Tag: Warren Bennis

Yet, one wonders whether leading corporations results in great preparation for the world of politics and policy making. The obvious pitfalls and challenges have been illustrated by a number of the business leaders who have taken the lead in government. Tillerson was trained to understand operational efficiency from the standpoint of engineering. Second, unlike running a business, a model of leadership based on meeting the interests of a small list of stakeholders, policy leadership involves building a coalition of often competing interests while serving the needs of a large number of constituents. After making their announcement, the coalition lagged in finding a leader and rounding up additional support among the fractious constituencies in health care policy and politics. A third challenge for transitioning business leaders involves the notion of risk. Risk is not a value in policy, however. Certainly, the often-cited poster child of the American CEO politician is former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has managed to avoid most of these pitfalls. His leadership in New York City, while not without critics, was widely considered a success. D. Christopher Kayes is a professor of management at the George Washington University School of Business.