The Who, What, When, Where, & Why

What do you think are the most important things a person needs to do to be an effective leader?

Different people lead in different ways. One of the things that I'm good at is building teams. So for me to be an effective leader, the first thing I need to do is to focus on my team and to make sure that I have the right person in every seat, that I'm empowering them and giving them the ability and the authority to feel like they own their piece of the business and to drive their piece of the business forward.

How are you doing at achieving all those qualities related to being an effective leader, would you say?

Steve Burke, who runs NBC Universal, once told me that the key to success is knowing what you're good at, which is a hard lesson to learn.

So what would you say you're good at? And what would you say you're not so good at?

I'm good at team building. I'm good at empowering people. I'm good at recognizing other people's good ideas and allowing them to run with it. What am I not so good at? I'm not so good at this.

You're doing fine with the interview!

I'm not so good at the interview piece, and that's something I have to work on because I also believe that part of being a good leader is being able to tell the story. I've learned and it's been a hard thing to learn in my 30 years that you never communicate enough, that you always need to be, every day you need to be telling your team, your company, the market, your customer, who you are, why you're there and what you're doing.

The best leaders are also the best sellers, and I don't mean that in a pejorative way, but you have to be able to sell your vision and your belief in your mission.

Yes, no question. There's no question it's a critical component to being a good leader.