This Boeing Executive Says A Leader Shouldn't Try To Change The World But Focus On These 4 Things Instead

Ted Colbert, chief information officer and senior vice president at Boeing, has a morning routine that isn’t for everyone

First, he wakes up at 4, every morning.

He works out, every morning.

And he reads, every morning. If you’re like me, you’re lucky if you can do just one of those three. It’s clear that he’s a man on a mission, and in many respects he is an entrepreneur leading change within a large organization.

I reached out to Colbert, because I have always been curious how leaders of large companies approach leadership. Time and time again, I’ve seen that the best leaders are entrepreneurs within their organizations, and we have a lot to learn from them. Here is what I learned from him.

The best way to change the culture of a company is to let the data do the talking.

How many times have you presented the vision for your company and gotten blank stares? You spent nights and weekends on this beautiful presentation, and it fell flat.

Well, chances are the reason it fell flat is that no one believed you.

I became curious. How do you convince hundreds of thousands of people to act on your grand vision? More meetings and town halls can only go so far.

Colbert has an answer to that problem:

“I knew from day one that the best way to make positive change within an organization was to empower our teams to collect data through projects in specific business units, and use that data to guide us to better decisions. If you unlock the power of data, you unlock the capabilities of your team to make better decisions.”

For entrepreneurs, the best way is to launch early and get market feedback. If you’re waiting for a big launch and no one has seen your product, you’re going to have a hard time. You and your team should be confident that what you’re building is actually needed. You only have so many executive decisions in you before things start to fall apart.

Don’t try to change the world overnight. Find the real challenges and implement solutions to them one step at a time.

The one common theme during my interview with Colbert was that he focused on demonstrating value and empowering “pathfinders” to enable real innovation to happen within the organization big-bang projects with big launches that sometimes failed the day they launched.

Becoming a pathfinder and being on the frontlines of what you’re creating allows you to build trust with your team. If your team doesn’t trust that what you’re building is going to work, then you’re going to have a tough time scaling.

What’s the best way to recruit great talent? Do great work

Aspire to do great things, but always focus on core values

Entrepreneurs are forced to adapt to their surroundings. We have to sniff out opportunities.

“Always focus on core values, and let those values guide you through the noise around you. It’s easy to get distracted, but I always lead to my true north values. I believe in them, and therefore I lead by them. Don’t let your aspirations get in the way of your core values,” says Colbert.

Aspire to do great things. Just let the data do the talking, lead by example, and if you have to get up at 4 o’clock every morning, then maybe you should start one day at a time.