John Foster

John is head of talent and organization for Hulu where he's busy helping build an extraordinary company with an iconic culture full of amazing people. Previously, he worked at IDEO helping one of the world’s most innovative organizations innovate on itself. John has also worked in senior talent and organization development roles at Levi Straus, Fidelity Investments, and Citibank.

• http://twitter.com/gillestheriault Gilles Theriault

  Great post and advice. I read an article in the globe and mail this morning about this web site and find the “model” really interesting. The first article from John hit me in my belief. So now, you got me hook. I will spend more time reading previous articles and sure hope to read more advice from business leaders. Thanks for sharing and keep it up. Some of my reaction below for this article.

  “Next time you consider spending training dollars or valuable time on leadership training, spend that money, time, and energy on improving the performance of your relationships with others instead.”

  Great advice! Would be nice if some “industries” would actually fallow that exact advice instead of trying to make policies for everything!

  “I’m not a big fan of competency models.”

  I like that statement and believe in it so much! I interpret it as; “models” also includes certification. Because, in certain place, they believe that a piece of paper “Graduate” for example, is the only way to demonstrate your competency for leadership position. I believe that some training must occur, but leadership skills like your list is far way more productive and effective then a graduate paper on the wall!

  Cheers,
  GT

• margcampbell

  An interesting perspective and one I can see merit in but can't entirely agree with. Most strongleaders do have the basic competencies when you do the analysis-at least that's been my experience over the last twenty years in management. Leadership training can give you new tools that a leader didn't have before. In fact when you find one who is missing a basic competency they tend to be in trouble .
  However, I don't disagree with your premise that connecting with each other-learning how to be successful together as a team, and using your emotional intelligence to work together is what we should aim for.
  We purposefully have lunch together as a group; we create an atmosphere where people can challenge each other and where we can also give each other support. Everyone knows the bottom line and knows they will get held to it but they have the room to be creative to get there.
  A piece of paper from a management training won't guarantee these things but training with a creative and challenging work environment tends to bring out the best in the people.