Bloomberg's Peter Grauer: How the 'And Factor' Defines Leadership
Published: July 31, 2013 in Knowledge@Wharton
When Peter Grauer's daughter was six, she sweet-talked him into
taking horseback riding lessons in New York's Westchester County, where
the family lived. Grauer didn't mind, because it gave him a good
opportunity to have some Saturday morning bonding time with her.
At the corral, Grauer met a congenial man who also had a young girl
taking lessons. The two struck up a friendship as they waited through
their daughters' sessions. "Our daughters became inseparable, and we
were happy about that," Grauer recalled during a speech at the 2013
Wharton Leadership Conference, noting the other man had started a
business that had just become successful when the pair met in 1989. "One
of us would bring the bagels and the other the coffee. We would talk
about business and sports and families, the usual stuff."
Then one day, when the girls were in their teens, the other dad
decided to go into politics and wanted to cast off his CEO job. "It was
Christmas of 2001 and he asked me, even though I had never worked in the
media, to be his [company's] CEO," said Grauer of his Saturday morning
stable buddy, Michael Bloomberg. "I tell people that you never know
where you will make your connection. I was fortunate, and I have had a
wonderful time. I run one of the most successful U.S. companies, and I
owe it all to my daughter's desire to ride horses."
In truth, Grauer was qualified to take the job at global media
company Bloomberg LP, having worked in high-level executive positions
for Bank of America and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. According to
Grauer, leadership cannot be boiled down to one or two attributes, and,
even if it could, those attributes would necessarily seem a bit
contradictory. At Bloomberg, he noted, when his executives go on one of
their frequent retreats, they always come to the conclusion that the
best leaders are those who exemplify a line from Walt Whitman's "Song of
Myself": "Do I contradict myself? ... I am large, I contain
multitudes."
"Instead of just being the best big-picture thinker, someone may be
the best at that and also detail oriented," said Grauer. "They can give
direction on little things and also encourage big ideas. They can be
loyal to our company and also put the customer first. We call it the
'and factor,' and at Bloomberg we consider it the definition of
leadership qualities."
Grauer does not rule out anyone becoming a leader based solely on his
or her background. In fact, he said, his early years would certainly
not be inspiring on a resume. At 15, he considered life to be a series
of three things -- sports, girls and fun -- "I was pretty good at the
first and last, not so much the middle one," he joked.
Eventually, Grauer realized that he needed to change his focus. He
convinced his parents to send him to boarding school for a chance at a
fresh start. Grauer enrolled at The Hotchkiss School and went from being
a "C" student to president of the student body and captain of the
football team. But before he achieved those honors, school officials
would only admit him if he repeated the 10th grade.
"No one wants to repeat a grade in high school, but I knew I had to
do it," Grauer noted, adding that he was lucky to get the opportunity to
change course. He ended up going to the University of North Carolina.
Grauer is constantly awed by the Harvard, Princeton and Yale types
Bloomberg often hires, he said, but the large state-school environment
was what he needed. He learned to negotiate big crowds and home in on
what he wanted.
Grauer graduated from UNC in 1968 and the Harvard University Graduate
School of Business Program for Management Development in 1975. "Life is
a lot of being in the moment, saying, 'How am I going to get out of
here?'" he said. "God knows where my maturity eventually came from."
Induce and Reflect
It is important, Grauer noted, for a leader to assert himself or
herself, but even more vital is to have a good streak of humility. "When
I started my career, I had that Wall Street swagger. I certainly
thought I was the smartest guy in the room," he recalled. "Then in 1984,
a miraculous thing happened: I had a deal that turned into a big
fiasco.
"At that stage of my career, I lost whatever I had [in terms of] a
reputation for being a deal maker," Grauer said. "After it fell apart, I
took a hard look at my skills. From that moment on, my approach was
that I would take on every challenge with humility. I would never be too
proud to ask for help. At Bloomberg, we call that 'constructive
paranoia.' We are constantly preparing for someone smarter than us to
take us on. I love the idea that people at our company do not think they
are as good as they really are."
Grauer's talk at Wharton was titled, "The 'And' Factor: Embracing
Contradictions to Develop Great Leaders." One of his "and" criteria is
that a leader should have the ability to both induce action
and
stand back and reflect. For example, while running Microsoft, Bill
Gates would often travel to a remote place and take only some articles
he had put off reading, Grauer noted. Gates's only interruption would be
that he would have someone bring out meals; otherwise, he would spend
his time reading and jotting down ideas. "Some would lead to a new
product or a project for his foundation. Others would be small and
fleeting. But each one would give him more perspective. We need to take
time to step back from the day-to-day and be alone with our thoughts."
According to Grauer, the ability to reflect is a key skill he tries
to instill in executives during Bloomberg retreats, particularly in the
case of younger employees who may not have learned to value it yet. "I
have asked them to spend time outside of work with a clear sheet of
paper and make brutal self-assessments," he noted. "They can choose to
share them with me or not, but most have. It set a framework for them
about their strengths and weaknesses going forward. I believe that a
career is a long reflection [on] self-improvement."
Above all other qualities, Grauer said, a leader must establish a
sense of intimacy with employees and customers. He or she must, as best
as possible, learn something about every employee and relate to them on a
personal level, because a leader can never be sure what trait will make
an employee a future leader. His own first big interview brought that
point home to him. "The head of college recruiting at Citibank took a
chance on me at my first big job," he noted. "I was woefully
under-qualified. On that first day, there were MBAs from Harvard,
Wharton and Columbia, but someone took a chance on something I had said
or done -- [something] that maybe I didn't know I could do well myself.
"
When I address a group, I try to look everyone in the eye and
shake hands," Grauer continued. "I want them to know they are important
to me. At some moment in the future, I am going to ask people to do
something hard.... They will walk over hot coals for a leader who they
believe has their interests in [mind]."
Working without a Playbook
Prior to joining Bloomberg, Grauer was a managing partner at
Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette from 1992-2000. He served as managing
director and senior partner of CSFB Private Equity until March 2002,
when he joined Bloomberg full-time. Grauer had been a member of the
media and financial data company's board since 1996 and has served as
its chairman since 2001.
Co-founded in 1982 by New York Mayor Bloomberg, the media company,
which provides financial analytics and data through the eponymous
Bloomberg Terminal, has grown to more than 15,000 employees in 192
locations across the globe. The privately held firm generated $7.9
billion in revenue in 2012, up from $7.6 billion in 2011,
according to Forbes.
During Grauer's tenure, Bloomberg completed acquisitions of
BusinessWeek
and the Bureau of National Affairs. Last May, the company purchased
Dublin-based software firm PolarLake in an effort to launch a new data
management service.
While speaking at Wharton, Grauer recalled a trip to Japan that he
took soon after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011. He had
business to do, but realized that circumstances also made it an
opportunity to show leadership through intimacy. "I arrived at 6 a.m.,
and Narita Airport [in Tokyo] was deserted. The roads were empty when we
made our way to the office. It was pretty scary," Grauer noted. "When
we arrived at our offices, the building was still shaking with
aftershocks."
But, to Grauer's amazement, nearly all of the employees were in the
office working. They came, he noted, because it was important to them to
check in on colleagues, and to feel a sense of normalcy. "I stopped at
every desk, shook hands and told them how important they were to us,"
said Grauer. "I told them that as a company, we would never leave Japan.
There are a lot of moments in one's career where there is no playbook.
But when you approach it with humanity, the rest will work."
圖片來源：邱劍英
如今三星的強大，不僅成為全球電子大廠的眼中釘，在自家韓國，也幾乎成了全民公敵，韓國本土供應商更是感受到前所未有的威脅與危機。
圖片來源：flickr.com/photos/dalvenjah
曾經帶給許多人童年歡樂時光的任天堂紅白機，在7月15日正式滿30歲。然而，如今的任天堂，卻是深陷泥淖，早已不復當年風光。
