation to several MBA classes on leadership and a forum with university president Judith Rodin and Wharton vice dean David Schmittlein, General Pace offered his insights on making sound decisions, selecting the right organization, dealing with moral dilemmas, and taking care of those in one’s charge.   

The officer directly responsible for all military operations in the Western Hemisphere below the southern border of the United States, General Pace made his first point on leadership even before the presentation began.  He circulated throughout the classroom and personally introduced himself to every student present. 

Making Sound Decisions:  As a newly minted lieutenant leading his platoon on patrol in Vietnam in 1968, Pace asked his company commander for direction at three decision points.  On the third request, his commander sternly replied, “do your job and make a decision, lieutenant!”  The moral to this story:  Sound decision making comes from understanding the division of responsibilities in one’s organization.  Be aggressive in addressing all matters within your control, and inform your superiors only when the challenge at hand exceeds your responsibilities. 

Selecting the Right Organization:   General Pace was fortunate to have served in several units with disproportionately high numbers of officers who later became generals.  While his experiences in these high-performing units greatly enhanced his professional development and were personally satisfying, his involvement was not by choice, but rather by assignment.  His advice to business students who will have the opportunity to choose among multiple lucrative opportunities after graduation:  Do not sacrifice satisfaction for money.  Be someone who seeks out class organizations that have strong values and leadership principles aligned with your own and that are comprised of talented individuals with whom you would value working. 

Dealing with Moral Dilemmas:  During his thirteen months in Vietnam, one of Lieutenant Pace’s Marines was shot in the chest by a sniper in a nearby village.  Pace was so outraged that he called for an artillery barrage on the village.  An odd look from an experienced non-commissioned officer, however, prompted Pace to reconsider his actions, and he cancelled the barrage.  It turned out that the village was filled with non-combatants.  The winds of war caused Pace to deviate momentarily from his sense of right and wrong.  In a similar manner, the winds of business could tempt one to deviate from one’s moral bounds.  General Pace’s advice:  Think through who you are and what your moral bounds are before entering potentially compromising situations.  Be aware that certain courses of action can break your code of right and wrong.  Listen to your conscience and never abandon your integrity.   

Taking Care of Those in One’s Charge:  Throughout his career, General Pace has continually sought to improve his capacity to demonstrate a genuine concern for the welfare of those in his charge and to include his subordinates in the decision making process.  And in each new assignment, his Marines have reciprocated this effort by performing at a higher level, thus creating a virtuous cycle.  General Pace’s advice to new business leaders:  Take care of your people; help them with their problems; place a premium on their personal and professional development; and listen to their advice.  It’s the right thing to do, and they will take better care of you than you could of yourself. 

 Note:  Information on General Peter Pace and the Southern Command is available at <http://www.southcom.mil/home/index.htm>, and Jason Santamaria can be reached at <santamaj@wharton.upenn.edu>.  
 

Leadership article:  Firing Up the Front Line 

Jon Katzenbach, a former partner at McKinsey & Co. now running his own consulting firm (Katzenbach and Associates), and Jason Santamaria, a former officer of the U.S. Marine Corps and now a second-year MBA student at Wharton, find the practices of certain businesses and the U.S. Marine Corps especially effective at “firing up the front line” to move the market or win the battle.  They single out five practices:  

1. Over-invest in building shared culture and common values.
2. Prepare everybody to lead, including the front-line.
3. Be clear on whether the work is to be preformed by teams or single-leader groups.
4. Invest time and resources to develop everybody, including the least effective performers. 
5. Use disciplines to instill pride and confidence in mission and organization.  

Source:  Jon R. Katzenbach and Jason A. Santamaria, “Firing Up the Front Line,” Harvard Business Review, May-June, 1999, pp. 107-117.
 

Leadership Portrait:  Jeanne Jackson of Wal-mart.com 

By John Joseph, Wharton MBA Student and Co-President of the Wharton E-Commerce Club 

What would Sam Walton say about the Internet?  Jeanne Jackson, CEO of Wal-mart.com, suspects he’d be interested. “He’d say if it helps the customer, do it, but do it right.” 

With a $190 billion retailing juggernaut behind her, Jackson plans to do it right.  Recognized as one of The Fifty Most Powerful Women in American Business by Fortune magazine, this retail veteran who launched Internet sites for all three Gap brands (Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy) is well suited to build the one e-business capable of squashing the likes of Amazon.com. 

Prior to joining Wal-Mart.com, Jackson was the President and CEO of Banana Republic, and held top posts at Federated Department Stores, Saks Fifth Avenue, the Walt Disney Company, and Victoria’s Secret.  

Her roots in retail and operations serve her well and provide a sound foundation for her philosophy of leadership, an important construct for her and the subject of a module she teaches at Stanford University’s School of Engineering. 

Her first tenet of leadership is that the leader is responsible for articulating the company’s vision clearly. “It doesn’t have to be my vision,” she adds, “but every person must understand their role and how it relates to the organization’s success.”  

She also believes in setting expectations high and then serving as a conduit for making sure people’s paths are clear.  Jackson says, “Get the stuff out of their way so they can do what they need to do to be successful.  If process is in their way, get it out of the way.  If they need capital to build something to make it happen, then get them the capital.”   

In addition to clearing the trees, Jackson maintains a direct line of sight to all levels of her start-up.  She states, “I communicate at every level of the organization.  If I only communicate to the executive team, then the right message does not get passed down through the layers.  I’ll tell them what I’m worried about.  I’ll tell them what I’m confident about.” 

Jackson holds all-hands meetings where she takes any and all questions – even the tough ones.   At one meeting, she noted that there was some skepticism that the dot-com wouldn’t go public, and that once the spin off had proven its worth, the Wal-mart parent would reel it back in.  Her solution was to bring out Wal-mart.com’s articles of incorporation and show them the agreement word for word.  

But Jeanne and her team of 170 associates (up from five when she joined in March, 2000) have a formidable task ahead of them.  As of this article’s publication, the Wal-mart.com site is under construction and undergoing a major overhaul.  For most dot-coms, this would be suicide.  But Jackson doesn’t feel the need to be first.  And when the site reopens in a few weeks, you won’t find flashy web designs or bleeding-edge technology.  Her immediate goal instead is to have a strong team in place to deliver the most usable e-commerce site on the Internet. 

Her first directive from the governing board, in fact, was not to build a killer app.  It was to build a great team.  And when it comes to talent, Jackson notes:  “A people hire A+ people because top people understand that the better your team is the better your results are going to be.  The times that I’ve really gotten burned are places where I wanted someone in a job so badly that I settled for somebody who wasn’t absolutely the best or where I let somebody stay in a job too long who wasn’t performing.” 

Though she firmly believe the basic principles of e-leadership are the same principles for leadership in the old economy, Jackson points out that how you spend your day differs dramatically.  “When you’re in a startup, if you’re not willing to roll up your sleeves and step in and do the job, then there’s no one to do it.”   It’s a sentiment that Sam Walton himself would have no doubt appreciated. 

Note:  John Joseph can be reached at <John.Joseph.wg01@wharton.upenn.edu>.
 

INTERNET LEADERSHIP:  What it Takes 

Mike Useem, editor of the Wharton Leadership Digest, argues that Internet leadership requires traditional capabilities and several new ones.  His article in the October 2nd issue of The Industry Standard on “Making Your Mark:  Leadership in the New Economy Requires Flexibility, Speed, Passion – and a Thick Skin,” can be viewed at <http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,18917,00.html>. 
 

leadership portrait:  Nancy Barry of Women’s World Banking

Aneesha Capur, Wharton MBA Student  

In response to the question –  “Where would you like to be in five years?” – Nancy Barry, president of Women’s World Banking, quipped that “I’d like to be the president of the World Bank.”  Presenting to an MBA leadership class at the Wharton School on September 18, the former World Bank official explained:  “We’re always joking about our friendly takeover of The World Bank in 2005!”  

Nancy Barry has successfully led Women’s World Banking (WWB) for a decade in building an emerging global network for banking innovation in micro finance.  She leads with a cohesive and focused style.  Her “rules of the game” include disallowing self-serving agendas, checking egos at the door, and collaborating for results. 

Recently featured by the Drucker Foundation as an organization for the future because of its exceptional ability to build a worldwide consortium of like-minded organizations, WWB has established a “practitioner network” of entities that provide financing to tiny start-ups among millions of poor women.  The affiliates in WWB’s network are characterized by a commitment to working with poor women to transform financial systems in favor of the under-served, and  sharing new knowledge and best practices in micro-finance across the affiliates. 

Nancy Barry sparked an impassioned debate among the MBA students by soliciting advice for her latest challenge regarding the strategic direction of the organization:  Should WWB go deep – remaining dedicated to improving its current clientele – or broad – extending the network to men as well as expanding geographically?  Student responses ranged from, “The sky’s the limit.  Go for it.  Help both women and men everywhere!” to “Be results-oriented.”  Some proposed reinforcing the status quo, arguing that empowering poor women leads to a better provisioning of their families, and any broadening of that strategy will dilute the WWB’s brand, mission and focus.  Others suggested instead a business-incubator model that would offer both expertise and financing to all who are ready anywhere to launch a micro-enterprise. 

Note:  Aneesha Capur can be reached at <acapur@wharton.upenn.edu>.
 

Leadership quote:  Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., on Upward Feedback 

 “I don’t want any yes-men around me.  I want them to tell me the truth, even if it costs them their jobs.” 

Source:  Movie maker Samuel Goldwyn, Jr.
 

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