Hitendra Wadhwa, professor of practice at Columbia Business School and founder of the Mentora Institute, teaches the university’s most popular course on personal leadership and success, two topics most business students are eager to learn more about.
This was clear on the rainy January day when I attended the afternoon session of the Wadhwa course; despite the gloomy weather, the energy was palpable, with every seat filled and some attendees even standing in the back.
Wadhwa wrote the literal book on looking inward to find outer success. In Inner Mastery, Outer Impact: How Your Five Core Energies Are the Key to SuccessWadhwa reveals how activating purpose, wisdom, growth, love, and self-realization can help people make a real mark on the world.
Image credit: Courtesy of Mentora Institute. Hitendra Wadhwa.
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During the session I attended, Wadhwa told a compelling story about Steve Jobs that captures core energies in action and demonstrates that the best leaders are willing to change direction, even when it’s difficult.
“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”
The story begins in 2001, shortly before Apple opened its first retail store. Ron Johnson, the company’s senior vice president of retail from 2000 to 2011, was on his way to a weekly planning meeting with Jobs when he shared his concerns about the new store’s proposed layout.
Like most retail outlets, Apple planned to organize its store by product. But Johnson saw an opportunity to design it around the task, like making movies or listening to music, and lean into the innovation that had already helped Jobs’ brainchild become a category of its own.
But Jobs wasn’t having it: The store’s opening was fast approaching, and he didn’t think there was time for a full renovation. Johnson and Jobs sat with the tension of that disagreement as they walked the rest of the way to the meeting.
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Then, about 10 minutes later, the two showed up at the meeting, and Jobs surprised Johnson by telling the team that Johnson believed the store design was completely misleading and that he agreed. Jobs said he would step aside while everyone worked together to find the best path forward.
In telling the story of Johnson and Jobs, Wadhwa makes an invaluable point: the kind of leader someone is at one moment should not dictate the kind of leader they will be the next. The willingness to change your mind and think outside the box, even when that means additional short-term challenges, is not a weakness: it’s a strength.
And, as Jobs himself once said, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”
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