PDF Summary:Discover Your True North, by Bill George

What’s the common thread among the world’s most successful business leaders? In Discover Your True North, business leadership educator Bill George argues that it’s not about being the most talented or the most charming person in the boardroom—it’s about being true to yourself and staying focused on your core priorities and values (your “True North”).

After analyzing interviews with 48 international business leaders about their career journeys, George distills their most salient insights into simple guidelines that anyone can follow to become a leader in their organization. In this guide, we’ll explain how to identify your core purpose and ethics by reflecting on your unique life experiences, common mistakes to avoid on your leadership journey, how to hone a team-oriented approach to leadership, and how to maintain a personal support system. We’ll also compare George’s recommendations to those of other business leaders and include tips for executing his guidelines.

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Chasing Promotions

Another common mistake that leaders make is being hyperfocused on climbing the corporate ladder. George warns that this causes leaders to neglect their personal life and other aspects of their well-being, which is ultimately harmful to their mental and physical health. In addition, if leaders move up through the ranks too quickly, they don’t have time to learn important skills and lessons through experience, making them anxious in challenging situations.

(Shortform note: In addition to the downsides that George addresses, some people assert that focusing on promotions isn’t a useful way to exert your energy because it’s not fully in your control. Instead, they recommend focusing on things that are both inherently rewarding and fully in your control, like developing your skills and building good relationships with your colleagues. This advice aligns with George’s recommendation to make sure your work is intrinsically motivating and to intentionally foster positive relationships.)

Obsession With External Rewards

Lastly, George says that if leaders become too caught up in seeking the approval of others through wealth, fame, and power, they’ll get stuck in a cycle of always wanting more and being envious of people who seem to have more than they do. This ultimately distracts them from their core purpose, leading to dissatisfaction and potentially unethical behavior.

(Shortform note: Experts suggest that an unhealthy obsession with materialism can arise from cultural messaging through advertisements and other media that equate money with success. For others, materialism may be a response to a feeling of insecurity or inadequacy that stems from a difficult upbringing. To combat this type of behavior, some experts recommend intentionally taking time out of your day to express gratitude for what you have. This elicits a positive emotional response that breaks the cycle of relying on material gain to feel good.)

Strengthen Your Leadership

George says that to avoid the common leadership problems of the previous section and reach your full potential as a leader, there are three key ways to optimize your leadership: 1) Find a role that you’re highly motivated to do and that takes advantage of your best skills (what George calls the “sweet spot”), 2) support your team members, and 3) adapt to the globalized business environment.

Find Your Ideal Role

George says that your ideal role will showcase your strongest skills and allow you to spend time doing things you’re highly motivated to do. To identify this kind of role, reflect on your strengths and your intrinsic motivation (motivation that comes from within, like the desire to create a more equitable world). If you’ve done some earnest introspection about your core purpose, you’ll likely already have a good understanding of what kind of work you’re intrinsically motivated by.

(Shortform note: In addition to finding a position that takes advantage of your unique strengths and that you’re willing to do without external rewards, Laura Vanderkam identifies a few additional elements to the ideal job in 168 Hours: It allows you to have autonomy over how you do your work, to engage in work that’s challenging but not too hard so you can easily immerse yourself in activities, and it provides an environment with supportive coworkers.)

George gives the example of Warren Buffett as a successful business leader who found his ideal role in the business world. He writes that Buffett could have made a lot of money working as a stockbroker, focusing on trading and selling stocks for clients frequently to make a commission on the trades. However, Buffett knew this wasn’t the kind of work he was excited about or what he was best at. Instead, he chose to run his own investment firm, where he could implement his own investment philosophy (investing in companies long term). Running his own investment firm enabled Buffett to tap into both his strengths as an investor and his intrinsic motivation to do work that he enjoys.

(Shortform note: In her biography of Buffett, The Snowball, Alice Schroeder says that Buffett’s passion for investment stemmed from his childhood love of collecting and his fascination with numbers, as well as his desire for independence. His entrepreneurial endeavors throughout his adolescence suggest that Buffett keyed in on his core purpose early in life and often carved out opportunities to pursue it.)

In contrast, George warns that if you’re in a role where you’re solely extrinsically motivated (by external rewards like a prestigious title or a high salary), you risk falling into the trap of sacrificing your core purpose and your ethics for material gain. For example, if you’re primarily motivated by receiving praise from your boss (rather than enjoying your work), you might start to sacrifice quality just to maintain high output and keep getting accolades. This pattern could then continue indefinitely, even if it isn’t aligned with your core purpose or values.

George says that ultimately, external rewards will be unfulfilling because they don’t stem from an inner desire like your core purpose does. In addition, when you’re striving for things like money, fame, and power, you tend to make unhealthy comparisons between yourself and others, leading to dissatisfaction no matter how much you achieve. Therefore, George asserts that a desire for external rewards should always be balanced by your core purpose and intrinsic motivations.

(Shortform note: Some research suggests that balancing intrinsic and extrinsic motivation alone may not be enough to avoid the unfulfilling cycle of chasing material rewards. Experts explain that even if you’re doing a job that intrinsically motivates you, excessive external rewards (like a large bonus) can reduce your intrinsic motivation due to what’s called the “overjustification effect.” In this process, when you receive rewards for doing something, you start to think that you performed the behavior because of the extrinsic reward and therefore become less motivated to do it without any reward (as you would have initially).)

Support Your Team Members

George’s next piece of advice for strong leadership is to enable your team members to do their best work rather than trying to micromanage or force others to do what you want. He argues that this is important because younger generations expect their leaders to give them respect and autonomy over their work. Therefore, adopting this style of leadership will help you attract employees to your organization and advance your core purpose. To implement this team-oriented style of leadership (what George calls the “I to We” shift), you must build strong relationships with your employees and use feedback and introspection to increase your self-awareness.

George says that to strengthen your relationships with team members, you have to be vulnerable and show mutual respect. This gives you more credibility as a leader and establishes the supportive and non-hierarchical dynamic that millennial employees prefer. For example, if you’re providing constructive feedback to a team member about their work habits, you might tell them that you also struggled with some of those same behaviors in the past and let them know that you’ll provide any additional support they might need to improve.

Leadership Preferences Across Generations

George emphasizes the need to shift toward a more team-oriented leadership style to adapt to the needs of millennial employees, implying that they’re the majority or highest-priority cohort in the workforce. Although a 2018 study says that millennials make up the largest proportion of the workforce, another study points out that the workforce generally includes three different generations at a given time, suggesting that a more nuanced approach may be needed.

Some research supports George’s implication that different generations have distinct workplace preferences. For example, some experts assert that younger generations want their company to have a meaningful mission and prefer service-oriented and empathetic leaders (similar to George’s description of the core purpose and supportive leadership).

On the other hand, others argue that employees’ biggest priorities are consistent across generations: They want to work for an organization that cares about their well-being and has ethical leadership—priorities that also align with George’s advice to stay true to your ethics and build strong relationships with team members.

Another expert asserts that the key to managing up to five different generations in the workplace is to ignore stereotypes about the personality and values of employees based on their age. They argue that while different upbringings impact people’s preferences in the workplace, managers shouldn’t make assumptions about their employees (which may be false) because this can undermine mutual respect and therefore decrease employees’ performance.

In addition to relationship-building, soliciting feedback is an important way to ensure that you’re supporting your team to the best of your ability. George advises you to process feedback objectively and follow it up with introspection about your behavior and how you can genuinely improve your strategies moving forward. He asserts that feedback is necessary to adapt your leadership style to your colleagues and the circumstances. For example, a person who’s newer in your industry may want more guidance, whereas a veteran employee might prefer to work more independently. Therefore, you may need to have one-on-one conversations to get feedback and understand these individual needs.

Soliciting and Implementing Feedback

In The Oz Principle, Roger Connors, Tom Smith, and Craig Hickman say that to get useful feedback from your coworkers or other people in your life, you must first ensure that the other person feels safe being honest with you. To do this, let them know that you’re looking for the truth—not just praise, explain why you need the feedback, and be specific in your phrasing. For example, instead of asking for general feedback, you might ask the other person if they’ve ever felt like your communication was unclear.

Other experts emphasize the key steps after you get feedback. In Thanks for the Feedback, Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen recommend starting with small experimental changes to implement the feedback, and they offer tips to increase your motivation to continue to improve. For example, you might find a way to turn your effort into a game by giving yourself a reward when you successfully incorporate the feedback into your behavior.

Adapt to the Globalized Business World

George’s next piece of advice for becoming a strong leader is to embrace the needs of a globalized business world. He argues that today, industries need to look toward global markets to expand, and businesses need leaders with specific skills that go beyond those of the past. These include geopolitical knowledge, awareness of the diverse needs of overseas markets, and the ability to navigate other cultures.

(Shortform note: This component of George’s advice assumes that your core purpose can be scaled up to the global level, so it may not be as relevant for someone whose organization is focused on a local mission. However, for more locally focused leaders, it may still be important to understand the diverse needs of their community.)

George asserts that one aspect of geopolitical savvy is knowing what regions may experience political unrest that could influence your business prospects there. You may also need to understand how market trends are different in other countries depending on the culture. For example, in some regions, people might be more accustomed to using public transportation to get around, or they might be more environmentally conscious than the average person in the US. Thus, marketing cars in these places may require a different approach, or a new, experimental product instead.

Another skill that’s important for the globalized business world is being able to thrive in new places and cultures. George says that leaders have to be open-minded and flexible about different ways of doing things—for example, tailoring a line of food products to incorporate culturally relevant and locally produced ingredients. George argues that the best way to prepare for these skills is by spending time abroad when you’re young. He says this will help you expand your horizons and learn about navigating cultural diversity.

(Shortform note: In The Culture Map, Erin Meyer echoes George’s statement that the globalized business world requires a new set of skills centered around cultural and geopolitical understanding. Meyer also dives deeper into the many ways that cultural ignorance can lead to misunderstandings in business settings. She defines eight areas in which cultures may differ: communication, feedback, thinking, leadership, decision-making, trust, disagreement, and time perception. Although it’s also important not to overgeneralize cultures, these categories may help leaders identify their cultural knowledge gaps, particularly if they have less geopolitical knowledge or less experience living and working abroad.)

Nurture a Support System and a Balanced Life

The previous section focused on strategies to become a strong leader by improving the way you work. In the final section, we’ll cover George’s advice on how to bolster your leadership by maintaining a strong support system outside of work as well as maintaining a balanced life.

Maintain a Support System of Friends and Family

George says that no matter how talented you are as a business leader, it’s essential to have a group of people who will love you for who you are (not for your career success), accompany you through hard times, and keep you on track to pursue your core purpose.

He explains that your support system will not only provide a loving environment to turn to when things don’t go your way but also help hold you accountable when you’re not being true to your core purpose or values. For example, if you start missing family dinners and other important events to stay late at the office, you may need your loved ones to intervene and remind you that your productivity isn’t as important as your relationships. George asserts that since this kind of trusting and enduring relationship takes time to build, it’s important to consistently prioritize your family and friends.

The Importance of Investing in Relationships

Beyond supporting your career by providing solace during difficult times and holding you accountable to your core purpose and values, experts say that having a social support network fulfills a basic human need to feel social connection and a sense of belonging.

Given these important roles, why do so many leaders struggle to maintain their social support network? In How Will You Measure Your Life, Clayton M. Christensen says there are two key reasons why people tend to invest more in their career than their relationships even though both require consistent attention.

He explains that your career is more likely to provide immediate, tangible rewards (like a promotion) whereas the payoff for investing in a relationship is dispersed over the long term. Second, your friends and family may be less demanding than your boss, so it’s easier to pay them less attention. Despite these challenges, Christensen warns that you can’t put off investing in your relationships and expect to make it up later.

Make Time for Non-Work Activities

George also recommends that you make time for all the things you like to do—including spending time with your family and other hobbies. He says that whether it’s a physical activity or just relaxing in a peaceful place, having a healthy balance of activities that rejuvenate you will improve your mental health and therefore help you perform better at work, too.

George describes the experiences of John Donahoe (the former CEO of eBay) to illustrate how a strong personal life can be a boon to your well-being and career. Donahoe was tasked with studying for final exams for business school while his fiancée Eileen was pregnant and due to give birth soon. Realizing that he wouldn’t be able to spend adequate time with Eileen and get top-notch grades, he opted to aim for “OK” grades so that he could fulfill his familial obligations. In the end, because he was less stressed than his colleagues and didn’t try to fill every moment with studying, he worked more efficiently and got all As.

(Shortform note: To manage internal conflicts about how to allocate finite time in a balanced way, some experts recommend distinguishing between essential and non-essential activities. Instead of trying to give equal time to all the areas of your life (professional work, unpaid work, spirituality, family, exercise, and so on), ensure that you’re giving adequate time and effort to the essential areas first and foremost. Donahoe illustrated this principle by intentionally deciding that spending time with his fiancée was essential, while schoolwork would receive just enough effort to get by. This ensured that he would have felt satisfied with his choices even if his grades weren’t the best.)

Don’t Compartmentalize

Along with thriving in your non-work life, George argues that you shouldn’t try too hard to keep your work life and personal life separate. This means that you shouldn’t have to put on a different persona or mask your personality at work, which will eventually exhaust you. Instead, George says to just be yourself, no matter where you are. He also recommends being honest with your colleagues about what’s important to you, even if that means bringing your personal life into work conversations sometimes.

For example, when Donahoe (from the case study in the previous section) had a scheduling conflict with taking his kids to school and meeting with important clients, he chose to be upfront with his boss about needing to make a change. Instead of being afraid to have an honest conversation with his boss or sacrificing his family’s needs, he discussed it openly. To his surprise, his clients and boss respected him more for being clear about his priorities and found a way to work around the conflict.

Gender-Based Challenges of Being Authentic at Work

Researcher Brené Brown supports George’s idea that showing up authentically—wherever you are—is key to your mental well-being. In The Gifts of Imperfection, Brown asserts that hiding your true self can lead to depression, anxiety, and other psychological challenges because it reaffirms the idea that you’re not good enough as you are.

However, being honest with your boss about your needs and personal life may be more challenging for women than men because of the differences in their home-life responsibilities and common workplace expectations. In Invisible Women, Caroline Criado Perez writes that women are responsible for a disproportionate amount of unpaid domestic labor such as child care, which means they’re less able to stay late at work and are more likely to have to change their schedule last-minute to care for their sick children.

Perez explains that women pay an economic cost for this because they may be passed over for promotions for not working enough overtime or penalized for changing their schedule. In other words, women are more likely to need job accommodations to fulfill both their professional and familial duties, and they’re also more likely to be penalized for those accommodations. This analysis suggests that Donahoe’s experience of his boss and clients catering to his family’s needs may be more of an exception than a standard practice in business, and his female colleagues may have faced more struggles in this area.