Discover Your True North

by Bill George

Don't worry about the challenges. Embrace them. Go through them even if they hurt. Tell yourself, there is something to be learned from this experience. You may not fully understand it now, but you will later. It's all part of life, and life is a process of learning. Every challenging experience develops your core of inner strength, which gets you through those storms. Nothing worth doing in life is going to be easy.

Many leaders with great potential lose their way because they do not face their shadow sides and wind up way off course from their True North.

Steve Jobs advised, “Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.”

A year or two into any job, they are ready to move on, before they have had to confront the results of their decisions. When they see problems of their making coming back to haunt them, their anxiety rises, and so does the urgency to move to a new position.

Crucibles are the real test of your character and can be transformative experiences that empower you to reframe your life's meaning.

When you're successful, you take it for granted and move on to the next thing. Failure forces you to reflect.

Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you respond. I had gotten into that mess, and had to work my way out of it. It grew resilience in me. You cannot go to the highest mountain unless you go to the depths of the valleys. The key to success in life is navigating your pain.

You cannot be genuinely compassionate toward others if you have no compassion for yourself.

Like David Pottruck did, you have to confront them directly, accept yourself unconditionally, and learn to love your weaknesses as much as you revel in your strengths.

“When you're in trouble and all your defenses get stripped away, you realize what matters and who matters,”

Maybe people wouldn't feel that way if more individuals in business—not just the leaders, but people at all levels—stood up, declared what they believe in, and then took meaningful steps to make it real, to put their values into practice.

Before proceeding with any action, ask yourself, “How would I feel if this entire situation, including transcripts of our discussions, were printed on the front page of the New York Times?”

“You can't make career decisions just based on money. I hoped the money would come, and it did. If I had made my career decision based on the money, I would have been on a totally different career path.”

When people grow together through the phases of life, they develop a deeper understanding of each other. Having been through it all together, close friends notice the little things, such as when you need a kick, even when no one else can see that. They can sense when you are getting off track and they aren't afraid to tell you.

Resisting shareholder pressure to cut research, he invested in a new generation of drugs coming to market, such as Januvia for diabetes, human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil, and Keytruda for melanoma. To concentrate on Merck's mission, Frazier sold the company's consumer products business for $14 billion and acquired antibiotic maker Cubist Pharmaceuticals for $8 billion.

Anyone can figure out ways to drive a business for two years, make a boatload of money, and move on. That's not leadership; that's playing the game. Leadership is leaving something lasting, whether it is how you treat people or how you deal with problems.

Empowered leaders must be wholly accountable for their actions and transparent about their results, or the results are anarchy and politics, both of which lead to poor performance.

I don't think the concept of head offices will be relevant in the future.

In a world of scarcity, there will be great pressure to ensure that wealth is created not just for the few, but that the benefits are spread to all.