Leaders ‘must have vision and courage’
Mr Sutherland said future leaders needed to be clear on the direction they wished to take and should be persistent in pursuing their goals.
Speaking at the latest in a series of lectures on leadership at the National College of Ireland in Dublin’s IFSC, Mr Sutherland told students he considered Jacques Delors, former president of the European Commission, and Helmut Kohl, the chancellor who oversaw German reunification, as people who had “tremendous” leadership qualities.
Both men had deep-rooted convictions about their future directions, Mr Sutherland said, recounting his dealings with both men during his time as EU Commissioner and later as chairman of trade body GATT and its successor, the World Trade Organisation.
Mr Sutherland, who is now chairman of oil giant BP, spoke of his disappointment with the short-term focus of many companies and warned of the risks of pursuing immediate returns. He said it took courage to build and maintain a business that was capable of delivering sustained shareholder value.
The practice of companies’ developing mission statements was meaningless if not accompanied by genuine attempts to innovate and be open to new ways of doing things, Mr Sutherland said. BP spending $1 billion on examining alternative energy sources was an example of such innovation.
The difference in productivity growth between Europe and the United States in recent years has been wrongly attributed to America’s faster adoption of new technology, Mr Sutherland added. He believed historical differences, such as greater female participation in the workforce and shorter holidays in America, as well as US companies’ willingness to give employees greater autonomy, were more important.
Mr Sutherland also called for changes in the culture of dependency on an employer He said today’s business leaders would need courage to face up to the challenges of pension reform.
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