I’ve always said that if you want to learn about leadership talk to someone who has actually led something. James (Jim) Quigley, Global CEO of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited is just such a leader, and the “something” he leads is a global professional services juggernaut with more than $26 Billion in revenue, and 170,000 people located in more than 150 countries worldwide. What I most appreciate about Jim is his almost evangelistic zeal in championing the Deloitte brand. Jim is a fully engaged CEO who leads by example. You’ll also find Jim to be among the most transparent CEOs you’ll encounter. If you don’t believe me just go looking for him – he’s not that hard to find. Jim has a new book out (“As One“), you can find him on Twitter @DeloitteCEO and Jim is a frequent presenter at conferences such as World Business Forum and the World Economic Forum in Davos. Enough with the background – on with the interview…

Mike Myatt: What does it take to be a CEO of a global professional services firm, and why should anyone be led by you?

Jim Quigley: CEOs today need to model and advocate mutual trust between employees and leadership. I believe that successful CEOs will be judged on long-term sustainable performance and the stewardship of their organization’s mission, rather than on short-term performance and results.

One of my main focus areas is to increase my leadership team’s ability to be effective. One way to achieve that is by respecting your people, helping them find their authentic voice and leadership style, and demonstrating a genuine advocacy of their professional development.

It is absolutely critical for leaders to lead by example and foster a culture of values and respect. If I empower my leadership team and instill the organization’s values in them, they in return will do the same with their teams. That’s why I spend a lot of time talking to my partners about culture and our values, and the importance of articulating a clear vision and strategy.

Mike Myatt: Your new book ‘As One’ is receiving rave reviews. What inspired you to author a book at this time?

Jim Quigley: I’ve been fascinated by leadership for a long time, and I’ve had the privilege to be in a leadership position for much of my career. Over the years, through my many conversations with C-level executives, it became clear to me that galvanizing large groups of people to work together toward a common purpose was not just a challenge for me, but it was a prevailing challenge for executive leaders.

The actual idea to write a book evolved from a conversation with Mehrdad Baghai, my co-author, where we realized that although we were thinking similarly about leadership, we were coming at it from two very different perspectives. Yet we both shared the belief that leaders from all walks of life are searching for a pragmatic and tested approach to help them realize the full potential of their people. That’s when we agreed that it was time to take a new look at collective leadership.

Mike Myatt: You say that ‘As One’ challenges conventional thinking with regard to leadership styles. Can you share your thoughts on this?

Jim Quigley: ‘As One’ is unconventional in that it has brought about a much-needed depth to the way we classify different approaches to collective leadership. Historically, management theory has tended to present a binary view of leadership—command-and-control vs. collaborative. In reality, we discovered that there are multiple styles of leadership, some or all of which may lead to more effective collaboration, depending on the situation. As One provides a leadership discourse with a rich taxonomy that captures the distinguishing features of different leader-follower models. It is also an approach that is robust in its measurement elements and both actionable and adaptable to a wide range of leadership scenarios.

Mike Myatt: You talk a lot about collective leadership – why is this important?

Jim Quigley: Collective leadership is important because in a rapidly globalizing world where technological advancements are continually redefining how we do our jobs and how we interact with each other, it is no longer possible to assume that you have the full commitment and loyalty of your people. Today, more than ever, leaders need the full commitment and engagement of their people if they are to succeed in an intensely competitive world.

Collective leadership defines how individuals, leaders, and organizations need to interact to achieve common goals. By establishing a common framework for how to work together, leaders can achieve a productive and sustainable form of engagement, creating a culture where members choose to participate in and contribute to the organization’s performance.

Mike Myatt: How has social media affected you as a CEO?

Jim Quigley: Social media has created a number of opportunities and challenges for the business community, changing the way they communicate with their customers, suppliers, and employees.

As CEO, it is incumbent on me to understand and support the new and emerging ways our teams collaborate and communicate with potential talent, each other, thought leaders, business leaders, and all of our stakeholders. It starts with awareness—for example, Deloitte has the second largest corporate presence on LinkedIn—and then moves deeper, into strategy, execution, and measuring results.

Personally, my experience with social media took a step forward this year when I started my Twitter handle (@deloitteceo) to share some thoughts on topics that are important to me and our organization.

Mike Myatt: What has been the most difficult decision you’ve had to make as a leader?

Jim Quigley: One of the most difficult decisions the leadership team had to make was the decision to keep consulting as a service line at Deloitte when I was the CEO of the U.S. firm. The Enron scandal and the ensuing passage of Sarbanes-Oxley opened a new chapter in the accounting profession. One after another, our competitors began shedding their consulting arms due to limits placed on accounting firms’ providing consulting services to audit clients. For us, too, all signs pointed to a separation. But after a lengthy consideration, we made the difficult, strategic decision to keep consulting as part of Deloitte.

Looking back, we realize that we made the right decision. Today, consulting is a critical part of our business. Having a strong consulting practice enables us to recruit and retain diverse talent with varied expertise, which ultimately benefits all our business lines and enhances the value we deliver to clients.

Mike Myatt: What do you see as the primary role of a leader?

Jim Quigley: Leadership is an evolving discipline. Some believe leadership is about people, and leaders must develop people’s sense of belonging to their group and cultivate a strong shared identity among members of their group. Many think leadership is connected to productivity, and leaders must effectively coordinate activity so members of a group have a common interpretation about how to work together. Others think leadership is about purpose, and leaders should inspire commitment to drive people’s dedication to achieving defined goals with directional intensity.

I believe the primary role of a leader is to bring these three components together to help unleash the full potential of their people.

Mike Myatt: How has ‘As One’ affected you personally?

Jim Quigley: I’ve become an even stronger advocate of measurable data and actionable information. As One’s diagnostic provides specific metrics that leaders and organizations can assess, and the insight from this can be extremely valuable.

For example, ‘As One’ retaught me the dangers of making assumptions. In environments that appear to have common roles and large numbers of employees in common tasks, individual needs for how to be led differ. When leading large groups of people, leaders have to see the various ways their people are experiencing the environment today and understand how, given the opportunity, they would change that environment to make it be more conducive to their choosing to collaborate. Sometimes, this will involve epiphanies that can be summed up as “I was wrong about what I thought” or “my assumptions were incorrect.”

Mike Myatt: What are the biggest challenges you are facing as a leader today?

Jim Quigley: One of the key challenges I face today is maintaining our leadership position in the market. For example, to support our growth we are looking to hire 250,000 people to join our workforce over the next five years. I believe creating a uniform culture and aligning our people across borders, functions, and disciplines will be a critical component of our long-term success. That’s why I chose to invest in ‘As One’. I think through our ‘As One’ strategy, we will be able to further strengthen the commitment of our people to our brand and, most importantly, to our clients, in every single one of the 150 countries where we have a presence.

Mike Myatt: If you could give our readers advice on leadership, what would that be? Any parting thoughts?

Jim Quigley: 1) Believe in your people, 2) give them ownership and empower them to realize their full potential, 3) have a genuine interest in them and respect their ideas and how they want to be led, and 4) model the accountability and values you expect of the organization.

In the long run, these are the attributes that will enable leaders to increase employee engagement and create an environment where their people are proud to be a part of the organization and are fully and wholeheartedly committed to its goals and success.

Final Thoughts: After reading this interview, it should come as no surprise why Deloitte is so successful. Jim is a great leader with a strong vision. He values his people and is committed to fulflling Deloitte’s brand promise. Please leave your questions/comments for Jim below – He’s a social media guy so I’m sure he’ll respond…

Disclosure: Deloitte is a client.

Brad Smith is the President and CEO of Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU). Intuit is a leading provider of financial management, tax, and online banking solutions with more than $3 billion in annual revenue, and more than 8,000 employees.  While Brad is well known for his strong commitment to innovation, and is worthy of praise for his leadership and stellar performance alone (Intuit has consistently produced double-digit organic growth with expenses growing slower than revenue), it was my personal interaction with him that prompted me to author today’s post…In an era where CEOs seem to be column-fodder for media rants and public scorn, Brad Smith is a true breath of fresh air.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog you’ll know that I am a strong proponent of CEOs taking a personal interest in their business and its customers, and Brad Smith certainly fits this definition. My interaction with Brad started as a result of my sending an email to him in order to bring to his attention an unsatisfactory customer service interaction I experienced when dealing with his company. In less than 24 hours, I had a personal exchange with Brad, a senior member of his executive team (kudos to Anthony Marino), and a member of his management team as well. Not only was the issue in question resolved to my complete satisfaction, but what amazed me even more, was that Brad and his team used their interaction with me to gain insight into how they could improve their customer service and their business process…This is a CEO who doesn’t just throw around customer-centricity as a buzzword, Brad Smith is a CEO who actually walks the walk.  

Prior to Brad and his team responding to me in the manner in which they did, I was going to take my business elsewhere. However after my interaction with Intuit leadership and management, not only will my business remain with them, but they have earned my respect and endorsement as well.

Here’s the take-away: If the CEO of a $3 billion dollar company can make a rapid response to a customer need by taking a personal interest in doing the right thing, then so can all other CEOs. The difference between Brad Smith and other CEOs is that he actually does what others talk about, but fail to follow through on. Brad Smith is a CEO who stands behind his word, does the right thing, and brilliantly represents the Intuit brand promise.   

“A CEO Worthy of Following” is something that many workers long for. If you want to become a truly great CEO, then apply your focus on maximizing shareholder value over maximizing your personal W-2 and see what happens. Oddly enough, the more you focus on making those around you successful, the more successful you will become. As a CEO Coach one of the questions that I often pose to my clients is: Why should anyone be led by you? If as a CEO you don’t have a very good answer to this question (other than because I’m the boss), you might want to watch the above video profiling the CEO of Japan Airlines. All great leaders are willing to make short-term sacrifices for long-term gain.   

Bill McDermott is a CEO who understands leadership. As a CEO Coach I have had the benefit of hearing many a chief executive describe what “leadership” means to them, but rarely have I heard a CEO describe executive leadership as articulately as Bill does in the following interview. Bill’s life story is both an inspiration and a testimony to the benefits of a sound work ethic. As a teenager already holding down three jobs, he took on a fourth job working at a Deli (which he later purchased from the owner while still in his teens), worked his way through college, and got his start in sales at Xerox. Before he left Xeorx he had climbed to the position of Division President and was a corporate officer. After leaving Xerox, he did a stint as the President of Gartner, and served as an EVP with Siebel Systems…all of this before his 42nd Birthday. I invite you to listen to what Bill McDermott has to say about leadership…

I was recently asked if I would share my insights on some of today’s high-profile CEOs. I assume that the thought underpinning the inquiry was that since the majority of my working life is spent coaching and mentoring CEOs, or evaluating and assessing CEO performance for boards of directors and investors, that I might be able to provide some insights on their performance. I thought this might be an interesting exercise, so today’s post will be the inaugural piece in a new category entitled CEO Profiles. I’m going to attempt to provide a balanced scorecard approach in reviewing the performance of the lucky CEOs profiled so that there will be actionable takeaways from each assessment. You are invited to send me the names of CEOs that you’d like to see profiled, and if they’re not a current or past client I’ll add them to the queue.  Today’s Profile…Steve Ballmer, CEO Microsoft.

When it comes to CEOs, Steve Ballmer may be one of the more controversial chief executives of the last several years. There isn’t a lot of middle ground with Steve…you are either a big fan, or not. On the plus side, Steve has been running things at Microsoft during a time period when technology has been changing and evolving faster than ever before, and the company has continued to operate profitably under his leadership. On the negative side, Steve’s tenure has run coterminously with Google’s unprecedented rise, the failed Yahoo acquisition (and many other missed M&A opportunities), a plodding mobile effort, and many other sub-par initiatives. So, this begs the question, is Steve a winner because of Microsoft, or is Microsoft a winner because of Steve?

Steve Ballmer is a living dichotomy, which perplexes many people smarter than me. As perhaps is the case with most people, Steve’s most admirable qualities (his passion and company loyalty) may be the root cause of some of his greatest failings as a chief executive. His passion and loyalty while sometimes inspiring and motivating, have also at times led to blatant acts of arrogance and impulsivity resulting in PR disasters.  To get a better feel for Steve I offer the following two videos for your review. The first video demonstrates the completely contagious passion and confidence that Steve brings to the table as a leader. By contrast, the second video shows the impulsivity, arrogance, and lack of decisioning skills that has continued to plague his career:

Following is my scorecard evaluation of Steve Ballmer rating him on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 representing the highest mark:

1. Talent Management- 7.5: Steve is well know for his nose for talent. He is a prolific recruiter, and has been involved in most all of the key hires Microsoft has made. He is a motivator and a believer in developing a positive culture. My only knock on Steve in this area is that he doesn’t always seem to recognize where Microsoft’s considerable talent should be deployed to generate the best return.
2. Brand Champion – 5:  This is a tough one for Steve…If I were solely grading his ability to evangelize the corporate brand to Wall Street I would score him much higher. However his constant PR gaffs, his abrasiveness, and his impulsivity don’t make him the ideal corporate spokesperson. 
3. Innovation – 3: Unlike another Steve (Jobs), Ballmer is a lagger and not a leader when it comes to innovation. Worse than his own lack of innovative vision, is the fact that the company as a whole has embraced a “big is better” mentality, such that they’re sold on the concept that their size and history will always insulate them from changing market dynamics…
4. Leadership/Decisioning – 5: Steve has leadership skills and ability, but they are often misdirected in their application. History is full of examples of inspirational leaders who were ineffective. Getting someone to follow you is just a small part of the battle; knowing where to lead them is more important.
5. Intelligence – 8: Is Steve a bright guy? Sure he is…Is he the smartest CEO around? Far from it…You don’t accomplish what Steve has accomplished by not being intelligent. That being said, raw intelligence and savvy business acumen are not always one in the same. The raw tools are there, but the refinement, discipline, and polish are clearly missing.
6. Strategic Vision – 5: I give Steve credit for recognizing he has some huge problems facing him, but I don’t give him much credit for how he is addressing them. Microsoft’s vision is being constantly eroded by other companies who embrace social relevance, innovation, and velocity as key business drivers. The Microsoft strategy and tactics are outdated, and misdirected. The fact is that you cannot play effective offense or defense with a poor game plan.

I don’t believe Steve Ballmer will remain CEO of Microsoft for much longer…The company needs a fresh perspective, and a new focus, which Steve cannot offer.