Rupert Murdoch and Leadership - Should a CEO Know What’s Going On?

At the start of the lesson, explain to students that you are going to show them a series of questions and answers with a CEO of a major global corporation employing 53,000 people. What leadership characteristics might students expect that CEO to exhibit? Energy & enthusiasm about his/her business? Quick and sharp replies to questions? Polished answers to probing questions? Then show them a clip of Rupert Murdoch appearing before the Commons Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee….

Is this performance really what you might expect of someone who is described as one of the most powerful business people in the globe? It will be interesting to see how they react to Rupert - and also to his son James who some believe is the de facto CEO of News Corp.

There are some interesting and relevant leadership issues raised by the appearance of the Murdochs. Not the least is whether a CEO should be so hands-off in his dealings with troublesome subsidiaries. Murdoch (Snr)‘s argument was that the NOTW was just a tiny fraction (about 1% of global revenues) of his overall group and that his time was full managing much bigger parts of his empire. So he delegates responsibility to other senior members of his (rapidly shrinking) team - some of whom he believes have broken his trust in allowing the wrongdoing at News International to occur.

What business lessons do you think Rupert Murdoch might have learned if he coould have his time again?