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The road to becoming a CEO is lined with humility and good relationships, according to Bill McComb, ’87, CEO at Liz Claiborne Inc., and Andris Cukurs, ’94, CEO at Suzlon Wind Energy Corporation.
“Style and results go hand in hand,” said McComb. “So much of what I do is inspire people to do things. The people who get ahead are those who get things done through other people.” Cukurs agreed. “You get people to listen by being humble, not by bossing them around. You have to earn respect, because at the end of the day, who are you kidding?” Cukurs and McComb spoke April 9 at Harper Center in Hyde Park as part of the Charles M. Harper Road to CEO series organized by the student-led Corporate Management and Strategy Group, and the Office of Alumni Affairs and Development.
McComb called his style “service leadership,” which he described as people at the top serving those at the bottom. “The value of service leadership is vulnerability,” he said. “Don’t try to be the almighty and don’t hoard power. There have to be parallel flows of communication.”
Cukurs echoed the thought. “Always have someone who’s way smarter than you are. Don’t feel threatened, he advised. “Hire good people.”
Self-awareness is key, they agreed. “If you’re going to build a strong team, you have to really know yourself,” said Cukurs. “You have to know what motivates you. What skill set do you bring to the table?”
McComb said he learned while working at Johnson & Johnson, that he’s a “line guy.” When asked to head a hearing aid start-up within the company, he said, “I was on cloud nine for about a month. But I discovered that while I was pioneering a new business, I wasn’t running the business. I felt off center not acting as a line guy. That experience was a very important building block for me.”
Cukurs said he loves start-ups. “I’m terrible at administering large companies,” he said. “It’s not in my DNA. My expertise is setting up the fundamentals of a business, trying to build credibility in an industry.” To succeed, he said, have a strategy that is “frighteningly simple. If it’s too complex, execution is at risk. A great strategy and no ability to execute kills you.”
This was a poignant point for first-year student Alberto Abbo. “I was glad to hear it’s not as complicated as we think,” he said. Abbo also was glad to hear Cukurs recognize that great leadership comes from building networks with people who support you.
McComb said he felt very well served by the GSB’s “thinking framework. That distinctly Chicago brand has served me well.” In terms of execution, McComb said, leaders have to be “obsessed with execution. Having a strategy and executing it effectively is number one.”
— Carmen Marti