This week I taught a workshop for the Institute for Management Studies on strategic alignment and employee engagement. The workshop was held in Pittsburgh and leaders from many the area’s top organizations were in attendance. The workshop was hosted by IMS chair Mark Spear. Mark has great tremendous breadth and depth of experience in organizational development. One of his previous employers was Alcoa. Over dinner the night before the workshop, Mark praised Paul O’Neill’s leadership of Alcoa during what many current and former employees of the company refer to as the “golden age of Alcoa.” One observation Mark shared was that O’Neill regularly met with groups of employees to answer any questions they had and to ask them questions.He was approachable, humble, open-minded and inquisitive. This is an example of what I refer to as a leader who conducts “Knowledge Flow Sessions” that have increase strategic alignment, employee engagement, productivity and innovation. The story was so compelling I asked Mark to share it with attendees when I presented the section on “Knowledge Flow.” If you are interested in Paul O’Neill’s leadership style and legacy, take a look at this article that appeared in Business Week.
