339: Robert Greifeld - Lessons Learned From A Decade Of Change As CEO Of NASDAQ

<p>The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk</p> <p>Full show notes can be found at www.LearningLeader.com</p> <p>Ep: #339: Robert Greifeld - Lessons Learned From A Decade Of Change As CEO Of NASDAQ</p> <p>Robert Greifeld served as the CEO of Nasdaq from 2003 to 2016. During his tenure, Bob led Nasdaq through a series of complex, innovative acquisitions that extended the company's footprint from a single U.S. equity exchange to a global exchange and technology solutions provider, nearly quadrupling revenue, growing annual operating profits by more than 24 times and achieving a market value of over $11 billion. He is the author of a new book called: Market Mover: Lessons from a Decade of Change at Nasdaq. </p> <p>Notes:</p> <ul> <li>Commonalities of leaders who sustain excellence: <ul> <li>"Once you achieve competency, they're on a daily battle with complacency."</li> <li>Always looking forward - never resting on laurels</li> <li>A mindset that: "Success in the past is no guarantee that success will happen in the future."</li> </ul> </li> <li>Self reflection is important for self awareness: "Being focused on the present doesn't preclude self reflection."</li> <li>Has being rich made you happy? "Wealth makes you more secure?"</li> <li>How to balance family time and work time? <ul> <li>"Balance is a dangerous word. I prefer having an integrated life instead." "I made a rule that I did no business dinners unless I was doing the selling."</li> <li>Make multiple short trips instead of longer ones... Only miss seeing your family for a day or two at a time</li> </ul> </li> <li>Bob describes the story of how he was recruited to NASDAQ and why he took the job... <ul> <li>During the interview process, he shared the five things he would do within the first 100 days: <ul> <li>Get right people on board</li> <li>Reduce bureaucracy</li> <li>Embrace fiscal discipline</li> <li>Overhaul technology</li> <li>Stop being satisfied with number 2</li> </ul> </li> <li>Have to have the right people on the bus <ul> <li>Bob met with many people prior to starting as the CEO of NASDAQ: "I fired a lot of people before 8:00am on the first day I started. I did a lot of work prior to starting to learn who was going to buy in."</li> <li>"Good morale in a bad organization is not a good thing."</li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li>With promotions, live by the 80/20 rule: "We tried to promote 80% from within our organization." <ul> <li>"When interviewing people from the outside, the odds of being wrong are higher."</li> <li>Qualities to look for in people to promote: <ul> <li>Positive attitude/energy -- "Happy campers"</li> <li>Pure skills</li> <li>How well do they play with others?</li> <li>Won't tolerate prima donnas</li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li>How to be a great leader? <ul> <li>Must be in front of your customers</li> <li>Stand in the shoes of your people</li> <li>Do a lot of individual contributor work</li> <li>"Don't be a conference room pilot" -- Don't spend all your time in meetings</li> </ul> </li> <li>Learned knowledge vs. Lived knowledge <ul> <li>Learned: "Don't know what's coming, you just learned it."</li> <li>Lived: "You've sat in the seat, you can see around corners."</li> </ul> </li> <li>Acquisitions: <ul> <li>Geography - If location is near us, that helps</li> <li>Industry - If it's the same industry, just smaller, that helps</li> </ul> </li> <li>Overall advice: <ul> <li>Never had a career path or end goal</li> <li>Wanted to do something that energized me <ul> <li>"I'll do that job well."</li> </ul> </li> <li>"Don't focus on climbing the mythical career ladder."</li> <li>"Don't take a job to just get another job."</li> </ul> </li> <li>Why leave NASDAQ? <ul> <li>"I like controlling my schedule."</li> </ul> </li> <li>The benefits of growing up with blue collar parents. His dad worked for the Post Office, he was always upbeat and believe that life can be better.</li> </ul>