Jonathan Ling, managing director and chief executive officer of Fletcher Building spoke on Friday.  He was asked by our leadership coach Jasbindar Singh “What makes a great leader?”

Modestly, he said he could only talk about business leadership.  Three things:

1. Make money.  Without money we can’t do all the things we want to do.
2. Manage and grow people.
3. Be innovative – continuous improvement, step changes and paradigm shifts were three measures of innovation Fletcher Building looks for in its leaders.

Fletcher Building is a stunning success in business and has a great reputation for leadership, both as a commercial enterprise and as a place that grows leaders. Jonathan spoke of empowering business general managers so that decisions are made as close to the customer as possible.

The other side of this is that the core head office is 12 people. That’s New Zealand’s largest listed company. That’s leadership.

Thanks to TransTasman Business Circle for making it possible for us to co-partner this outstanding event on Friday along with Colliers International and Vodafone. The team from the Centre for Innovative Leadership felt very proud to be in such good company.

Stephen