The Samsung marketing executive describes what it takes to manage a company successfully in today's climate.
Question: What qualities define a good business leader?
David Steel: We talk a lot internally about leadership in the Samsung context and I would pick out a few characteristics. Number one would be a vision. So, as a leader of any organization, whether it's one person or a hundred thousand people, setting a vision for that organization is the fundamental responsibility of the leader and it's also their challenge to really get people aligned and excited by that. So, I think vision is very important.
I think another thing is the follower-ship. You can only have leaders if you have followers. And that leader needs to really instill in all of the people working with him a sense of shared goals, of open communication, common responsibility. So, if you're a leader, what are your responsibilities to the people who are working with you in terms of open communication and so on?
And the third characteristic, I would say, it's back to the discussion about globalization, is you've got to have a global mindset. So, you've got to have the flexibility to understand different countries, different cultures, how you build your business across a global footprint.
I would say those are the sort of key elements of business leadership. But number one, easily, is vision.
Question: What qualities define a good business leader?
David Steel: We talk a lot internally about leadership in the Samsung context and I would pick out a few characteristics. Number one would be a vision. So, as a leader of any organization, whether it's one person or a hundred thousand people, setting a vision for that organization is the fundamental responsibility of the leader and it's also their challenge to really get people aligned and excited by that. So, I think vision is very important.
I think another thing is the follower-ship. You can only have leaders if you have followers. And that leader needs to really instill in all of the people working with him a sense of shared goals, of open communication, common responsibility. So, if you're a leader, what are your responsibilities to the people who are working with you in terms of open communication and so on?
And the third characteristic, I would say, it's back to the discussion about globalization, is you've got to have a global mindset. So, you've got to have the flexibility to understand different countries, different cultures, how you build your business across a global footprint.
I would say those are the sort of key elements of business leadership. But number one, easily, is vision.
