“In engineering, there is always a right answer,” said Bob McDonald, the retired Chairman-Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Procter & Gamble, “But in business, there never is.” He was speaking at SMU’s inaugural talk in SMU’s Societal Leadership Series to a diverse audience of SMU students, faculty and staff members, distinguished academics and industry leaders in the University Lounge on 12 February 2014.

He had been formally welcomed by SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer, who was delighted see that Mr McDonald, like him, had taken is first degree in Engineering before pursuing an MBA. Mr McDonald shared that he studied for his first degree at the US Military Academy at West Point, where he learned many valuable lessons in leadership which he honed in the corporate world.

His talk was about ‘values-based leadership’, a concept that is at the core of SMU’s holistic education which aims to produce graduates who are ethically aware and socially responsible.

Because there is rarely a clearly ‘best’ solution to most business problems, said Mr McDonald, a values-based leader looks to their own values system to help him or her make a decision. Your values system, he explained, is the combination of all the ideas, books, experiences, education, memberships, family and other influences that shape your current beliefs. He advised us to list these down, review and update the list regularly and discuss it with our friends, peers and colleagues.

In his thirty-minute presentation, he shared five of the ten leadership beliefs in his current values system:

1.      Living a life driven by purpose is more meaningful and rewarding than meandering through life without direction. Avoid living life reactively rather than proactively. The pace of modern life and overload of communication tends to give us so much to react to that we do not have time to address our priorities.

2.      Companies must do well to do good and must do good to do well. This, he suggested, is a positive and virtuous cycle.

3.      Character is the most important trait of a leader . Put the needs of the organization above your own and take personal responsibility for the organisation’s results. He also quoted from the West Point Cadet’s Prayer: “Help me to choose the harder right, rather than the easier wrong.”

4.      Diverse groups of people are more innovative than homogeneous groups. Creativity is often the result of making unexpected connections between concepts and experiences. Diversity creates disparate nodes which facilitate this process.

5.      Organizations must renew themselves to stay relevant. Recruiting and training are top priorities. What differentiates those who succeed from those who don't, is the ability to learn.

After his presentation, Mr McDonald took part in a thirty-minute dialogue with the audience, moderated by SMU Chairman Mr Ho Kwon Ping. Mr Ho told the audience that he had been a speaker at the McDonald Cadet Leadership Conference at the United States Military Academy at West Point in October 2013, where he had got to know Mr McDonald quite well.

A member of the audience posing a question during the dialogue session.

During the dialogue, Mr McDonald addressed a slew of stimulating questions from an eagerly interested audience. Topics included what he had learned about leadership as head of Procter & Gamble, and the most important thing he learned at West Point; how to determine the authenticity of people and ideas; what was his most cathartic moment; how a leader’s values help him or her to handle failure; leadership in a multi-cultural environment; global branding and localised products; his advice to a 21-year-old graduate in his first job; leadership styles in Asia; the difference between military and corporate leadership; how organisations need to change to manage a multi-generational workforce; and what he planned to do next in his career.

In closing Mr Ho, congratulated Mr McDonald on being awarded the 2013 Public Service Star – Distinguished Friends of Singapore, and said he hoped that SMU would be able to collaborate with him on future projects. Mr Ho presented him with a token of appreciation as loud applause filled the air above the sound of excited chatter about the enthralling presentation and discussion.