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How Leaders Lead with David Novak

#20: Dave Cote, Honeywell former CEO—Find Win/Win Solutions by Thinking for Yourself

How Leaders Lead with David Novak

David Novak Leadership

Entrepreneurship, Business, Management

4.8596 Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2020

⏱️ 58 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today’s guest is Dave Cote, former CEO of Honeywell. Dave led an incredible turnaround at Honeywell. When he took charge in 2002, the company was in dire straits. Dave was in charge for 16 years, and in that time, Honeywell's market cap grew from $20 billion to a whopping $120 billion.  And at every point along the way, Dave fought the misconception that leaders have to choose between two seemingly conflicting things. For example: you can either have short-term results or long-term growth, but not both.  For Dave, you can have both, but it takes a lot of creative thinking. And you’ve got to be able to think for yourself. You can’t fall into the trap of agreeing with the prevailing opinion or what you “should” do. When you listen to Dave, it comes through loud and clear: great leaders know how to think for themselves. And when they do, they get beyond surface-level answers and uncover truly creative win/win solutions.  You’ll also learn: The important mindset you need to lead during tough times (hint: you won’t like it)  A genius way to approach your next meeting if you’re trying to reach a good decision  What the “Any Ninny” theory of leadership is and how to rise above it How to build trust when you’re in an adversarial environment Take your learning further. Get proven leadership advice from these (free!) resources: The How Leaders Lead App: A vast library of 90-second leadership lessons to stay sharp on the go  Daily Insight Emails: One small (but powerful!) leadership principle to focus on each day Whichever you choose, you can be sure you’ll get the trusted leadership advice you need to advance your career, develop your team, and grow your business.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey everybody, welcome to How Leaders Lead, where every week you get to listen in while I interview

0:09.0

some of the very best leaders in the world. I break down the key learning so that by the end of the

0:14.1

episode, you'll have something simple you can apply as you develop into a better leader.

0:19.2

That's what this podcast is all about. And today's

0:22.3

guest is Dave Cody, the former CEO of Honeywell. Now let me tell you something, Dave led an

0:28.4

incredible turnaround at Honeywell. When he took charge in 2002, the company was in absolute

0:34.7

dire straits. Dave was in charge for 16 years, and in that time,

0:40.7

Honeywell's market cap grew from $20 billion to a whopping $120 billion. And at every point

0:49.3

along the way, Dave fought the misconception that leaders have to choose between two seemingly conflicting things.

0:57.1

Like, for example, you can either have short-term results or long-term growth, but you sure can't have both.

1:04.1

Well, for Dave, you can't have both.

1:07.1

But it takes a lot of creative thinking, and you've got to be able to think for yourself.

1:12.3

You can't fall into the trap of agreeing with a prevailing opinion or what you, quote, unquote,

1:17.9

should be doing.

1:19.3

When you listen to Dave, it comes through loud and clear that great leaders know how to think for

1:24.8

themselves, and when they do, they get beyond the surface level

1:29.5

answers and truly uncover creative win-win solutions.

1:34.7

So here's my conversation with my good friend,

1:37.8

and soon to be yours, Dave Cody.

1:48.5

Dave, thanks so much for taking the time to chat with me. I'm really looking forward to catching up with you.

1:51.0

I'm glad to be with you again.

1:53.0

You were always fun.

...

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