The Sept. 11, 2001 attacks served as a “huge catalyst” for transforming the FBI, Bureau Director Robert Mueller told about 200 people Wednesday in the James L. Allen Center.
Mueller came to Northwestern’s Evanston Campus as part of the second annual Kellogg School of Management’s Leadership Conference, organized by Kellogg’s student-run Business Leadership Club. The one-day conference also included panels on developing leadership and management skills. Corporate representatives, as well as Kellogg students, faculty and alumni attended the conference.
During his speech, Mueller addressed how the FBI reorganized itself from a crime-fighting organization to one focusing on counter-terrorism and the prevention of future terrorist attacks.
For the past three years, the FBI has been required to build up its intelligence and adjust to the changing threats, he said.
“The threats we see in the U.S. are threats that are no longer domestic, but threats that come across borders,” Mueller said.
He compared his role to managing and developing a business. The successful management of an organization depends on defining priorities and effectively utilizing its people, he said.
“In the business world, one expects CEOs to move around — they expect to bring in people from the outside,” Mueller said.
He added this characteristic of businesses is different from the U.S. government and the FBI, where “you don’t have new teams come in.”
Mueller spoke on the challenges of leadership.
“I wrestle to the extent of when do you sit on the balcony and when do you micromanage,” Mueller said. He added that since Al-Qaeda has been the biggest security threat for the past few years, counter-terrorism efforts are one of the issues he follows closely.
But he said one are where he failed to micromanage — the FBI’s development of information technology — has been one of his shortcomings.
Sharmila Ray, a second-year Kellogg student, said Mueller’s personal critique was an important part of his speech.
“You get to see these dynamic and very public leaders in their most vulnerable state,” Ray said. “Leadership is a process of continual learning.”
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