Knowledge Network: Faculty & Research

Knowledge flowed from Glendale, Arizona, when more than 1,000 participants gathered to converse with 95 speakers from 79 organizations and 48 countries at the inaugural Thunderbird Global Business Dialogue. “The world needs global leaders,” Thunderbird School of Global Management President Ángel Cabrera, Ph.D., said during his welcoming remarks at the Renaissance Glendale Hotel & Spa near campus. “We need people who can seize opportunities created by globalization, who can create value and who can contribute to a more sustainable and more inclusive global economy—one that does not put at risk those who come behind us and does not leave people out.” Panelists and keynote speakers from government, business and social sector organizations shared ideas on everything from global finance to social media strategy during the two-day event Nov. 10-11, 2011. Watch session videos, download podcasts and read more on the Thunderbird Global Business Dialogue blog.

Listen to the quietest voice in the room—Bob Dudley ’79, CEO, BP Group

Hire the best-educated, most creative people you can find and then get the hell out of the way—Craig Barrett, Retired CEO and Chairman, Intel

Hire the best talent into your organization, empower them with what they need to move forward, and then let them lead—José María Figueres, Former President, Costa Rica

Make sure that the heap you may be standing upon is not comprised of your own employees—Professor Christine Pearson, Ph.D., Thunderbird School of Global Management

Give power to your employees—Maha Shawareb, Vice President, Business Development Center

They were smart enough to get past your interview process. They earned a seat at the table, so listen to them—Elizabeth Sullivan, Chief Operating Officer, UBS Russia

Get the right talent that is passionate about making a difference, and let them do what they do best—Mikan van Zanten, Head of Mainstream Private Equity, Robeco

We need to replace B2B with P2P, people to people—Ekaterina Walter ’08, Social Media Strategist, Intel

Labels are for jam jars, not people—Caroline Casey, Founder, Kanchi

You’re only as good as the people you employ around you—Katherine Garrett-Cox, CEO, Alliance Trust

You can never communicate enough—Michael Zuieback ’91, Executive Vice President, Discount Tire

If you’re running a large, complex organization, you’re not going to do it on your own. You need to develop others and be part of a team—Jim Balaschak, Partner, Deloitte & Touche

The biggest mistake I ever made was thinking I could do it all—Marty Evans, Rear Admiral (Retired), U.S. Navy

When we hire people in our organizations, we have an obligation to remove the barriers to their success—Marty Evans

Go toward your fear—Gayle Lemmon, Author of “The Dressmaker of Khair Khana”

If you’re not passionate about what you’re doing, you need to stop doing it—John Hope Bryant, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Operation HOPE

Denial is the worst enemy in crisis management—Bob Dudley ’79

Acknowledge when you’re wrong—Justin Fox, Editorial Director, Harvard Business Review

Do or do not; there is no try—Brad Feld, Managing Director, Foundry Group (quoting Yoda from “Star Wars”)

A small deed done is better than a big deed planned—Craig Barrett (quoting a fortune cookie message)

No risk means no return—Katherine Garrett-Cox

The most common mistake I have seen among leaders is when they believe they know it all—José María Figueres

Listen a lot more than you talk—Shelly M. Esque, President, Intel Foundation

Check your ego at the door so you can walk into a room and listen to everybody’s opinion—Patricia Meier, CEO, HSM-U.S.

Sometimes you get so absorbed in running your company that you forget to listen—Mia Haugen, Executive Producer, TheStreet

Be able to listen. Don’t just be a forceful pounder of the table—Terry Newendorp, Chairman and CEO, Taylor-DeJongh

We make mistakes every day. We need to surround ourselves with people who tell us when we’re wrong—Bruce Grossman, Board Member, Arca-Contal

Ego can be a problem if you think you have all the answers. On the other hand, indecisiveness can be a problem. There is a difference between ego and confidence—Larry Thomas, CEO, Fender Musical Instruments

You cannot assume you will always hold the higher ground. Partnerships are crucial—R. Paul Kinscherff, Chief Financial Officer, Boeing International

Let people see the person behind the professional—Katharina Lichtner, Managing Director, Capital Dynamics

Girls, ambition is not a dirty word. Don’t apologize for wanting to be out there—Gayle Lemmon

Numbers plus creativity equals strategy—Mark Penn, Global CEO, Burson-Marsteller

Don’t think about the present. Think about what will exist in five years and start planning for it now because it will happen in two years—Matt Berg ’05, Millennium Villages Project, Columbia University’s Earth Institute

If you don’t know your customers, you will not provide vision for your organization—Kurt Geiger, Chairman of Advisory Board, Alpha Associates

Totally focus on the customer you are serving—Merle Hinrichs ’65 , Executive Chairman, Global Sources

Understand your customer. That’s the most important thing—Parag Saxena, CEO and Founding Partner, New Silk Route

The most common leadership mistake I see is people relying on the past to define the future—Nico Posner ’00, Principal Product Manager, LinkedIn

Even great leaders fight the last war—Stuart Holliday, President, Meridian International Center

You need a true north. Otherwise, the world will whip you around from one crisis to the next, and the urgent will always crowd out the important—John Hope Bryant

We need a North Star out there that illuminates our short-term decision-making process—José María Figueres

Even when you’re under fire, you need a quiet sense of optimism that comes from having a clear direction—Bob Dudley ’79

Technology is not the barrier; imagination is—Shelly M. Esque

Solutions to the complex problems of the 21st century will not be found in the mainstream but rather in the fringe—Jed Emerson, Executive Vice President of Strategic Development, ImpactAssets

Don’t punish failure—Michelle Guthrie, Director of Strategic Business Development, Google Asia Pacific

Failure can be a badge of honor—Mark Heesen, President, National Venture Capital Association

Let the employees know that it’s OK to make mistakes, and it’s OK to try new things—Thor Hauge, Vice President of Business Development, Western Union

Failure is not the worst thing. It’s how you wear your failure and how you learn from your failure that counts—Caroline Casey

Let the ideas flow to the top—R. Paul Kinscherff

Create a culture of collaboration—Larry Thomas n Don’t overwork your team. Once you overload people, they will spend all their time just getting their basic job done. They won’t have the bandwidth to innovate—Sunder Kimatrai ’92, Senior Vice President for Asia Pacific, Twentieth Century Fox International

The best way to foster innovation is through education, education and some more education—Paul Huibers ’90, General Manager for Central America, Caribbean, Andean Region and Southern Cone, Eli Lilly & Co.

Challenge the old ideas; ask questions in a different way—Tracy Bame, President, Freeport-McMoRan Foundation

You need to find the synergy between the public, private and social sectors—Wiebe Boer, Ph.D., CEO, The Tony Elumelu Foundation

If you are the benchmark, you have to constantly improve what you have built to keep others from getting ahead of you—Danny Ayala, Executive Vice President, Wells Fargo Bank

There are no complex problems. There are simple problems that we make complex. If you break every problem down into smaller and smaller pieces, you solve them one step at a time—Rashid Skaf ’93, President and CEO, AMX

I’m a big fan of history. You can’t reinvent the wheel every five minutes. You’ve got to look at some tried and true solutions to things—Lynn Sherr, Former Correspondent, ABC News

A global mindset is the activity of reaching out, engaging and being inclusive; it is not a destination—Merle Hinrichs ’65

No leader today can afford to be an ostrich—Mark Penn

Immerse yourself in other cultures—Yousuf A. Alireza, Director and Partner, Xenel Industries

Be a continual learner—Felicia Fields, Vice President of Human Resources, Ford Motor Company

When you travel, do less of the touristy things and immerse yourself in the local culture—Sonita Lontoh, Head of Marketing, Trilliant

You have to be able to deal with paradoxes—Milind Sathe ’91, CEO, Nidan Juices

Go beyond the myopia of your own realm of affairs—Indu Shahani, Ph.D., Sheriff of Mumbai

A global leader must function like a bridge. You must build connections between people, cultures, businesses and locations—Peter Yam, Chairman, Emerson Electric

Connect, create and contribute—Ángel Cabrera, Ph.D., President, Thunderbird

A global mindset has never been more important as the developed countries experience slower rates of growth—Joseph Quinlan, Managing Director and Chief Market Strategist, U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management

If you don’t speak a second language, you are falling behind—Kevin Sellers, Vice President of Advertising and Online Marketing, Intel

Languages open universes—Athanasios Moulakis, President and Provost, American University of Iraq, Sulaimani

Even if you share the same passport, there are many different cultures and socioeconomic differences in any one place—Sherry Cameron ’87, Bill Johnson’s Big Apple Restaurants CEO

Expose yourself to new ideas, and do it again and again and again—Katharina Lichtner, Managing Director

Negotiation can be a discussion, but first you need to understand the frames of reference of the people you’re having the discussion with—Terry Newendorp

After China and India, Facebook is the largest nation in the world—Ángel Cabrera, Ph.D.

The communication platform is different today. You cannot take the loudspeaker and pretend you’re going to have one-way communication—Manuel Sánchez, BBVA U.S. President and CEO

Naming and shaming in social media brings the transparency necessary for us all to move forward—Suhas Apte, Vice President of Global Sustainability, Kimberly-Clark

People come up with good ideas all the time. The trick is, can you connect that idea with someone who can make it evolve into something? Today with the Internet and Skype, LinkedIn, Facebook and all the tools we have, you can have an idea that immediately becomes reality—Ian McCluskey ’82, Principal, Thought Leadership International

Customers are now the content creators. They are defining your brand—Ekaterina Walter ’08

You need to enable every employee within your company to engage online with your customers—Ekaterina Walter ’08

This world has been built on financial leverage; now it will be built on social leverage—Howard Lindzon ’91, CEO and Founder, StockTwits

There are no social media experts—Howard Lindzon ’91

Delete “personal branding” from your vocabulary. Just be authentic—Brad Feld

Egypt was overthrown with Twitter—Brad Feld

We are no longer millions of people. We are individuals—Michael Marquez, Partner, CODE Advisors

Do yourself a favor, every single person here who spends 30 minutes a day watching television news or reading the newspaper: Stop, you’re wasting your time—Brad Feld

The only place you should read a magazine is in the bathroom—Brad Feld

Having to rely on a little machine 24/7 is tough. It has taken out personal communication. It has taken out understanding amongst cultures—Bruce Grossman, Board Member, Arca-Contal

Just to annoy the Twitter people, I brought a newspaper—Professor Jarl Kallberg, Ph.D., Thunderbird

As the emerging economies begin to develop, you’re going to see ideas coming at a more and more rapid pace—R. Paul Kinscherff

China is a miracle—Professor Roe Goddard, Ph.D., Thunderbird

China has been one of the most remarkable stories of economic development the world has seen since a small colonial nation called the United States emerged—Doug Guthrie, Dean at The George Washington University School of Business

The divide between the haves and the have-nots is increasing in India, but the whole base has moved up as well—Lalit Ahuja, Chairman and President, Target Corporation India

Every six months, Russia is a new country. You have to run to keep up—Sergey Riabokobylko, Co-founder, Cushman & Wakefield

In Nigeria they joke about being on the brink of the BRINC; some already call it BRICS to include South Africa—Wiebe Boer, Ph.D.

The entrepreneurs and value creators of the future will come from all corners of the planet—John Cook ’79, Chairman, Rock Lake Associates

Ideas no longer flow from the developed world into the developing world. Our best ideas today come from places such as Mexico or Turkey—Manuel Sánchez

Today, venture capitalists have to follow entrepreneurs not just in Silicon Valley, but around the world—Mark Heesen

Posted: 01|13|12 at 9:24 am.
Filed under: Global Business Dialogue, Global Leadership.
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