Page 24 - Ekonomija i Biznis_noemvri 2015.indd
P. 24
INTERVIEW
right thing. What is interesting to me in a practical way implement, execute
is when people say “what was the big and get it (the work) done? Having a
lesson for you?” – well, the big lesson few people that have actually been in
for me was this combination of people these positions is very important to
and the word communication. It usu- giving the students a full round of un-
ally took 90% of my time and that is a derstanding of theory and practice.
surprise even to some leaders because
they would say, Harry, if you are spend- It must have been a great pleasure
ing 90 to 95 % of your time on people to be part of such a program.
and communication, when do you get
things done? I would always smile and H. Craemers: I have to say it is a great
say to them, well think about this, if honor for me. I always tell students
– that famous two letter English word that I very much enjoy being an execu-
– if I got all the right people and they tive, I very much enjoy being in busi-
are all being developed and everybody ness, but I love more being a professor.
knows exactly what we need to do, What I learned is, at least for me, un-
what else is there to do! til I can explain something clearly to a
group of very bright people, I may think
You are also a so-called clinical I understand it, but not really. For me
professor at Kellogg School of Man- to be able now to really almost have a
agement at Northwestern University calling to have a small impact on the
in Chicago. Kellogg Business School next generation of people that are go-
is ranked as number six in USA, and ing to be leading organizations around
its MBA program is number 15 in the the world, it’s a blessing, I thoroughly
whole world. Clinical professor means enjoy it very much. I told the students
a professor who is not full-time en- that when I ended up being elected by
gaged in research capacity, but pro- the students professor of the year that
vides input based on professional was more important to me than being
knowledge and skills. What do you the CEO of a company.
think about this method of using top
quality business experience for educa- You are author of best-selling
tional purposes - the combination of books on leadership. One of the books
theory and practice? is titled: “From Values to Action: The
Four Principles of Value-Based Lead-
H. Craemers: One of the things that ership”. Can you tell us about the four
I always say up front when I teach principles you write about in this book?
people is: I don’t know if I have many
answers, but I have many opinions. I H. Craemers: What I realized, before
think it’s very important to have peo- I can lead other people, the first thing
ple with a PhD and academic training I have to do is I need to be able to lead
so that they can learn the theory, they myself. And in order to lead myself I
can understand the framework, the need to become self-aware, I need to
history, the process. However, partic- really understand how I can lead my-
ularly in a top business school in the self in a way that I can set an example
world, it is very important in addition for how I am going to act with other
to understanding the theory and the people. In a systematic way of be-
framework that they also understand ing able to explain this I decided that
in a very classical way, what is it like to there really are what I call four prin-
be a division president, a chief finan- ciples that will help me and help any-
cial officer, a CEO of a multi-billion one become and be ready to be a lead-
dollar company? How do you take the er. They are self reflection, balance,
theory and the framework and actu- true self confidence, genuine humility.
ally put it into practice? How do you The thought process goes like this. In
24 November 2015
