The Champion Leader

Chapter 9Adaptability and Responsibility (Lead through Change and Take Ownership)

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”

—President John F. Kennedy

Lisa Su's journey at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) illustrates how technology, accountability, and adaptable leadership have come together to produce scintillating results. When she took over AMD in late 2014, the semiconductor company was foundering. After some huge staff layoffs, many wondered whether the long‐established company would even survive. It would take a major leadership reclamation project to get AMD back on track. Fortunately, they turned to the right person.

Su implemented a vision that inspired innovation and accountability, while instilling consistency in the culture. She asked a tremendous amount of the engineers at AMD and set the bar high. She wanted them to design the fastest chips in the world. She got what she wanted. AMD continued to surge in value as more organizations started using AMD chips.

As we've learned so far, it's one thing to have a vision—it's another to unite an organization and adapt how you lead to a wide range of stakeholders. For a publicly traded company, it's an even greater challenge.

Recounting momentous decisions during her early days as CEO, Su said, “The most important thing for us back in 2014 was, first, choosing the right markets that were good for technology. It's not what you do today, but it's really what ...