October 12, 2011

Leadership Kudos and Gaffes: Recognizing a leader’s legacy

Leadership Kudos go to all those who have finally recognized Steve Jobs’ leadership legacy. Jobs didn’t fit anyone’s classic description of a leader but he was always authentic, passionate, visionary and committed to the highest standards – AND he grew wiser by understanding his failures and following his heart to the end. It is great to see him so recognized at his passing. His best advice that we can all follow: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” 

Leadership Gaffes this week go to Reed Hastings of Netflix who tried to be too clever with Qwikster.  He got caught with chasing his escalating stock price . . . and wound up destroying 65% of Netflix market cap. Hasting needs to get back to focusing on his customers before he loses them to competitors Amazon and Apple.  While Hastings admitted his error, he doesn’t seem to acknowledge the root cause of his mistakes. As Rob Kaplan says, it’s time to look at the person in the mirror.