Since the purpose of this podcast is to share information about leadership, it’s fun to look at the leadership journey of executives as they reflect on their careers. Sometimes, they are obnoxious, arrogant, and full of themselves. Other times, they are humble, contrite, and wish they could do some things differently. Jacques Nasser is a little of both having acquired multiple leadership lessons from 30 years in the corner office of some very large companies.
Mr. Nasser is stepping down as Chairman of the Board at BHP. For those who don’t know BHP, it’s the largest mining company in the world according to market capitalization in April of 2017. That sounds impressive, and at over $90B of market value, it is; but it doesn’t even break the top ten. Here are the top ten companies in the world by market capitalization:
| Company | 2017 Mkt Cap (USD billions) |
| Apple | $776.8 |
| Alphabet (Google) | $671.1 |
| Microsoft | $542.9 |
| Amazon | $467.6 |
| $433.6 | |
| Berkshire Hathaway | $419.8 |
| Jonson & Johnson | $354.3 |
| Alibaba Group | $352.8 |
| Exxon Mobil | $348.0 |
| JPMorgan Chase | $308.9 |
Nasser’s family, originally from Lebanon, settled in Melbourne, Australia. His father was a bus driver and Nasser spent his teenage years starting businesses, including a bicycle-making operation and a discotheque. His father wanted Jac to be an entrepreneur, so he wasn’t impressed with his decision to join Ford Australia in 1968.
“Why would you ever want to work for anyone but yourself?” he asked. To him, the excitement of business came from running the works—from being the owner. But Jac stayed with Ford for 33 years. His last position? CEO.
Leadership Advice:
- Engage your team to have an entrepreneurial approach to their work
- Communicate the goals and objectives of the organization clearly through training and consider personal on-the-job training by executives for high potential leaders
- Don’t be afraid of making big decisions that shake things up
- Recognize when your team or the organization doesn’t have the resources to take on an acquisition or additional work
- Like a star athlete, have a short memory when it comes to mistakes
- Meet someone new every day
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Australian Financial Review interview with Jacques Nasser
Great quotes from this episode:
“The only guy who never makes a mistake is the guy who doesn’t make a decision.” – Jacques Nasser
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