Dr. Robert Mauro of the Global Leadership Institute at Boston College shares his thoughts on creating values and developing skills for values-based management. Delivered as the keynote address at National Employment Week in Cork, Ireland

1. Values Based Leadership
Dr. Robert Mauro, National Employment Week

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Why Values-Based Leadership?
Need for rules
but
Rigid values = Inability to adapt

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Understanding Values
in Machiavelli

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What is “Machiavellian”?
Duplicitous
Cunning
Bad faith
“fortuna” Right action at
right time

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Take away for leaders?
Values exist in the establishment of
a sustainable state that persists
through its institutional structures
Right value at right time

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Establishing Values at
Zappos

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Zappos
No formal values initially - CEO Tony Hsich knew
everyone
$184 M in profit – moves HQ to Las Vegas, Nevada
Hsich sees need to establish values – core of all great
companies
5 yrs.

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Establishing Values
Values must:
 Come from employees
 Allow for change
 Be meaningful and real for employees
 Be integrated into HR hiring process

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Instilling Values
 Worked with employees to develop Zappos’s values
 Established process to define team/employee expectations &
roles
 7-weeks of training for call center operators
 Rewards structure based on success of values
“Everyone is expected to show leadership…to self-direct their
work rather than managers telling them what to do.”

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Take away for leaders?
Embrace drive and change
Be open-minded

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Values in action at
Biogen Idec

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Biogen History
Biotechnology company headquartered in Cambridge
 Founded in 1982
 1985: first venture funds; first drug INTRON (to fight leukemia)
 1998: first profits for the company
 Today: $9.7 Billion in revenue
 Work primarily in MS, blood disorder, and stroke

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Keys to Biogen Success
 Start-up culture
 Value in innovation
 Entrepreneurial/creative environment
 Employee empowerment
Superstar Lab Vertical Integration
• Research
• Development
• Manufacturing
• Distribution

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CEO led focus
 CEO George Scangos turned from VC funding
 Focused on output instead of process
 Worked on finding and knowing right employees
 Culture of project management and detailed planning at all
levels of company
 Created and empowered sub-teams to own projects
 Allowed senior management to set priorities, make decisions,
facilitate action

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Values in Action

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Takeaways for leaders
Biogen created a culture rooted in
values that supported exploration and
discovery, and shared information in
open ways.

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Contrasting Values at
Boston College

18. Boston College

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Mission
• Private liberal arts university
• “A university in the Jesuit, Catholic tradition”
• Educate “young men and women for others”

20. Meet the Global Leadership Institute

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GLI role within BC
 Innovate
 Develop new business paths for BC
 Deliver executive program
 Focus on excellence in leadership and strategy

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Conflicting roles within BC
Global Leadership Institute
 Entrepreneurial
 Experiential
 Opportunity driven
Boston College
 Tradition-grounded
 Classical education
 Risk-adverse
Focus on delivering quality and excellence
Reflection key part of learning experience
Applied learning

23. Rio’s Bars: It’s the
profession, not the
organization

24. No leader; just leaders

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Final Takeaways
1. Establish rules, responsibilities and
definitions to empower leadership
1. Keep rules flexible and permeable to
facilitate innovation in leadership
1. Recognize this difficult tension
1. Leadership is about the organization, not
the leader

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Contact
Dr. Robert Mauro: robert.mauro@bc.edu
Website: www.bc.edu/gli
@Robert_Mauro