MKIn our previous announcement dedicated to the last Summit that took place in Ohrid in 2013, we announced that we will share the Five Leadership E’s that Sandy Ogg, the former Human Resource and Leadership Development Manager, shared with the audience during the Gala Dinner. We are happy to share that part of his speech with you with the hope it will provoke you to reflect on your own leadership skills and the things that can bring you closer to success.
We are also going to view the Summit in Ohrid through some fun facts and numbers, the media coverage of the event, as well as a pie chart of the sectors that were featured.
Sandy Ogg’s Five E’s for Successful Leadership
One thing I have learned about leadership is when the past and the future collide, and strategy and culture collide, the past or the culture will always win. But there is caveat in the absence of leadership, it is leaders that bring the past and the future together; it is leaders that make strategy and culture come together. Macedonia has great culture but when residing in that culture there will be a certain amount of inertia in the way you do things. You are going to have to have the courage to sort through that and figure out what you are not willing to change, and what things you are willing to change in order to win. And making this type of decision is leadership. It is the judgment and the will to be able to do so; you have to assemble the collective will of everyone here. I will tell you more about the five points that begin with “E” and that should characterize every leader.
The first “E” of any leader is ENVISION. Do you have a vision for yourself, for the business that you are in? Do you have a vision for your family; do you have a vision for your son or daughter? The first criterion is to have a vision but the second is to give vision to others. Do you see your vision present in your people, in your children? You can’t be the judge of this! Other people around you will be the judges of your vision. It is the vision that resides in the organization that lives in the business in which you have given your vision that will live on. Slogans are simply putting a vision on the wall, it is just a technical term, but where you work, from there is what gives your vision meaning. Does the vision live? Grade yourself.
The second “E” is ENERGIZE. Does anybody have a Smartphone? When your Smartphone rings are there people that when you see their name appear on the screen, you don’t want to answer it because they suck the energy right out of you even before you answer it? I call those people energy vampires. Are you an energy vampire? Take care of yourself and of the people who give you energy. When you come home at night do you still have the phone to your ear? When you come home do your children run up to you or does just the dog run now? This might be an indicator. Be present for your family, just as you are present at work, because they are going to give you your energy back so you can give it to others. Ask yourself do you have energy and do you give energy, or you are the energy vampire?
The third “E” is EDGE. Edge means the willingness to make tough decisions about people and businesses. It is absolutely cruel to leave people in a job that they are unable to do. Everyone should be challenged, but when they are not in the right job, it is difficult for them and for the company to succeed.
The fourth, is EXECUTE. Are you the person people will turn to when they need to get something done? We used to call Mike Zafirovski the “execution monster”. If it was on Mike’s to do list, and if you happened to get in between him and him getting it done, he will either do it with you or through you, but always in an energizing way.
The final “E” is ETHICS. Without ethics there is no trust, and without trust there is nothing. So as a leader if you are not trusted, it doesn’t matter which of these four “E’s” you may have or how successful you are. And it is not only the big things, but the small breeches that begin to dissolve the trust others have in you.
The Summit through numbers
The Summit hosted around 300 participants, including international top CEO’s, managers, entrepreneurs, the Government’s economic team and high officials, business associations and chambers, diplomats and foreign missions, as well as international financial institutions. The five panels hosted an impressive list of 43 keynote speakers and panelists. The list of speakers included globally renowned executives, Ministers, leaders in innovation and research, representatives of the biggest foreign investments in Macedonia, successful entrepreneurs, and institutional representatives. The participants included 240 local and 60 international guests from more than 20 different countries.
The summit survey was distributed to 226 participants, out of which 43 people have responded (19% response rate). Here is a short summary of the results: The most prominent benefits for the participants are networking, business opportunities and getting new ideas, updates and insights. 87% come to the Summit for networking; 93% are satisfied with the networking opportunities. 77% come to the Summit to investigate business opportunities; 67% of the respondents are satisfied with the business opportunities presented at the Summit. 90% of the respondents are very satisfied or satisfied with the Summit Topic/Theme, and 95% find the quality of speakers very satisfying or satisfying. 92% are very satisfied or satisfied with the panel sessions. The respondents have identified the panels on “Innovation Driven Business” and “Leadership Development” as the most interesting sessions at the Summit.
The Summit was popular in the Media
The Macedonia Global Investment Summit established close communications with nine media partners during this year’s Summit: two news agencies, three national television stations, three daily newspapers and one business magazine. There were also twenty-two journalists from eighteen accredited media outlets reporting from the Summit events in Ohrid. The Macedonian media had a notable interest in covering the events and news regarding the Global Investment Summit both in 2012 and 2013. There were a total of 432 news articles released to the Macedonia public from June 1st to October 16th discussing the Summit; in 252 articles, it was the dominate subject. The remaining 162 articles were covering other program activities of Macedonia 2025 and activities of some of its Board Members. From the total number of articles, thirty were television broadcasts, nine were radio announcements or discussions, fifty-two were published news and 341 were internet posts. The Summit and its participants were highlighted in twenty-five interviews.