Page 12 - The New Articulate Executive_ Look, Act and Sound Like a Leader

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LEADERSHIP

COMMUNICATIONS

The Secret Weapon

egendary business leaders share more than just spectacular
Lsuccess. They not only are typically great communicators them-
selves but recognize and value this precious skill in others.
Former General Electric chairman Jack Welch, often cited as
America’s most admired CEO—even years after he left the job—
once said that the number one quality he looked for in future leaders
was, “Someone who is comfortable talking to anyone—anybody in
the world, in New Delhi, Moscow, Cairo, Beijing—anywhere!”—in
other words, someone who could make things happen across inter-
national borders and cultural barriers, someone who could walk
into a room anywhere in the world and fix a problem, delight a

customer, secure a partner, or close a deal. This, said Welch, is the
single most important business asset, absolutely essential to any com-
pany that hopes to grow and prosper.
Warren Buffett, the famed Oracle of Omaha and one of the
world’s wealthiest men, recently told a TV audience of M.B.A. stu-
dents at his alma mater, the Columbia Business School, that he
would offer $100,000 seed money to any student in the audience in

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