Bill George – Becoming a True North Leader

Luminate with Lan Anh Vu

Today’s guest is Bill George, one of the world’s best-known experts on leadership. Bill was the chairman and CEO of the world’s largest medical technology company Medtronic, which grew from $1.1 billion to $60 billion in market cap, under Bill’s leadership. After working 13 years at Medtronic, he then became a professor at Harvard Business School, where he taught Leadership for over 19 years.

Bill has written nine books; most notably, True North and now True North, Emerging Leader Edition.

Along the way, he has served as a director of Goldman Sachs, Exxon Mobil, Novartis Target, the Mayo Clinic, and the World Economic Forum USA, and has received honorary PhDs from Georgia Tech, Mayo Medical School, University of St. Thomas, Auburns College and Bryant University.

Earlier in his career, he was a senior executive with Honeywell and Litton Industries and served in the US Department of Defense.

In this episode, we talk about his upbringing, his time at Honeywell, why he felt that joining Medtronic was the perfect move for him. And then we discuss how to find your own true north, and what it takes to be a purpose driven leader today, and much, much more.