3M

Growing Leaders

1. How important are excellent leaders to organizations? If you were to ask the recently
retired 3M CEO George Buckley, he’d say extremely important. But he’d also say that
excellent leaders don’t just pop up out of nowhere. A company has to cultivate leaders who
have the skills and abilities to help it survive and thrive. And like a successful baseball team
with strong performance statistics that has a player development plan in place, 3M has its
own farm system—except its farm system is designed to develop company leaders.

2. 3M’s leadership development program is so effective that it has been one of the “Top 20
Companies for Leadership” in three of the last four years and ranks as one of the top 25
companies for grooming leadership talent according to Hay Consulting Group and Fortune
magazine. What is 3M’s leadership program all about? About 10 years ago, the company’s
former CEO (Jim McNerney, who is now Boeing’s CEO) and his top team spent 18 months
developing a new leadership model for the company. After numerous brainstorming
sessions and much heated debate, the group finally agreed on six “leadership attributes”
they believed were essential for the company to become skilled at executing strategy and
being accountable. Those six attributes included the ability to “chart the course; energize
and inspire others; demonstrate ethics, integrity, and compliance; deliver results; raise the
bar; and innovate resourcefully.” And under Buckley’s guidance and continued under the
leadership of newly appointed CEO Inge Thulin, the company is continuing and reinforcing
its pursuit of leadership excellence with these six attributes.

3. When asked about his views on leadership, Buckley said he believes leaders differ from
managers. He believes the key to developing leaders is to focus on those things that can be
developed—like strategic thinking. Buckley also believes leaders should not be promoted up
and through the organization too quickly. They need time to experience failures and what it
takes to rebuild.

4. Finally, when asked about his own leadership style, Buckley said he believed the best way
for him to succeed as a leader was to surround himself with people who were better than
him. But doing that takes a great deal of emotional self-confidence, an attribute that is vital

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to being a great leader. When you have people working for you who are excellent at what
they do, you respect them. When you respect them, you build trust. That type of leadership
approach worked well for Buckley, as illustrated by 3M’s number 18 ranking on Fortune’s
most admired global companies list for 2012.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What do you think about Buckley’s statement that leaders and managers differ? Do you
agree? Why or why not?
2. What leadership models/theories/issues do you see in this case? List and describe.
3. Take each of the six leadership attributes that the company feels is important. Explain
what you think each one involves. Then discuss how those attributes might be
developed and measured.
4. What did this case teach you about leadership?

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