3M CEO George Buckley focuses on leadership training

— -- Q: How did 3M in one year pass the likes of GE and IBM in leadership development?

A: Infrastructure was already installed when I arrived. But I didn't always agree with Jim (McNerney, now Boeing CEO). He moved senior people around a lot. They hopped from job to job every year or year and a half. I slowed the pace. They have to be in the job long enough, not only for their successes to visit them, but for their failures to visit them. We all have both. When people move too often, there is more thought given to the next place, not to developing people and developing relationships. I didn't like the merry-go-round. I changed that immediately.

Q: How long should talented people stay in one job?

A: There's a point somewhere around four years where you need to get refreshed.

Q: In this economy, can companies afford the cost of leadership development?

A: Years ago, when I worked at Brunswick, I was asked, "George, it's a tough time right now. Should we be spending money on training? What if these people leave the company?" My answer was, "What if we don't, and they stay?"

Q: What's key to develop leaders?

A: There are things you are born with. You can't develop intelligence. You can't develop morals by law. I learned my value system on the bottom of my grandmother's shoe before the age of 7. I didn't learn them from a statute book. There are things that we can develop. Strategic thinking, for example. There is a difference between a leader and a manager. A leader is as much about inspiration as anything else. A manager is more about process. We try to mix both into our development. In the end, maybe you can't plant leadership in a person, but you certainly can enhance it in a person.