James Nardelli\'s Philosophy of Leadership

¶ … James Nardelli's Philosophy of Leadership

Is 'big brother' watching you on a closed-circuit television set? Perhaps, if you're shopping at Home Depot. But the purpose of CEO Bob Nardelli's surveillance is not only to track store theft, although that is what the television cameras were originally designed to do. Rather, Nardelli is monitoring customer buying habits. Nardelli also frequently disguises himself as a mystery shopper and tries to experience the store as an ordinary consumer. This hands-on approach to leadership also underlines the importance of leaders being aware of every facet of their organization.

It is not enough merely to have a vision and to delegate responsibility to others. Rather a strong leader in the Nardelli mold must have an idea of where the company is going and seek out knowledge of how the business operates from the ground up. In other words, a good military general must know how to shoot a gun, and how it feels to be in the line of fire, as well as merely send troops into the field in a tactically intelligent fashion. The more knowledge a leader has about the realities of how the enterprise functions, the easier it is for the leader to motivate the 'troops' to take risks and trust in the leader's judgment. Nardelli might call this "sweat equity" -- to ask others to sweat, a CEO must get his hands dirty, a particularly apt phrase in Nardelli's case as he is CEO of Home Depot. (Reingold 2005:76).