While his styles differ from the Immelts and the Mckinnells of the business world he is just as, if not more, effective. George has made his disdain of the leadership styles of many of today's leaders known. Their unethical and devious positions in the business world do a horrible job of cultivating strong and dynamic businesses. They compromise workers and customers to show shareholders a skewed bottom line. By writing his book, touring, and delivering speeches on ethics and core values, George is attempting to right what has been wronged. Bill George is a committed leader with a deep sense of purpose. His style lends itself to the betterment of the customer not, at least initially, to the shareholders. It is George's beliefs in his five foundations, purpose, values, relationships, self-discipline, and heart that drive him. It is by staying true to these five dimensions that George has successfully navigated through his career with much ballyhooed success.
Bill George joined Medtronic in 1989 as president and chief operating officer after holding executive positions with Honeywell and Litton industries from 1969 to 1989. George had turned down previous offers from Medtronic as he deemed them too small of a company for the direction he was heading. After experiencing certain disappointments at Litton and Honeywell, many of them related to the size and complexity of their infrastructures, George finally accepted their offer. It was the board of directors that hired him, but it was the shareholders that received the first message from George. In his initial meeting with the company's shareholders, George proclaimed his allegiance to the customer first, Medtronic's employees second and the shareholders third. This angered and confused many of them and they immediately started having second thoughts about the new hire. In their eyes it was a CEO's position to maximize shareholder value, to give them confidence that their money was being used wisely.