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June 8, 2009
Well, sure. Not surprisingly Otis echos Good to Great when he explains hiring involves "getting the right people in place who have the talent and capability to get the work done and letting them do it." Ho-hum.
The interview, however, takes a curious turn shortly thereafter and its tone becomes more interesting. We discover Otis, who has a law degree from Stanford, likes to write, and does so regularly. On the job:
Wordsmith? Although Otis thinks lawyers are better writers than business people, who place a premium on efficiency, oratory is a different matter:
Otis, by the way, knows a thing or two about amplification; he was an undergrad thespian at Williams College. He brings up President Barack Obama, a constitutional expert and world-class orator. Otis's riff on Obama and the law is unexpected for a CEO and delightful to read:
The CEO: Life at the Top of the Heap
June 8, 2009
Anyone spot Clarence Otis Jr.'s interview in Saturday's New York Times? It's intriguing and worth a look. Otis, CEO at Darden Restaurants, begins by offering the necessary fictions of life at the top. Asked, for instance, to describe the most important lesson he's learned about leadship, Otis offers a familiar refrain. Leaders, he opines:
| "... think about the people who are on the team, trying to help them get the job done. They think about the people who they’re trying to do a job for." |
 |
| Otis Jr. |
| "I’ll wordsmith press releases, wordsmith analyst reports, reports to the board. You can wordsmith internal employee memos and speeches. There are all kinds of things." |
| "I do think language is important in leadership, and it’s critically important in oral communication. It’s worth thinking about exactly how you’re going to say something. ... The more senior you are, the more important it is, because your voice is amplified." |
| "I think it would be interesting for business school students to learn constitutional law and comparative law. I think the dialogue between the business community and the civic community is hampered by that gap. And it’s never been clearer in my mind than now, when you’ve got a constitutional law professor as president. There’s just a disconnect. People don’t get the worldview that he’s coming from. But I don’t think he gets the business side as much as he should, either. There is a framework he’s coming from, and it’s as much a foundation to how this country works as the free enterprise system is. You’ve got to reconcile the two. ." |
Posted by David Farkas on June 8, 2009 | Comments (0)
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