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Bill George

Former Chairman and CEO, Medtronic, and Author, “Discover Your True North”

Bill George is a senior fellow at Harvard Business School. He is the author of Discover Your True North, The Discover Your True North Fieldbook, Authentic Leadership, True North, Finding Your True North, 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis, and True North Groups.

George is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Medtronic. He joined Medtronic in 1989 as president and chief operating officer and served as chief executive officer from 1991-2001 and board chair from 1996-2002. Earlier in his career, he was a senior executive with Honeywell and Litton Industries and served in the U.S. Department of Defense.

He has served on the boards of Goldman Sachs, ExxonMobil, Novartis, Target Corporation, and the World Economic Forum USA. He concluded his term as a trustee of the Mayo Clinic and has been board chair for Allina Health System, Abbott-Northwestern Hospital, United Way of the Greater Twin Cities, and Advamed.

In 2014, the Franklin Institute awarded him the Bower Award for Business Leadership. In 2018, George was presented with the Larry Foster Award for Integrity in Public Communication by the Arthur W. Page Center. George is a CNBC contributor and makes frequent appearances on television and radio.

He received his BSIE with high honors from Georgia Tech; his MBA with high distinction from Harvard University, where he was a Baker Scholar; and honorary doctorates from Georgia Tech, Mayo Medical School, University of St. Thomas, Augsburg College, and Bryant University. From 2002-2003, he was a professor at IMD International and Ecole Polytechnique in Lausanne, Switzerland and executive-in-residence at Yale School of Management.

Older man with white hair in a suit and red tie gestures with his right hand while looking forward against a plain background.

Real Leaders are Authentic, Even When They’re Wrong

Harvard Business School professor Bill George says more people of character ought to run for office… but probably won’t.

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Advice to Leaders During Crises

Leaders under pressure—be it from financial crisis or nuclear disaster—often fall prey to the same mistakes. What can Japan’s leadership learn from blunders made during the Great Recession?

You Can’t Plan Your Career

Now that your future is uncertain, here’s what you shouldn’t do: follow the money, says Bill George, Harvard management practice professor.

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The Importance of EQ over IQ

The face of hiring is changing in light of the economic crisis. Harvard management professor Bill George weighs in on how a company should approach measuring emotional intelligence.

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3 min

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How to Recruit the Right CEO

When it comes to hiring C-level executives, especially at financial institutions, former Medtronic CEO Bill George stresses substance over style.

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3 min

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Follow the Leaders?

Bill George, Harvard professor management practice, weighs in on the dire state of today’s business leadership and how we can cultivate a better class of managers.

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6 min

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The Goldman Standard

Will it last? Harvard management professor Bill George sits on the board of the financial giant; he reflects upon its future.

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What We Can Learn from Canada and Denmark

Harvard management professor Bill George explains why we need to keep our standards up, and why tax laws need to change.

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5 min

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A Goldman Board Member on the Culture of Big Bonuses

Bill George, a board member of Goldman Sachs, on the changing landscape of Wall Street bonuses in the wake of the economic crisis—and why government intervention is more harm than […]

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Seven Lessons for Business Leaders

The former Medtronic CEO Bill George remembers a personal experience that showed him how most leaders are afraid to face their own crises.

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Big Think Interview with Bill George

A conversation with the Harvard Business School professor of management practice.

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32 min

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The Aspen Ideas Festival

It’s a place where people come together from a widely diverse set of disciplines to talk about important issues.

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Re: If you had $100 billion to give away, how would you spend it?

Fostering global peace.

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Re: How will this age be remembered?

Not well.

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Re: What should be the big issues of the 2008 election?

Can we elect a leader who will tell us the truth?

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Re: What is America’s biggest challenge?

Our approach has been too selfish and unilateral of late.

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Re: How do we make the most of globalization?

Redefining the notion of citizenship.

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Re: Is the American political system broken?

It’s not clear you can get elected by saying what you believe.

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Re: Can people of different faiths co-exist?

George, on the tendency to look for enemies.

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Re: What is the measure of a good life?

Know what you believe.

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Re: Has capitalism run amok?

The dangers of appeasing Wall Street.

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Re: What is the difference between management and leadership?

If you try to emulate another’s gifts, you will fail.

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7 min

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Re: What is the most exciting development in the business world?

Bill George, on compassionate capitalism.

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Re: What is your outlook?

The new generation gives George hope.

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Re: What do you do?

Leadership is about fidelity to your life story.

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12 min

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Re: What inspires you?

George tries to lead a life of integrity without compromising that in order to get ahead.

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Re: How do you contribute?

There are literally hundreds, if not thousands of leaders in every organization, just waiting for the opportunity.

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Re: Who are you?

Frugality, integrity, modesty.

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