Re: Who are you?

Description: Frugality, integrity, modesty.

Transcript: My name is Bill George. Currently I’m Professor of Management Practice at Harvard University Business School.I was born in Muskegon, Michigan.

Question: Where are you from and how has that shaped you?

Transcript: Well being born in the Midwest, I think I adopted some of the Midwestern values that tended to come with the area where I was growing . . . My mother came from a Dutch family – a Dutch immigrant family – and we were very much a part of her family growing up. And I think that became very much a part of me – the values like frugality and integrity, modesty, things like that.

Question: Who influenced you when you were young?

Transcript: Well certainly my mother did. My mother, I give a great deal of credit for raising me, my values. My father traveled a great deal as a consultant, and the rest of the time he was on the golf course. My father gave me the rules of how to live. My mother taught me how to live, if you will. And I’m an only child of older parents.

Question: What did you think you would be doing professionally when you were growing up?

Transcript: Well again, back to me father’s imprint, he wanted me to be CEO of a major corporation. He even named the companies. He suggested maybe Coca Cola, or IBM, or Proctor & Gamble, which is kind of ironic if you think about it. But I had this desire to be a part of business because I thought business could have a great impact on the world – particularly an ethically run, value-centered business, which is my desire to become that kind of business leader. And even as a teenager, many of the business leaders that I saw in those days fell far short of what I thought leadership should be. And I was hoping to have some impact on changing leadership, but during the course of my life.

Recorded on: 7/6/07