Executive Profiles

I'm convinced that providence takes a hand in many careers. But it's not a free ride or a guarantee of success. Providence can put you in the right place at the right time. What happens when you're there is up to you.

It's a funny law of nature: 20 percent of the clouds produce 80 percent of the rain. And 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work. OK, leader, what do you plan to do about it?

I've been shocked that physicians haven't rebelled in unison against legislators and academics, at Harvard in particular, and fought back against those who have berated the integrity and ethics of the medical community. Is there anyone who seriously thinks a doctor will write one brand over another because of a ball point pen or a pad of paper?

Leaders must focus on "brainrest." Perspective comes only when the venue changes dramatically and you have enough time to mentally remove yourself from the usual office tensions and concerns.

Advice for new leaders: Forget the irrelevant meetings, the 300 e-mails, and the 50 voicemails.

It's difficult to terminate an associate, be it a new colleague or someone you've worked with for years. But if you can't do it, you risk losing the respect of your top performers. They'll look elsewhere for a level playing field.

Are large corporations, with massive bureaucracies and thousands of employees, capable of acknowledging employees' personal passions? They don't have a choice. Large numbers of talented people are leaving organizations because the corporate structure is not accommodating personal passion. The good news is that the great companies are starting to do something about it, which denotes a big change in business ideology. Bill Toppeta, president of MetLife International, recently told the Fordham Leadership Forum, at the Fordham Graduate School of Business, "What you need to know as the leader is what motivates your people, not what motivates you."

A leader has limited time and energy. Good choices about how to conserve these commodities make all the difference between performing exquisitely and just getting by.

Our co-promotions have helped us build a strong infrastructure in the US.

Corporate leaders' short-sighted focus on EPS and analyst expectations leaves the US workforce far behind its international counterparts when it comes to cultivating innovation. It's time we stepped up to the plate.

Leaders who are new on the job should get out of their nice offices and go sit with their direct reports. Sit with them in their spaces, over lunch or coffee-anyplace but your space. You want them to be completely comfortable.

In an article for the New York Times, reporter Damien Cave pointed out how few heroes have been publicly recognized by the Administration in the current war. Despite the fact that there have been incredible acts of heroism and gutsy leadership on the ground of this Iraq war, the powers that be, for the most part, are calling no attention to it-at least no prime-time attention. Damien's most damning example came from Major Bruce Norton, a military historian and author of Encyclopedia of American Military Heroes, who recounted how a Marine recently received his Navy Cross, the second-highest military honor-not with ceremony and honor, but in the mail.

There comes a point when people have enough stuff in their lives, but they can never have enough meaning. Leaders have to find opportunities for their eams to do more than turn the machine of profit.

Eyes in the Back of Your Head

We all remember the Greek myth about old King Sisyphus. In life, he was a trickster, but the gods got the last laugh in the afterlife by making it his fate to push a huge boulder up a mountain only to see it roll down just before reaching the summit-again and again for all eternity.