 Last week, I attended a lecture given by George P. “Bud” Peterson, the current President of Georgia Institute of Technology (which I currently attend for graduate school in Quantitative and Computational Finance). The event was organized as part of the Impact Lecture series, held at Georgia Tech's College of Management in Technology Square. Dr. Peterson's talk was 'On Leadership,' which I summarize below. In one of my classes (Entrepreneurial Finance and Private Equity taught by Professor Jayaraman), Dr. Jayaraman asked if anyone attended the lecture. I enthusiastically raised my hand because I thought it was a wonderful talk. The professor asked me to summarize the talk, and so I did. I summarize the main points for the rest of you in this photoblog post. First, about what wasn't Dr. Peterson's talk? It wasn't about how to become a leader (I think that's a topic that could take months to discuss), but rather trying to define leadership via characteristics that leaders share. From the outset, in his presentation, Dr. Peterson talked about the difference between managers and leaders. He explained that managers at large corporations are more interested in preventing mistakes, while leaders are the ones who inspire a fervor of creativity and passion in others. While managers seek to minimize failure as much as possible, leaders must necessarily be able to withstand (perhaps even embrace) failure. Indeed, very few accomplishments are on a one way track to success, and at least to me, failure is important. Because if we don't fail, how can we learn? Another point that resonated with me was Dr. Peterson's personal experience regarding management and accountability. He mentioned how in his younger days as an assistant professor at Texas A&M University, he had a few graduate students working under his guidance. He shared a lab with another professor, and the two often had exchanges about their research experiences. The other professor had a lab policy in which the graduate students had to ask permission from their professor before they could buy any kind of supplies for their work in the lab (they also had to report to the professor on a weekly basis regarding their research progress). On the other hand, Dr. Peterson's policy was that anything that cost less than $250 and that the students needed in the lab, they were free to buy without asking Dr. Peterson. After six months of working in the same lab, Dr. Peterson and his colleague had a conversation about the progress occurring in their labs. Guess what was the outcome? The professor who was strict about what his grad students could buy without contacting him first had fewer accomplishments than what the grad students accomplished in Dr. Peterson's lab in the same span of time. The lesson here? Micro-managing is rarely beneficial for creative work. In fact, micro-managing tends to frustrate, even suffocate the flow of creativity and progress. Leaders need to figure out a way to inspire without being overbearing. Dr. Peterson talked about how Georgia Tech is one of the world leaders in higher education, especially in technology and engineering. The most prominent example is that of the Biomedical Engineering Department at Georgia Tech. Ten years ago, this program did not even exist. Today, it ranks as the second most prestigious program in the United States according to the U.S. News & World Report (note: I am a proud Georgia Tech graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Engineering). What is most profound, however, is that the people who brought this program to existence and cultivated it over the years remained largely away from the spotlight for many years. Their motivation was to make the Biomedical Engineering program one of the best in the nation, but they chose not to find glory in their endeavors. This is another facet of leadership: to seek to do something substantial, but without the justification of publicity or recognition of some sort. Let the results speak for themselves. In one of the more entertaining parts of the talk, Dr. Peterson quoted one of the greatest leaders of our time, president John Fitzgerald Kennedy. He referenced Kennedy's speech, 'We Choose to go to the Moon,' which Kennedy delivered on September 12, 1962 at Rice University in Houston, Texas (I highly recommend watching a broadcast of this speech here). Dr. Peterson, to the delight of the audience, quoted Kennedy with a New England accent: But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas? We choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go to the Moon...we choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.I was particularly impressed with this delivery, not least because that is one of my favourite presidential speeches as well. Dr. Peterson brought up this famous quote because the great achievements in our lives aren't easy: they are hard. But he had a more important point to make, and it was this: in Kennedy's speech, was there an implicit argument for going to the Moon? Dr. Peterson argued that the answer is yes, because the Americans wanted to go to the Moon so that they could beat the Russians. And while competition is important and vital for a healthy environment, Dr. Peterson warned that if leaders choose to circumvent or define their goals in favor (defeating, reproducing, or advancing) of some other party (whether the other party is made aware or not), our leadership suffers in the process. The takeaway here is that leaders must be especially transparent in what they do, without trying to be defined or reinforced by the works, progress, or achievements of others. How very interesting and appropriate, as President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today. Dr. Peterson concluded his speech with the great quote by Walter Lippmann: The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and will to carry on...The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense, without the grace of genius, can deal with successfully.After he finished his talk, the audience had a chance to ask some questions. One of the more interesting questions came from a young student who asked whether Dr. Peterson had a vision for the Institute in the years to come. Dr. Peterson explained that he is currently involved in a strategic plan to develop a twenty-five year plan for Georgia Tech. To explain further, Dr. Peterson cited his Investiture Address to the Institute which he gave on September 3, 2009: [H]ere at Georgia Tech, we're not only solving problems for today, but also designing the future—our future. That's why we have initiated a strategic planning process to develop a 25-year plan, a strategic vision that will identify what Georgia Tech should be like on its 150th anniversary, when the children who are being born today will be graduating as proud Georgia Tech alums.I thoroughly enjoyed attending this talk. I learned a lot, and I have shared the main points of his talk with you all here. Outside of the great arguments that Dr. Peterson made about leadership, I was impressed at how great of a speaker he is. Dr. Peterson was fluid in his delivery, tactful in his choice of words, and especially engaging with his audience. If you attended this event, please leave a comment (use the comments link at the bottom of the photo) about your thoughts. Feel free to bring up additional points which I didn't mention here. For those of you who read my summary, I encourage you to chime in with your thoughts about leadership. ### More about Dr. Peterson: In April 2009, following a unanimous vote by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents, Dr. G. P. 'Bud' Peterson became the eleventh president of the Georgia Institute of Technology. Throughout his career, Peterson has played an active role in helping to establish the national education and research agendas, serving on numerous industry, government, and academic task forces and committees. Peterson earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1975, a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1977, and a master's degree in mechanical engineering in 1980, all from Kansas State University. He has also earned a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University in 1985. Prior to becoming the 11th president of Georgia Tech, Dr. Peterson has served as chancellor of the University of Colorado at Boulder and provost at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. To read more about Dr. Peterson, click here (opens as PDF file). Note: my other Georgia Tech related pictures are here, here, here, and here. And my favourite image is here. |
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