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Bill Zollars
CEO, Yellow Roadway
On leading abroad: I spent eight years working overseas. Working with Europeans when you are the only American in that group gives you more empathy and more humility and a much broader perspective. Your success is based on how well you work as a team. I saw others who tried to lead through command and control and failed. People like to think of Europe as one place, but it isn't. To go over there and to tell people what to do resulted in disaster.On knowing the landscape: When I was at Kodak in the 1980s, we were buying up photofinishers in Europe to create a network to sell film to. It was a great strategy that someone in Rochester thought up. But in Italy it wasn't working. So one day the Italian general manager and I go out to dinner in Milan, and he says, "Bill, this strategy will not work in Italy." I said, "I know it's difficult, but we have to." He says, "You don't understand. In Italy, photofinishing is a family business." I said, "I understand, it's the same as everywhere else." He said, "Bill, I don't mean a family business. I mean the family business." He was talking about the Mafia. Here I was about to get my kneecaps shot off, and I had no clue. I learned that before you launch off on something, you should take the time to understand what you're getting yourself into. On communicating: Visibility is incredibly important. It's very hard to lead through e-mails. When I first got to Yellow, we were in a bad state. So I spent 85 percent of my time on the road talking to people one-on-one or in small groups. I would start off in the morning with the sales force, then talk to drivers, and then the people on the docks. At the end of the day I would have a customer dinner. I would say the same thing to every group and repeat it ad nauseam. The people traveling with me were ready to shoot me. But you have to be relentless in terms of your message. On leading vs. managing: Managing is making sure that you are doing things right. Leading is making sure that you are doing the right things. On failing fast: A leader has to get across the idea of "failing fast." Don't be afraid to try things, but if something doesn't work, move on. What people sometimes try to do is prove they were right in the first place. Favorite leader: Harry Truman. He was a no-nonsense type of guy. He did not parse his words and followed through on what he said he would do. That's very unusual for a politician. -- by Matthew Boyle, FORTUNE |
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