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Leadership Secrets of the World’s Most Successful CEOs Eric Yaverbaum. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Vice President and Publisher: Cynthia A. Zigmund Acquisitions Editor: Jonathan Malysiak Senior Project Editor: Trey Thoelcke Interior Design: Lucy Jenkins Cover Design: Scott Rattray, Rattray Design Typesetting: Elizabeth Pitts © 2004 by Eric Yaverbaum Published by Dearborn Trade Publishing A Kaplan Professional Company All rights reserved. The text of this publication, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America 04 05 06 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Libra
Introduction Who knows what it really takes to be an effective leader in the business world? The world’s most successful CEOs, of course, the men and women who run the #1 or #2 corporation in their industry or market niche. The idea for this book came to me at a dinner I had a couple of years ago with a small group of CEOs and Richard Grasso, former head of the New York Stock Exchange. The conversation between Mr. Grasso and the other CEOs about leadership during 9/11 made it crystal clear how many brilliant and varied ways there are to be a great leader. If that evening could have been videotaped and people could have watched the conversations, you could have picked up dozens of leadership strategies from some of the world’s most successful men and women. I realized that no one leader has all the answers, but if you combined the most brilliant ones, you’d have everything you need to lead your organization to success. In Leadership Secrets of the World’s Most Successful CEOs, 100 top C
Chapter 1: Gene A. Abbott, CEO Overview Abbott and Associates, Inc. A good leader makes sure he is surrounded by the right people. “Success is not achieved totally by leadership alone,” says Gene Abbott, CEO of contracting firm Abbott and Associates. “A good leader makes sure he is surrounded by the right people, that there are open lines of communication in all matters, and that there is a strong commitment by all. “I have been a mechanical contractor for 34 years. One of our more prominent projects was the TARP project, better known as The Deep Tunnel, for the Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago. “The project was 300 feet below grade level, and all of our heating and cooling equipment and material had to be lowered to that level. It was to be installed, at an elevation of 55 feet, in an equipment room the size of a football field. “I received a call that we had a serious problem. The room was equipped with a permanently installed overhead crane, which was in the way of
Chapter 1: Gene A. Abbott, CEO
Chapter 2: Daniel P. Amos, CEO Overview AFLAC Treat your employees well. “I have a simple management philosophy,” says Dan Amos, CEO of insurance giant AFLAC. “If you treat your employees well, they will take care of your customers and your business. “Our first job is to take care of our employees. They, in turn, have always taken care of our business. “Our employees know that we listen to and value their ideas, no matter how foreign they may seem to us at first. As a result, our employees extend the same courtesy to our customers. By appreciating the different viewpoints of our employees and customers, we have developed stronger products, new customers, and long-term relationships with policyholders.” According to Dan, AFLAC is the largest foreign life insurer in Japan, in terms of profits, and the second most profitable foreign company in any industry. In 1998 AFLAC was ranked the #1 insurance company in Fortune magazine’s list of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in America, and wa
Chapter 2: Daniel P. Amos, CEO
Chapter 3: William Bonner, President Overview Agora Focus on the work itself. When asked to share his most powerful leadership technique, Bill Bonner, founder and president of Agora, a large international publisher of newsletters and other specialized information, replied: “I practice a technique that might be called dynamic indifference. I do not try to lead, probably because I am no good at it. Instead, I merely focus on the work itself. “What needs to be done? Who’s got a better idea? Who’s going to do it? No attempt is made to lead. “Just the contrary, people are ignored. Finally, they get tired of being ignored and turn to me for leadership. Then I tell them I can’t help them. This forces them to figure out the problem for themselves and resolve it. “For instance, we had a publication that had been our flagship newsletter but had become very difficult. It was losing money. No one knew quite what to do about it. “Part of the problem, I realized, was that I was being too much of a l
Chapter 3: William Bonner, President
Chapter 4: Niranjan Ajwani, CEO Overview Ajwani Group of Companies For me a great leader is an enabler and a facilitator. “My style of leadership is humane,” says Niranjan Ajwani of Ajwani Group. “I try to keep my leadership technique true to nature. If anything is not in harmony with nature and natural processes, it is not sustainable. I use this principle in making decisions in order to sustain happiness for myself and my teammates using our own natural strengths and rhythms to get the best out of our lives and also to sustain it. “Leadership involves a lifelong commitment to self-mastery, to holistic living, and to a life of balance. A leader should not only harmonize his different needs, but also be an enabling and empowering factor in harmonizing the different needs of his teammates so that they enjoy work, play, love, relationships, and spiritual growth so very essential for a sustained joy. “A great leader is an enabler and a facilitator. In actual practice we build teams with a
Chapter 4: Niranjan Ajwani, CEO
Chapter 5: David T. Mclaughlin, Chairman Overview American Red Cross Focus on the two or three issues that will effect the future of the enterprise. Formerly CEO of the Toro Company, David McLaughlin finds himself-in a new leadership role as the nonexecutive chairman of the American Red Cross. (A nonexecutive chairman is a board chairman who does not also hold an executive position with the organization.) “Leadership requirements of a nonexecutive chairman relate to keeping the board focused on the two or three issues that will affect the future of the enterprise, and working with management to implement the strategies that deal with these opportunities or challenges,” says David. “We did this quite successfully at the American Red Cross when after September 11, 2001, the organization had to reassess its chartered mission and to realign assets to respond to the challenges of an entirely new environment. “The events of 9/11 changed not only the way the Red Cross prepared to respond to w
Chapter 5: David T. Mclaughlin, Chairman
Chapter 6: A.J. Wasserstein, CEO Overview ArchivesOne, Inc. Never let any relationship, internal or external, go stale or unmanaged. When we asked A.J. Wasserstein, CEO of records management and storage company ArchivesOne, for his most important leadership secret, his immediate answer was: “Never let any relationship, internal or external, go stale or unmanaged.” Why the emphasis on relationships? It’s based on the simple premise that virtually everything accomplished in the business world is done with the help of other people—especially true for managers and executives who delegate tasks to others, or workgroup members who depend on their teammates for critical information or assistance in completing their own tasks. “You never know when you will need help or support from a person,” says A.J. “If you actively manage those relationships, and keep the relationship warm, it is always easier to gain that person’s cooperation.” Relationship management is not restricted to customers and em
Chapter 6: A.J. Wasserstein, CEO
Chapter 7: Chip Perry, President and CEO Overview AutoTrader.com Challenge the status quo. AutoTrader.com, the world’s leading automotive marketplace online, improves the way people research, buy, and sell cars by providing a comprehensive source of information and an inventory of more than 2.2 million vehicles for sale by private sellers, dealers, and manufacturers. As you might imagine, building a leading-edge e-business requires an innovative mindset, and AutoTrader.com CEO Chip Perry sees fostering this mindset as one of his key leadership challenges. “My most powerful leadership technique is to tell everyone who works for AutoTrader.com that one of their main responsibilities and obligations as an employee is to constantly challenge the status quo and relentlessly work to improve whatever product, process, or system they may use to get their work done,” says Chip. “Our company grew from zero to $100 million in revenues in just five years, and the main source of our success was the
Chapter 7: Chip Perry, President and CEO
Chapter 8: Roy Vallee, CEO Overview Avnet, Inc. Work hard to ensure your employees are successful in their careers and they, in turn, will work hard to ensure your company’s success. Like Dan Amos of AFLAC, Roy Vallee of Avnet also believes employee motivation is the key to effective leadership. “Work hard to ensure your employees are successful in their careers, and they, in turn, will work hard to ensure your company’s success,” Roy says. “One of our company’s strategic objectives is to develop our employees, and we invest heavily in their success. Our ten core values, which I helped establish, guide our efforts. “Prior to 2000, we had an informal set of values, which were on a video I did for new employees. One of our groups decided to formalize them. “Instead of allowing them to make their own list, I formed a council of our human resources, strategic planning, and corporate communications pros to help me finalize the program. “We had a survey of employee thoughts on the issue. The
Chapter 8: Roy Vallee, CEO
Chapter 9: Daniel Biederman, President Overview Bryant Park Restoration Corp./34th Street Partnership Reexamine absolutely every piece of conventional wisdom that comes across your path. “By far my most powerful management and selling technique is to reexamine absolutely every piece of conventional wisdom that comes across my path. I don’t believe anything until I’ve observed it to be true from my own experience.” Daniel Biederman is the founder of the company that designed, raised money for, received approvals for, and runs Bryant Park on a daily basis. Customers included the property-owners whose buildings abut Bryant Park, New York City, and a group of influential midtown philanthropists, led by David Rockefeller and Andrew Heiskell. “Almost everything I have achieved was written off as unconventional, unpopular, or unlikely by someone in power, usually government. I carefully train everyone who works for me to follow me in this tendency to look skeptically at every word that is con
Chapter 9: Daniel Biederman, President
Chapter 10: William H. Goodwin, Jr., CEO Overview CCA Industries Make good, simple, honest, and ethical decisions. When we asked Bill Goodwin of CCA Industries for his most powerful leadership secret, his reply was straightforward: “Make good, simple, honest, and ethical decisions.” Ah, but how do you know your decision is a good one? “You never know whether a difficult decision is correct. In fact, you can make a difficult decision as best you can and it still could appear at a later date to not have been the right decision.” Then what do you do? “Try to get as many facts and use the best judgment you can to make the decision, and do not look back,” says Bill. “The only reason you might look back is to learn something that you could have done better, so that next time you can make a better decision. The only way I know to overcome self-doubt is to be positive and learn as many facts as you can before you make a decision. “I have tried to use this technique with all of my decisions, bu
Chapter 10: William H. Goodwin, Jr., CEO
Chapter 11: James M. Anderson, President Overview Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Be nimble in pursuing opportunity. “Be nimble in pursuing opportunity,” is the leadership advice of hospital president James Anderson. “See opportunity, even in the face of challenges, and adjust strategy to reach goals. Be flexible, adaptive, and responsive. “At a football game, I happened to meet and talk with an Ohio political leader. He asked why our hospital did not apply for federal funding available to hospitals for special projects. “Until that moment, I was not aware of this funding source. Within a week, we put together a team to plan an application for funding. We selected the project and submitted a strong request within a few weeks. We received $750,000. This seeding funding helped us launch a major new surgical program for small bowel transplant.” As an academic medical center, a hospital for children, and a major research center, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center i
Chapter 11: James M. Anderson, President
Chapter 12: Matt Rubel, CEO Overview Cole Haan Ask for their best thinking and then really listen. “My most powerful leadership technique is to ask our people for their best thinking and then really listen,” says Matt Rubel, CEO of high fashion shoemaker Cole Haan. “It shows you respect and empower those who work for you. You will come up with better answers. And those who work with you will take more pride in their own thinking and work.” Pride in work is especially important at Cole Haan, because each pair of shoes is made by a single craftsman. “He sees them all the way through the process, from beginning to end,” says Matt. “And when he is satisfied that the product has been superbly executed, he puts them in the box himself—like a gift to the customer who will ultimately enjoy them. “The best way to be a great leader is to prepare prior to meetings and interactions. Clearly articulate expectations and provide feedback mechanisms that are real and timely.”
Chapter 12: Matt Rubel, CEO
Chapter 13: Joseph Deitch, CEO Overview Commonwealth Financial Network The primary role of the leader is to do just that—to lead. “As trite as it may sound, the primary role of the leader is to do just that: to lead,” says Joe Deitch of Commonwealth Financial Network. “This requires articulating a clear and powerful vision that resonates with the hearts and minds of all the people associated with the venture. While charting the right course is obviously critical, it is not enough to rally the troops and sustain their dedicated involvement. “More specifically, the study of behavioral psychology teaches us that the most powerful motivators share certain characteristics. They are (1) positive, (2) reliable, and (3) immediate. Thus while a negative motivator such as fear may promote some baseline behaviors, it certainly won’t motivate people to go above and beyond for an extended time. “As for reliability, it stands to reason that the higher our chance of being rewarded, be it tangible or
Chapter 13: Joseph Deitch, CEO
Chapter 14: Sanjay Kumar, Chairman and CEO Overview Computer Associates International, Inc. A leader must be able to make change happen. “The IT industry is rife with ‘visions,’ but too often fails to deliver on its pronouncements,” says Sanjay Kumar of Computer Associates. “It’s not enough to recognize the need for change. A leader must be able to make it happen, by guiding an organization through the process and driving transformation throughout a company’s culture. To do that quickly and effectively, a leader must have both the ability to build consensus and the willingness to decide actions when necessary. “Computer Associates has succeeded as a cutting-edge technology company because of its ability to change—time and again—to meet the demands of a dynamic business. We owe our agility to the exceptional quality of our people, who are quick to recognize challenges and opportunities, and coalesce around a strategy for success. “Moreover, because they are engaged in producing innovati
Chapter 14: Sanjay Kumar, Chairman and CEO
Chapter 15: Archie W. Dunham, Chairman Overview ConocoPhillips Focus. You cannot go everywhere and do everything if you expect to perform well. “I learned a powerful leadership secret when I was in the United States Marine Corps. It was called the Five Ps: Prior planning prevents poor performance. “Whether in the military or in business, preparation is critical,” says Archie Dunham. “One reason why the Marines are so successful is the thoroughness with which they plan; they evaluate alternatives, they anticipate what can go wrong, and they provide for contingencies. “When I participated in maneuvers as a young lieutenant, I kept a notebook where I logged every mistake and each area where we could improve. Then I shared the benefits of this ongoing education with the young lieutenants who followed me. “I did the same thing in the business world as I rose in the corporate-ranks and had the opportunity to train our young, high-potential managers. Consequently, for the rest of my career, I
Chapter 15: Archie W. Dunham, Chairman
Chapter 16: William G. Crutchfield, Jr., CEO Overview Crutchfield Corp. The fundamental role of a successful leader is to achieve alignment. Crutchfield’s CEO, Bill Crutchfield, feels that the fundamental role of a successful leader is to achieve alignment. “Much is written about executives’ roles in aligning their teams around corporate strategy and tactics,” he says. “Kenneth Lay was probably very effective in this capacity at Enron. “Unfortunately, too little is written or taught about the alignment of values and the creation of strong organizational cultures. The most powerful leadership technique that I know is identifying, inculcating, and managing an organizational culture. “Leaders must possess the right set of core values and must be able to align everyone in their organizations around those values. Obviously, if Mr. Lay had possessed the right values, and created a healthy organizational culture and aligned his employees around them, Enron would not have collapsed in scandal.
Chapter 16: William G. Crutchfield, Jr., CEO
Chapter 17: S. Michael Joseph, CEO Overview DACOR Distinctive Appliances Orient your company to a higher purpose. “What is my most powerful leadership secret? To orient my company to a higher purpose and to be consistent in following our moral compass,” says Mike Joseph, CEO of DACOR, a high-end kitchen appliance manufacturer. “I’ve been with DACOR 32 years. During this period, sales have increased from $50,000 to approaching $200,000,000. The company has nearly doubled in size since the inception of the DACOR Value Statement five years ago.” A recent project: conducting a Value Training workshop with his executive team. The Value Statement reads: To Honor God in All That We Do . . . By respecting others By doing good work By helping others By forgiving others By giving thanks By celebrating our lives “I believe that when we respect and help one another, we are able to recognize the talent throughout the organization. When we practice forgiveness and give thanks to one another, we open
Chapter 17: S. Michael Joseph, CEO
Chapter 18: Terdema Ussery, President and CEO Overview Dallas Mavericks Have a vision and translate that vision to everybody in the organization with passion and conviction. “The key to leadership is to have a vision and translate that vision to everybody in the organization with passion and conviction,” says Dallas Mavericks CEO Terdema Ussery. When he was appointed CEO of the team in 1997, he quickly announced his vision to make the Dallas Mavericks “the best sports entertainment company in the country.” With the emphasis on entertainment, the most important measurement of success is fan satisfaction—did the fan have a great experience watching the game? One of his innovative ideas for soliciting customer feedback was to put his personal e-mail address up on the scoreboard at home games. Fans were told, “If you send an e-mail, we will get back to you personally by the end of that day. If we don’t, then don’t support us.” Says Terdema, “One fan sent an e-mail in the first quarter sayi
Chapter 18: Terdema Ussery, President and CEO
Chapter 19: Salvador Diaz-Verson, Jr., President Overview Diaz-Verson Capital Investments, LLC (DVC) Conduct your business with honorable intentions. “The most fundamental leadership secret that comes to mind is the value of personal honor. When you conduct business with honorable intentions and you respond to your peers, employees, and customers with an attitude of honesty and fairness, they generally respond in kind. Salvador Diaz-Verson of investment firm DVC believes that a leader must develop a vision for the organization. “A vision is a mind snapshot of what the organization could be. The vision must be in clear focus and detailed, in full living color. It must be desired beyond any mere goal or want a person otherwise possesses. “It must be so vivid to the holder (visionary), so clearly desirable, that the holder can describe it with such passion that others nearly immediately catch the contagion. It must be of such import to the holder that sacrifices can be endured, and setbac
Chapter 19: Salvador Diaz-Verson, Jr., President
Chapter 20: Mark Dimassimo, CEO Overview Dimassimo Brand Advertising Ask questions. Mark DiMassimo says that his most powerful leadership secret or technique is asking questions. “In the ten years I worked for other agencies, before starting DiMassimo Brand Advertising in 1996, I knew that my goal was to one day found a truly great agency. I considered every job I had continuing education, so I never hesitated to hire people who were older, better, and much more highly paid than I was. “The most important question I asked every single one of them was, ‘What was the best place you ever worked?’ I’d follow up with, ‘What made it the best place to work?’ These discussions could go on for hours because I never tired of the subject, and I found that even for the best people, a great work experience is rare—they loved talking about it too. “The common theme was competence. ‘We were just good at what we did.’ That’s the representative quote. “Of course, I learned so much more from those conve
Chapter 20: Mark Dimassimo, CEO
Chapter 21: Hurley Calister Turner, Jr., Chairman Overview Dollar General Corporation Leadership is the art of human relations. “To me, there is no leadership secret, nor does effective leadership conform to ‘technique,’” says Cal Turner, chairman of retail giant Dollar General. “To the extent leadership secrets exist at all, they are available in the most widely published but least read of all books: The Holy Bible.” What does the Bible have to do with business leadership? Says Cal, “Leadership is the art of human relations. The fundamentals of the art, the dynamics of relationships, are right there in the good book. “Mature self-knowledge is the prerequisite of effective leadership. A God-centered discovery of self is one’s best determination of the what of leadership (mission, purpose, and intended results) and also the how of eliciting followership from other flawed human beings. It is ‘ psychological’ (spiritual) maturity, which prompts the leadership mandate and the followership
Chapter 21: Hurley Calister Turner, Jr., Chairman
Chapter 22: David A. Brandon, Chairman and CEO Overview Domino’s Pizza Listen to the people who are closest to the customers and the marketplace. They will give you your best advice and input. “There are no leadership secrets that I am aware of!” says David Brandon, CEO of Domino’s Pizza. “My experience tells me that it is important to be a coach and a teacher. Lead by example. Articulate a vision. Find out how people want to be treated and treat them that way. Build a great team. Surround yourself with people smarter than you are. “Study effective leaders. Read what they write. Listen to them speak. Observe what effective leaders do right and emulate them. Observe what lousy leaders do wrong and avoid their mistakes. “Don’t be afraid to admit that you don’t always have all the answers. Just because you are made the leader of an organization doesn’t mean you suddenly possess all knowledge and experience on every facet of the enterprise. Listen to the people who are closest to the custo
Chapter 22: David A. Brandon, Chairman and CEO
Chapter 23: Michael Masterson, CEO Overview Early to Rise Be an impatient listener! While many of the other CEOs interviewed for this book stressed the importance of listening, Michael Masterson expressed a contrary point of view. Michael is a highly successful businessman—real estate and publishing-—who has built a number of successful companies (including two with $100+ million annual sales). One of them is Early to Rise (http:// www.earlytorise.com), a publisher of online newsletters and home study courses on business and success topics. Michael says, “In a management newsletter, I read an article that said good leaders devote 80 percent of their communication time to listening, and that a good leader also helps people clarify and express their ideas by asking questions and restating what she hears the person say. “Can you imagine spending 80 percent of your communication time listening? Listening to whom? Listening to what? “If you spent that much time to listening, you’d soon be w
Chapter 23: Michael Masterson, CEO
Chapter 24: Stevan Roberts, President Overview Edith Roman Associates Take somebody who doesn’t know how to do something, show them how to do it, and give them credit for it. “There’s an old saying: ‘Give a man a fish, feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.’ My best leadership technique— take somebody who doesn’t know how to do something, show them how to do it, and give them credit for it—is based on this principle,” says Steve Roberts, president of Edith Roman Associates, one of the largest mailing list companies in the United States. “For example, one of my account executives showed me an e-mail she was planning to send to an important client. The e-mail attempted to resolve a negotiation on pricing and terms, but was worded in an undiplomatic way that the client would surely have found offensive. “I rewrote it in a more diplomatic way, e-mailed my version to my account executive, and suggested she send it using my version. But I didn’t dictate to her whic
Chapter 24: Stevan Roberts, President
Chapter 25: Ronald C. Kesselman, CEO and Chairman Overview Elmer’s Products, Inc. Moderate your reactions to both good and bad news. “I would say that powerful leadership is neither a complicated or complex issue,” says Ron Kesselman of Elmer’s. “The most important piece of advice I would give is to be a steady leader. A key is moderating your reactions to both good and bad news. Have exactly the same temperament in both situations, and ask the same questions: What is the impact (e.g., financial, customers)? How can you moderate the downside or capitalize on the upside? “For example, an Elmer’s new product—wood fillers in clear tubes— far exceeded the sales forecast. However, this resulted in unacceptable customer service. “The solution was to quickly expand the supply chain (which temporarily reduced profitability) while meeting with each customer to be sure they had minimum inventory requirements filled on an almost daily basis. “After three months, we had increased production capaci
Chapter 25: Ronald C. Kesselman, CEO and Chairman
Chapter 26: Bruce T. Coleman, CEO Overview El Salto Advisors Lead by example. “My most powerful leadership secret is to tell the truth and lead by example,” says Bruce Coleman, CEO of El Salto Advisors. “There is an unfortunate tendency not to tell the truth, but being straight up helps people know where they stand and increases confidence in the leader.” “I had taken over a company on a Monday and had my first employee meeting on Tuesday. During the Q&A session, an employee asked if there might be layoffs. “My answer was that because revenues had dropped precipitously, we would have no choice but to cut staff. I said that I would act quickly and fairly, but that there was no choice. When the person thanked me, I asked why. ‘Because you are the first person to tell us the truth,’ he said. “A second company needed both leadership and a good example. I had asked the company to provide me a local apartment and rental car. The CFO called me before my arrival and asked if I would use the co
Chapter 26: Bruce T. Coleman, CEO
Chapter 27: J. Darius Bikoff, Founder and CEO Overview Energy Brands Inc. It’s all about being passionate and intense about what you do—and having fun at the same time. “Integrating fun into the workplace has been key to my business’s success,” says Darius Bikoff, CEO of Energy Brands, the company that created the popular new enhanced waters, glacéau vitaminwater, and glacéau smartwater. “It’s all about being passionate and intense about what you do . . . And having fun at the same time.” The label of the company’s new glacéau vitaminwater flavor, leadership lemon rooibos tea, perhaps sums up Bikoff’s leadership philosophy best: If “revenge of the nerds” movies have shown us anything, it’s that corvette-driving, all-state quarterbacks with perfect bone structure, dandruff-free hair, and cheerleader girlfriends named Tiffany aren’t true leaders. The real leaders are usually the dorky guys. The ones who were voted treasurer of the AV club, took their cousin to the prom, and spend most ni
Chapter 27: J. Darius Bikoff, Founder and CEO
Chapter 28: William P. Lauder, COO Overview Estée Lauder Clearly state the mission and objective of the company in a manner that gets everybody to understand and pull in that direction. “The most important element of leadership is to clearly state the mission and objective of the company in a manner that gets everybody to understand and pull in that direction,” says William Lauder of cosmetics giant, Estée Lauder. “Effective leaders communicate the objectives in a manner understandable by the audience they are talking to. “Everybody sets the mission. It is not a directive from on high. It comes from the collective bottom up. When the mission is set in this fashion, everyone buys into it because they believe it is achievable. “Estée Lauder is a large corporation with nineteen brands. I tell our employees that the organizational structure of Lauder is like the hierarchy of life in a pond that they learned about in high school biology. “At the bottom are the amoebas. The tadpoles eat the
Chapter 28: William P. Lauder, COO
Chapter 29: Massimo Ferragamo, Chairman Overview Ferragamo USA Select the best people for every key position, and give them the authority necessary to do their jobs. “I believe in trying to master and develop the science of selecting the right people within an organization,” says Massimo Ferragamo, “and consequent to that, to be able to delegate and make them responsible and the owners of what they are in charge of. When you entrust someone and give them responsibility, you are automatically handing over a piece of the company. It’s up to him or her to live up to that ownership. “As our company was prospering and growing, I think we selected the best people for every key position, and we gave them all the authority necessary to do their jobs. More recently, we selected a president for our company who was put into place, as I became chairman. I also formed an executive committee with all of our top reports that meets regularly and acts strongly together working as a team. “The most impo
Chapter 29: Massimo Ferragamo, Chairman
Chapter 30: Dorothy Cann Hamilton, Founder and CEO Overview The French Culinary Institute Truly believe in the people you work with. “My most powerful leadership skill is the ability to articulate and share a vision that people can believe in. But linked with that is my ability to truly believe in the people I work with. They have my trust as much as I have theirs,” says Dorothy Cann Hamilton, founder and CEO of the French Culinary Institute. “One of the more harrowing moments of my professional life was when the United Federation of Teachers, the teacher’s union, tried to unionize our teachers. It was quite a shock and the most infuriating part was that I wasn’t able to ask the teachers why they considered a union (it’s part of the labor law regulating union elections). “The best management techniques are always good communication. My instinct was just to talk to them. So, not knowing what could be their grievance and not being able to ask them, I just met with them, shared my vision,
Chapter 30: Dorothy Cann Hamilton, Founder and CEO
Chapter 31: Paul G. Garrity, Sr., CEO Overview Garrity Industries, Inc. Practice. “I’ve often heard a real leader is a man who can build a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him,” says Paul G. Garrity. “However, a true leader builds respect from his actions. He must be both confident as well as modest. “There are so many characteristics that make a person a good leader: a leader should be authentic, a listener, stand for values, lead by example, be honest, provide direction, and—most important—be daring, take risks, and develop and empower others. This combination of techniques is what makes a true leader. “After working for several companies from the lowest level to top management, I decided to risk starting my own consumer products company. My first company introduced a new concept in cigarette lighting. The product was a cigarette lighter that eliminated messy refilling by using a drop in cartridge refill. This company grew to the #2 position in the industry within
Chapter 31: Paul G. Garrity, Sr., CEO
Chapter 32: Michael Fleisher, CEO Overview Gartner, Inc. Open, informal communication fosters teamwork and success. “I believe that open, informal communication within a company fosters teamwork, collaboration, and success. I use a variety of techniques to insure that this type of communication happens at all levels of the company,” says Michael Fleisher, CEO of Gartner, Inc. “You must get to know people on a personal level if you are going to work effectively with them. You need to understand their values, their goals, and their motivation if you want to make them as productive and successful as possible. People need a chance to express their views in an informal, unthreatening setting if you want to understand what really makes them tick. “My favorite technique is ‘Lunch at Colony Grill.’ I regularly meet one-on-one with each member of my team for an informal lunch. The venue is always the Colony Grill, one of Stamford’s finest low-end restaurants. Located in a gritty, industrial are
Chapter 32: Michael Fleisher, CEO
Chapter 33: John Goodman, CEO Overview The Goodman Group Intuition, intelligence, and passion. John Goodman of The Goodman Group of companies says that his most powerful leadership secret is “using intuition to identify opportunity, intelligence to understand it, and passion to act on it. “ Intuition is the inner voice. It’s a sense of knowing opportunity, without immediate proof of how you know. It’s a leap from problem to solution, which transcends usual thought processes. Everyone is born with intuition; it’s God talking to us between our thoughts. “ Intelligence is the unique ability and creativity of yourself and the people with whom you work, and how you work together. Intelligence is the collective wisdom that enables us to effectively act on opportunity. “ Passion is truly caring about what you do, and doing it. Passion is what transitions opportunity to success. “The synergy between intuition, intelligence, and passion is the foundation of The Goodman Group’s success. “When I
Chapter 33: John Goodman, CEO
Chapter 34: Ed Nusbaum, Executive Partner and CEO Overview Grant Thornton Identify what makes your organization unique. “My key leadership secret is to identify what makes an organization unique or better, formulate this difference into a vision, build a strategy around the vision, execute on the strategy, and constantly communicate the vision and strategy to everyone within the organization,” says Ed Nusbaum, CEO of Grant Thornton, a global accounting, tax, and business advisory organization. This differentiation can be based on a product, service, niche, or market space. Some marketers call this the Unique Selling Proposition, or USP—the single factor that makes you different or better than the competition. Grant Thornton differentiates itself based on a niche, according to Ed, who says the firm focuses on serving midsize companies. “ Specifically, our vision is to be recognized as the leading business advisor and accounting firm serving midsize companies. “But your strategy can evol
Chapter 34: Ed Nusbaum, Executive Partner and CEO
Chapter 35: Ray Barton, CEO and Chairman of the Board Overview Great Clips, Inc. Create a vision everyone in the organization understands, supports, and works to achieve. “The most powerful leadership tool I have found is creating a vision everyone in the organization understands, supports, and works to achieve. When everyone in the organization supports the vision it makes decisions easier because there is a clear focus. People begin to think long term and are willing to accept short-term investments of time and money to make the long-term vision a reality,” says Ray Barton, CEO of Great Clips, Inc. Great Clips, headquartered in Minneapolis, is North America’s large stand fastest-growing hair salon brand in the $50-billion hair-care industry. Established in 1982, Great Clips has perfected a system for delivering competitively priced, high-quality haircuts and perms to men, women, and children. The company began franchising in 1983, and today, nearly 1,900 Great Clips salons operate in
Chapter 35: Ray Barton, CEO and Chairman of the Board
Chapter 36: Tranum Fitzpatrick, CEO Overview Guilford Capital Corporation (GCI) Lead from the front. Tranum Fitzpatrick of GCI believes that the most powerful of all the elements of leadership is to “lead from the front.” “To me this means that—always keeping in mind that you are the leader of a team and not an actor—you must: Determine the business principles which will define your company. Closely communicate those principles to your people, then keep finding new ways of continually communicating those same principles. Then you yourself always abide by these principles. “Simple? Yes. Always easy? No. Powerful? Very. “Be aware that, over the course of your career, you are going to encounter periods of business crises—some of them probably very great crises. When those crises occur, it is critical that, while letting your people know that you recognize the crisis, you maintain a demeanor of calmness and of the assurance that ‘we are going to come through this.’ “A recent example occurr
Chapter 36: Tranum Fitzpatrick, CEO
Chapter 37: Irwin Simon, CEO Overview Hain Celestial Group Communicate. “Hain Celestial is the world’s largest natural food and organic product-company. We have literally gone from zero sales and zero employees, to approximately $700 million in annual sales with 2,000 employees,” says CEO Irwin Simon. “My most powerful leadership strategy is to communicate. I have no hidden agendas. We have four clear messages in our company: build brands, stick to strategy, have good people, and achieve financial goals. “In my opinion, too many people hide behind e-mail as a way to avoid personal, face-to-face communication. E-mail and voice mail are the easy way out when there’s something important to talk about. They hurt communication by eliminating the need to speak to the person directly. “Once every quarter, I visit all of our locations in the U.S., Canada, and Europe to talk to all of our employees. I tell them the good and bad in the company. I also spend a lot of time in one-on-one meetings w
Chapter 37: Irwin Simon, CEO
Chapter 38: Sy Sperling, Founder and President (Retired) Overview Hair Club For Men (Hcm) Realize your own shortcomings. “What helped me was one powerful idea—to realize my own shortcomings and tap into the creativity and expertise of others to fill the gaps in my own knowledge and abilities.” When Sy Sperling started the Hair Club for Men, he had a partner who tried to do everything himself, because he thought no one was smarter than him. “His detriment and the cause of his failure was that he did not realize his own shortcomings. I succeeded by seeing what he did wrong and avoiding his mistakes,” says Sy. Sy recommends finding people who know more than you. “ Lawyers, ad agencies, accountants—tap into them. Pick their brains. Hire them. You do not have to reinvent the formula for success. Just find out what it is and model it. “Buying a franchise is a great way for an entrepreneur to make money from someone else’s success formula. At the Hair Club for Men, half of our locations were
Chapter 38: Sy Sperling, Founder and President (Retired)
Chapter 39: Dr. Thomas F. Frist, Jr., Chairman Emeritus Overview HCA Surround yourself with good people who balance out your weaknesses with their strengths. “My most important leadership principle was surrounding myself with good people who balanced out my strengths and weaknesses,” says Thomas Frist, MD, who in 1968 cofounded HCA in Nashville, Tennessee. “For instance, my strength was not operations. So I hired Jack Bovender, who had a proven track record, great ethics, and strong moral character, as our COO. “From 1978 to 1984, we built the best board in corporate America. In 1997, I came back to a $20 billion company as CEO and let 12 of the top 16 officers go in the first month, because of either their management style, abilities, or the public’s lack of trust in them. They were identified with all of the problems associated with a massive government investigation into fraud and abuse. Over the next six months an outstanding senior management team was assimilated that represented
Chapter 39: Dr. Thomas F. Frist, Jr., Chairman Emeritus
Chapter 40: Carleton S. Fiorina, CEO Overview Hewlett-Packard (HP) We have a responsibility to redefine the role of the corporation on the world stage. “As leaders, now more than ever before, we have a responsibility to redefine the role of the corporation on world stage, and to leverage our ability to impact individuals, companies, communities, nations for the better,” says Carly Fiorina, CEO of Hewlett-Packard. “We must remake our businesses to be far more active corporate citizens—creators not only of shareowner value, but also of social value, in ways that are systemic and sustainable. “It becomes our job to use a profit engine to raise the capabilities, extend the hopes, and extinguish despair across the globe. “We have a chance and an imperative to improve the choices, economic condition, and sphere of opportunity for billions more people here at home and around the globe. It’s a greater mandate, one that our customers increasingly demand on us, one that is deserved by every coun
Chapter 40: Carleton S. Fiorina, CEO
Chapter 41: Pernille Lopez, President Overview IKEA North America The greatest privilege of leadership is to guide people toward the path to achieve great things. IKEA’s Pernille Lopez says that one thing she has learned as a leader is that it’s important to have courage and dare to be yourself, “To take risks, step out of the comfort zone and lead the way. To see the landscape that is constantly changing as exciting, not a threat. Embrace it, and it will lead to new places with new challenges and opportunities. It’s easy to have courage when you have the sails in the winds. It’s important to find out if you still have courage when there are tough times. “Leadership for me represents what I stand for as a person. I stand for passion. People who know their passion and follow it are successful. A work colleague once asked my advice about taking on the ‘next step.’ At the time she was an interior decorator in my store, and the only next step she could see was becoming a department manager
Chapter 41: Pernille Lopez, President
Chapter 42: William T. Monahan, Chairman and CEO Overview Imation Corp. Lead by example. “The most important leadership technique I know of is to lead by example,” says William Monahan of Imation, specialists in data storage. “We hear a lot about ‘walk the talk,’ ‘get out front,’ and so on, but we don’t always see as much of it as would be effective. “Everyone in a company watches what the leader or CEO does, where they go, how they travel, do they communicate, do they practice what they preach. Employees then determine the credibility of a leader based on the consistency of his or her actions. “I am particularly against CEO perks such as limos, corporate aircraft, huge offices, special treatment. These perks set leaders apart from the team. They create the ‘Star CEO’ syndrome and cause a disconnect from reality. “I also believe strong leaders need to set an example in being able to say no. It is very important to avoid or eliminate effective or nonsuccessful programs and projects. Oft
Chapter 42: William T. Monahan, Chairman and CEO
Chapter 43: Dr. Ulrich Schumacher, CEO Overview Infineon Technologies Dare to be different. “Dare to be different,” urges Ulrich Schumacher of Infineon. “It is easy for managers to simply administer their responsibilities and meet expectations. Real leadership, however, requires a pioneering spirit and the courage to take risks. You’ve got to have the competitive drive to take on challenges that other colleagues think are almost impossible— and then pursue your vision of the future realistically but relentlessly. “As a young man, I worked my way up through the ladder of Siemens Corporation, armed with an engineering Ph.D., by volunteering to take on struggling areas of the business that I believed could be turned around in two years. Because traditional corporate culture tends to discourage entrepreneurial risk-taking, relatively few people were interested in associating themselves challenging projects. “In the mid-1990s I was given a high degree of freedom to turn the Siemens semicond
Chapter 43: Dr. Ulrich Schumacher, CEO
Chapter 44: Andre L. Lynch, CEO Overview Ingenium Corporation If you don’t leave room for people to risk and fail, they won’t achieve what you want them to achieve. “No matter how upset a leader may be with anyone, that person should never leave the presence of that leader without their dignity intact. This requires that leaders always consider the impact of their tongues on the lives of others,” says Ingenium’s Andre Lynch. “Individuals learn through constructive criticism, a sense that the leader has a long-term interest in the success of their lives, and, even if disciplined or terminated, that they are not devalued in the eyes of others. If you don’t leave room for your people to risk and fail, they won’t grow, and they won’t achieve the results you want them to achieve. “The key attributes of a successful leader are character, competency, flexibility, and empathy. The true measure of a leader is how he or she responds when the heat is on. Performance under pressure is the ultimate
Chapter 44: Andre L. Lynch, CEO
Chapter 45: David A. Steinberg, CEO Overview Inphonic Listen to people and make them feel like part of a team. “One of the most powerful leadership techniques that I’ve learned over the course of my career is to listen to people and make them feel like part of a team. Far too often, companies make employees feel like a cog in a larger machine and do not use the wealth of experience and knowledge they have under their own roof to develop innovative new business techniques and ideas. “Early in building InPhonic, it was such a small team that it was important to solicit ideas and feedback from the entire staff in order to strengthen the business and identify new opportunities. This also helped to build an open culture of shared ideas and ownership in which everyone was welcome to participate. “It led to some early innovations in the business model and the development of a strong corporate culture that empowered people to participate. One-on-one face time with employees and the ability to
Chapter 45: David A. Steinberg, CEO
Chapter 46: Richard A. Goldstein, Chairman and CEO Overview International Flavors and Fragrances, Inc. (IFF) Give people the ability and authority to get things done, and hold them accountable for the results. Richard Goldstein of International Flavors and Fragrances says that his most powerful leadership secret is empowerment, “giving people the ability and authority to get things done, and then holding them accountable for the results. “If the person you want to empower refuses to ‘take the reins,’ then you have the wrong person in the position. Replace him or her. “It is important to keep in mind that empowering someone does not mean that you allow them to act in a vacuum. People who are empowered to do their jobs must also know when to seek the counsel of others. “How do you know when to consult with others? It’s simple. If the decision you are about to take is reversible, or if the cost—financial or otherwise—of a potential mistake is affordable, then I say go for it. If, on the o
Chapter 46: Richard A. Goldstein, Chairman and CEO
Chapter 47: Charles Feghali, CEO Overview Interstate Resources, Inc. Push to get things done. “I am a practical person and spend more time on results that on analysis,” says Charles Feghali of Interstate Resources. “Therefore my contribution here will be more a practical tip than a big secret. “Many books have been written on this subject and many recipes and theories have been used by all kinds of people. Leadership is not only for the CEOs. Many people at any level in an organization or at any place in society can and do exhibit leadership traits. The technique or trait I describe here can be applied at any level in an organization, not just by CEOs. “I would not consider what I offer here as a secret, and I do not know if I am one of the most successful CEOs. But I am glad to share with you here what I consider to be actually part of my everyday MO (modus operandi). “A technique I found useful in my role as leader is to push to get things done, with the word push being the key. When
Chapter 47: Charles Feghali, CEO
Chapter 48: Howard R. Conant, CEO Overview Interstate Steel Maintain a high level of integrity. Howard Conant suggests that the two most important leadership techniques are thinking outside the box and maintaining the highest level of integrity. “When foreign steel was shipped all the way to Chicago, there were frequent insurance claims for damage where rough seas and inadequate packaging caused sea water to enter holds of vessels and damage cargo. While many of our competitors would submit claims that were artificially increased, anticipating compromise settlements, our claims were for precisely what we thought the damage to be. “After our integrity was established and adjusters determined that our claims were fair, word got around that we could be trusted. The time spent settling claims was reduced to almost nothing, allowing both insurance adjusters and us to utilize time more advantageously. “While I was chairman of Interstate Steel Company, in about 1985 we called on Hirsh Manufac
Chapter 48: Howard R. Conant, CEO
Chapter 49: Alexandra Lebenthal, CEO Overview Lebenthal & Associates Be a hands-on executive. Alexandra Lebenthal describes herself as a hands-on executive because, “I ultimately believe that a company and its leader have a greater loyalty to its employees than the employees have toward them. Being involved as a result of employee regard means active participation in a number of small issues. “To some, this may smack of micromanagement. Micromanagers override the ability of their employees and are controlling to a fault. While they may succeed, they do so without regard to the talent that exists in an organization. My style, in contrast, appreciates the talents of the employees and gives active assistance to reaching their goals and therefore the company’s success. “In the span of a few short weeks in the fall of 2001 our employees saw their world outside their window change by witnessing 9/11 across the street, and saw their world change inside when I announced the sale of our 76-year
Chapter 49: Alexandra Lebenthal, CEO
Chapter 50: Roger S. Berkowitz, CEO Overview Legal Sea Foods, Inc. Listen to those around you and implement the best of what’s suggested. “Some years ago, I instituted a program called PAC, meaning President’s Advisory Council. I hold quarterly meetings with randomly selected hourly employees who volunteer for the opportunity,” explains Roger Berkowitz of Legal Sea Foods. “PAC meetings let me talk directly and informally to those employees who have the most direct contact with customers. At Legal, this means wait staff, host staff, cooks, and bartenders. “I hold PAC meetings without any management present, and I encourage the participants to ‘cut loose’ with their ideas and suggestions. Having over 50 enthusiastic, unencumbered employees at my disposal is an incredible opportunity in terms of gaining valuable feedback and applying necessary focus to important operational issues. “PAC results have allowed me to eliminate chronic and universal issues with regard to service and menu. As a
Chapter 50: Roger S. Berkowitz, CEO
Chapter 51: Charles Ayres, CEO Overview Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking Mutual understanding and agreement of both boundaries and consequences lead to truly superior execution of any vision or strategy. Charles Ayres also views himself as a very hands-on manager. “I like to walk the ‘plant floor’ on a regular basis and interact at all levels,” he says. “I want the team to feel that I am around and care about each one of them. “I have a very open-door policy and basically say shame on you if you have an issue and you don’t seek me out. I try to make our employees comfortable that, although I am not the complaint department and have no monopoly on good ideas, I do have time to listen to legitimate ways to improve things. “I also give people room to develop and decide on what becomes their own style. I don’t want anyone to be a pale imitation of anyone else. Therefore, I give people room within the parameters of specific goals that need to be accomplished. This allows people to get from
Chapter 51: Charles Ayres, CEO
Chapter 52: Leo A. Daly III, FIA, RIBA, Chairman and President Overview LEO A DALY Architecture, Planning, Engineering, Interior Design Positive interdependence. My most powerful leadership technique,” says Leo Daly, “is commitment to a concept that my firm refers to as positive interdependence. “At LEO A DALY, we utilize positive interdependence as a driver for collaboration between project team members to ensure that we achieve the best possible outcome for each project and each client. To us, positive interdependence means that everyone involved in a project, or in achieving a goal, is vested in its successful outcome. “This concept is an important part of my leadership vision. Its genesis-was in a management strategy adopted by my grandfather when he started the firm in 1915. “He successfully integrated architects, planners, engineers, and interior and landscape designers into teams to approach each project from a holistic, or fully integrated, approach. Although this approach is s
Chapter 52: Leo A. Daly III, FIA, RIBA, Chairman and President
Chapter 53: Guerrino De Luca, CEO Overview Logitech A sense of humility is the antidote for complacency. Logitech’s Guerrino De Luca considers himself an apprentice. “I may be the CEO of a billion dollar company,” he says, “but I know that I don’t have all the answers. I will always be an apprentice, always trying to learn and understand more, surrounding myself with the brightest people I can find, and always staying grounded. I believe this apprentice frame of mind is critical to success, whether you are the CEO of Logitech or a manager of a local restaurant. “I’m never comfortable setting myself apart from everyone else. If you carry a title like CEO to heart, you’ll view the organization through polarized lenses, only seeing what you want to see—not what needs to be seen. “Maintaining an apprentice’s perspective keeps me on the same plain as other decision makers in your organization, creating a healthy team dynamic. As an apprentice, I have the opportunity to glean from the expert
Chapter 53: Guerrino De Luca, CEO
Chapter 54: C. James Jensen, CEO Overview Mara Gateway Associates People make decisions based on feelings, not facts. For Jim Jensen of Mara Gateway, the most underutilized asset in negotiations is the human element. “Write this down,” he says, “and commit it to memory: People make decisions based on feelings, not facts. “This statement is the antithesis of most teachings about the ‘Art of the Deal.’ and, I am not suggesting for a moment that you ignore or dismiss the facts. But if you want to elevate your effectiveness as a negotiator—a key attribute of a strong leader—find some common ground or a way to bond with the person with whom you are negotiating. In the case of competitive negotiations where other individuals or parties are competing with you for what you are attempting to achieve a personal relationship with the person you are negotiating with will give you a competitive edge. “If people like you and want to do business with you, they will make every effort to effect the tra
Chapter 54: C. James Jensen, CEO
Chapter 55: David B. Snow, Jr., President, Chairman, and CEO Overview Medco Health Solutions Identify the noble cause that will drive the business as well as the hearts and minds of the company’s employees. “An effective CEO integrates multiple techniques to lead an organization,” says David Snow of Medco. “The most successful leader will first identify and then clearly articulate the noble cause that will drive the business, as well as the hearts and minds of the company’s employees. “By definition, the noble cause is a view from inside the company looking out—not about a self-interest, but rather revolving around a selfless intent to help others. Those pursuing a noble cause inherently believe that if they always do what’s right for others, their reward will follow. “Every business—whether it yearns to cure cancer or build a better mousetrap—can discover its unique noble cause. The noble cause becomes the underpinning of what it does; it sharpens the vision, directs the strategy and
Chapter 55: David B. Snow, Jr., President, Chairman, and CEO
Chapter 56: John E. Rau, CEO Overview Miami Corporation Communicate the high expectation that everyone should think strategically about what is best for the company. “I like to ask people to answer questions as if they were sitting in the CEO’s chair. This seems to have several useful results,” says John Rau of Miami Corporation. “It communicates the high expectation that everyone should think strategically and about what is best for the company. And people usually live up to whatever expectations you have of them. “It gets people thinking outside their own area or function, and this often generates empathy for their colleagues in sister divisions or functions when you are asked to look at these relationships ‘from above.’ “Even before officially starting as CEO of Chicago Title and Trust Company, I gave the senior executive team an assignment to ‘write the Business Week article from five years in the future that explained what killed the company.’ It forced them to take the CEO’s pers
Chapter 56: John E. Rau, CEO
Chapter 57: Atwood Collins, III, President Overview MidAtlantic Division, M&T Bank Focus fueled by a passion, and commitment to consistently apply it. “I wish the ingredients for successful leadership could be boiled down to a step-by-step recipe. It is more complex than that,” says Atwood Collins of M&T Bank. “Nevertheless, I have found a few techniques, which consistently applied, have yielded successful results. “The principal technique I use is focus fueled by a passion, and commitment to consistently apply it. What do I mean by focus? Focus first on what objectives you want to accomplish, what your organization is good at, and how you are going to do it. “For example, in our business of banking, there are approximately 9,213 competitors all doing the same thing: taking deposits and lending money. But the incredible thing is they do it with wildly different results. What does that tell you? Success lies in the execution, not the strategy. “Successful banks, and M&T is among the bes
Chapter 57: Atwood Collins, III, President
Chapter 58: Judith Harrison Bode, Former CEO Overview Monet Build a team that is able to meet new challenges. “Why do some companies exhibit continuous growth and others do not survive?” asks Judy Harrison Bode. “The difference, I believe, is that the organization that recognizes that success is only the beginning is the organization that will thrive. As a leader you must build a team that is prepared and able to meet the new challenges that come with success. “It is your responsibility as a leader to choose the right people. Mold them into an effective unit and sufficiently train them to use their individual strengths in the service of the team, and they can adapt to the environment—success will follow success. “The foundation of a superior organization is a shared vision and a shared commitment. In each of my organizational incarnations, my first task was to make certain that everyone knew our goals and participated in formulating the path we would take to reach them. “Each team memb
Chapter 58: Judith Harrison Bode, Former CEO
Chapter 59: Gary E. Costley, CEO Overview International Multifoods Values are the foundation of all great leaders. Gary Costley of Multifoods believes in values-based leadership. “I am convinced that people will follow a leader they trust, and trust is built by actions, not words,” he says. “To be successful, chief executive officers need to lead by example and model the behaviors and attitudes they expect of their employees. “Values are the foundation of all great leaders. People will not follow-someone who they don’t view as credible and who hasn’t earned their respect. I try very hard to communicate what the values of the organization are, and then live those values as a role model for the organization. People respect that and, as a result, are more likely to go the extra mile to get the results. “At Multifoods, we found ourselves in a unique situation in November-2001, having just acquired the Pillsbury Desserts and Specialty Products business, which served as the basis for strateg
Chapter 59: Gary E. Costley, CEO
Chapter 60: Marc Maurer, President Overview National Federation Of The Blind (Nfb) Articulate and demonstrate an empowering philosophy. “As president of the National Federation of the Blind, the largest membership organization of blind persons in this country,” says Marc Maurer, “my most effective leadership technique is best described as the articulation of an empowering philosophy of blindness, and then demonstration of this through both conventional and unconventional means. “I speak frequently and write even more often about the NFB’s philosophy on blindness, which challenges the traditional attitudes toward the blind. This belief system offers to those of us who are blind and visually impaired an understanding of ourselves as normal people with the characteristic of being blind. We understand that blind people with proper training and opportunity can do any job commensurate with their aptitudes and talents. “Blind people can live full and complete lives, including raising families
Chapter 60: Marc Maurer, President
Chapter 61: Sy Sternberg, Chairman and CEO Overview New York Life Don’t outsource your strategic thinking. “Simply put, we don’t outsource our strategic thinking,” states New York Life’s CEO, Sy Sternberg. “This might sound strange, but you would be surprised at how many companies have become dependent on external advisors, consultants, and researchers for much of their strategic decision making. “Consultation and research can help you test your hunches and sharpen your thinking, but you can’t let those tools serve as a proxy for leadership. “I encourage everyone on our team to think independently and to resist becoming intellectually captive to the pronouncements of ‘ experts’ or to the latest trends within the industry. In our business, it seems as though there is always someone eager to convince you that you must abandon your business model and adopt theirs. During the dot-com days, the experts were telling us that selling life insurance through agents was a thing of the past, and s
Chapter 61: Sy Sternberg, Chairman and CEO
Chapter 62: Robert P. Baird, Jr., President and CEO Overview Norelco Consumer Products, Philips Domestic Appliances North America Strategic probing. “Much is taught and written about what we need to do as leaders. The what is energizing, whether it is changing culture, hiring and grooming talent, redefining the mission, or creating a new business model. But successful leadership is more about how we do what needs to be done,” says Robert Baird, Jr., of Norelco Consumer Products. “The technique I most frequently employ to get the results I want, regardless of the specific challenges I am confronting, is the practice of strategic probing. “Strong executives are quick to formulate hypotheses, whether it is about strategy, executional recommendations, culture, or people. We get to where we are because we are smart and opinionated. Whether armed with concrete data or gut instincts—preferably both, most of us quickly figure out what we need to do and act quickly. “What is often more difficul
Chapter 62: Robert P. Baird, Jr., President and CEO
Chapter 63: Paul I. Karofsky, Executive Director Overview Northeastern University Center For Family Business Be adaptable. “The attributes of leadership are situational,” says Paul Karofsky, Executive Director of Northeastern University’s Center for Family Business. “What works in one organization may be a cause of failure in another. Accordingly, adaptability is one of the most powerful leadership skills. The extent to which a leader can adapt his or her style, approach, and skill set to a situation or organization at hand is a great contributor of success. “Adaptability does not require one to become a total chameleon. Hopefully one’s values and personality endure. But style must adapt. We can take clues from others and modify our approaches to the situation at hand. “Ambiguity might keep people up nights, but anyone seeking exquisite clarity and simplicity in his or her career ought to look for a nonleadership position. Leaders, by definition, have followers. Followers need directio
Chapter 63: Paul I. Karofsky, Executive Director
Chapter 64: Kent Kresa, Chairman and CEO Overview Northrop Grumman Corp. Work for those who work for you. Northrop Grumman CEO Kent Kresa offers the following leadership tips: Management and processes are learned. Leadership is probably not. Work for those who work for you. Don’t run your organization. Lead others who follow you, and have them run it. Save yourself for the big decisions. Most of the running of the organization will be done by your direct reports. Delegate authority and help your people develop themselves as decision makers. Never humiliate an opponent or other organization you take over.
Chapter 64: Kent Kresa, Chairman and CEO
Chapter 65: Michael D. Drexler, CEO Overview Optimedia International Always encourage your staff to stretch. Optimedia’s Michael Drexler advises, “Always encourage your staff to stretch. The norm is based on general goals we set as a percent increase year over year using economic indicators for our business classification. The stretch goals exceed the norm by a certain percentage based on estimated predictions of specific product categories. “We have regular stretch goals that are high enough to raise our level of performance, yet reasonable enough to be achieved. And we are generous with rewards when they are met. Most of all, we share the spotlight so individual recognition is acknowledged by all. “An individual we hired as an entry level professional was given research assignments to begin his career path. He began working alongside a senior strategist who was responsible for developing advertising media strategies for blue chip companies. “While not specifically asked to create str
Chapter 65: Michael D. Drexler, CEO
Chapter 66: Alberto Aleman Zubieta, Administrator Overview Panama Canal Authority (Acp) Change constantly. “The Panama Canal Authority is charged with the management, operation, maintenance, improvement and modernization of the Panama Canal. The ACP is independent and autonomous from the Government of Panama, functioning as a market-oriented model that focuses on customer service and reliability. This shift in business model has yielded substantial dividends to customers and world commerce, with the canal recently setting impressive safety and efficiency records,” says Administrator Alberto Aleman Zubieta. “It is essential to understand the real nature of your company and the products and services you provide. We live in a dynamic environment and therefore we have to change constantly. Knowing where your company is and where you want it to be in the near future are key elements for developing a strategic vision. “There are three essential characteristics of a good leader. They are: Hav
Chapter 66: Alberto Aleman Zubieta, Administrator
Chapter 67: Patty DeDominic, CEO Overview Pdq Careers Make new contacts and continue to cultivate the old. Patty DeDominic’s most powerful leadership technique is to make new contacts and continue to cultivate the old. “Remember that your network must be made up of diverse leaders from all walks of life. Speak only the truth. Give good input and feedback. Integrity does not have to always be loud, but it can never be silenced. “My life has been enhanced by friends and colleagues who have helped me to get nominated to boards of directors, clients who felt we offered honorable service and recommended us to others. I once gave a (free) speech to help government managers hire extraordinary and cost effective employees and consultants. A short time later I was given some business, less than a year later our firm received a $700,000 contract. How does one learn to be a better leader? “Watch the best in action,” says Patty. “Take extraordinary classes at schools and universities. I recently a
Chapter 67: Patty DeDominic, CEO
Chapter 68: Paul Labrie, CEO Overview Pilotage You can never own a customer. When Paul LaBrie of Pilotage reflected to determine which best secret-or technique to discuss, he focussed on the marketing/sales fallacy of, ‘I own that customer!’ “Many marketing-sales types feel that they own the customer if they have a sale in progress or have sold something to them in the past. “Marketing-sales is different in the field of OEM (original equipment manager) sales, but the same principles apply, especially when you have bona fide input, such as an existing customer from which to launch a product application search. “I taught my company’s marketing and sales people that you can never own a customer. They were shown how to scour the customer for more and more applications—being adamant about finding other existing applications that the customer has, as well as new applications that were coming up. “No active company has no new applications. An active OEM customer who has no applications means
Chapter 68: Paul Labrie, CEO
Chapter 69: Peter A. Benoliel, CEO (Retired) Overview Quaker Chemical Corporation Integrity, honesty in dealing with people, and openness to relationships and ideas have served me well. “I am flattered that you would wish to include me in this book,” says Peter Benoliel, “but I am not sure I am a candidate, as I retired as CEO of Quaker Chemical Corporation back in 1991—over ten years ago. As Reginald Jones, former CEO of General Electric, so aptly put it, ‘I’ve gone from Who’s Who to who’s he?’ “Actually, I don’t think there are real secrets regarding leadership. It comes in every sex, every color, every nationality, every religious persuasion, and manifold leadership styles. “My experience as a naval officer was by far my best practical preparation for leadership. Integrity, honesty in dealing with people, and openness to relationships and ideas have served me well. People knew that they could count on my word, and that I would do what I promised to do. “As to giving you examples of
Chapter 69: Peter A. Benoliel, CEO (Retired)
Chapter 70: Len Roberts, Chairman and CEO Overview Radioshack Corporation Passion, vision, and trust. “I’ve watched and learned from people’s behavior at every level of an organization, not just senior management. And I’ve observed behaviors that can be learned and practiced to achieve higher standard of excellence,” says Len Roberts of RadioShack. “One of the first things I learned was that leadership qualities go far and above so-called command and control issues—giving out orders and expecting people to follow blindly. That’s a recipe for disaster. “I think there are three qualities that distinguish a good leader: passion, vision, and trust. “Passionate people get things done. Passion for doing what you’re called to do informs every fiber of a true leader. Passion shows. Passionate people energize other people and build enthusiasm. And let me tell you, enthusiasm is contagious. “Here’s what I mean: In March 2003, RadioShack celebrated its tenth annual national sales meeting. We call
Chapter 70: Len Roberts, Chairman and CEO
Chapter 71: Charles Goldstuck, President Overview RCA Music Group Make decisions decisively. “Good decision making is virtually always predicted on a thorough review of all the facts surrounding a situation,” says Charles Goldstuck, president of the RCA Music Group. “I have found that my decision making performance is always at its highest when I take the time to thoroughly review every angle of what’s affecting the issue being considered. “However, ultimately, most decisions also are cloaked by subjective factors that require an intuitive feel. These are elements that are normally not immediately obvious but require some level of intuition. “It is the combination of the aforementioned thorough approach coupled with careful consideration of the subjective elements that are so easily missed or ignored. This style is difficult to implement when decisions have to be made quickly. But whether or not there is enough time to review, this rule still applies because every detail is significant
Chapter 71: Charles Goldstuck, President
Chapter 72: Bruce Bent II, CEO Overview Reserve Funds Find your own way of doing things. “I never thought of myself as having a secret or using a technique,” says Bruce Bent of Reserve Funds, “but what I do most often is try and get the people I work with to see what I’m seeing, to see the vision I have for the company. Some people just get it right away; they think similarly to the way I think, they see the potential of the company the way I do, and they see the nature of the business world in general as I do. “But most people have a perspective and vision that is a fraction of the whole, either because of their skillset and interests, or by virtue of having a very focused role in the grand scheme, contributing to a segment of the whole, like a welder halfway through an assembly line. “When I convey my vision, I always try and start from the top down. I start with the big picture in plain English, but I don’t necessarily put it all in layman’s terms. I use a certain degree of technica
Chapter 72: Bruce Bent II, CEO
Chapter 73: Audrey Oswell, President and CEO Overview Resorts Atlantic City Be visible. “Be visible. Talk to your customers. But more important, talk to your employees. Eat in the employee cafeteria, if you have one,” suggests Audrey Oswell of Resorts. “Employees are the core of any organization. They make your business tick and they know what makes your customers tick. Your employees know your customers’ likes and dislikes. They also can easily identify barriers to delivering great customer service. Regardless of the type of business you are in, employees hold the key to customer satisfaction. “When I first took my current position, business had declined by more than 25 percent from the prior year in a market where revenue growth had been flat for the past two years. The owners and senior management of the company gave me many reasons for why business had fallen off. My first day of work I developed a sense that I had not heard the whole story. Employees seemed unusually distrusting o
Chapter 73: Audrey Oswell, President and CEO
Chapter 74: Lloyd G. “Buzz” Waterhouse, CEO Overview Reynolds & Reynolds Simplify until it fits on one page. In an increasingly complex world, Buzz Waterhouse, CEO of Reynolds & Reynolds, believes the key to effective leadership is to keep things simple. “I believe great leaders are great simplifiers,” says Buzz. “After all, leaders lead people, not organizations or companies. And leading people is about gaining understanding, alignment, and support. One of the best ways to do that is to simplify.” Buzz outlines the three key questions every leader must ask himself: Does everyone understand the direction you’re headed and how you expect to get there? Are your people aligned around that direction? How can you gain their support for the actions needed to move in that direction? “I try hard to simplify things to their essence,” Buzz says. “My approach to solving any problem is to synthesize the facts until I can find the essence of what the company is trying to do.” The key to his method:
Chapter 74: Lloyd G. “Buzz” Waterhouse, CEO
Chapter 75: Brent B. Johnson, President and CEO Overview Ringland-Johnson Construction Co. Maximize the strengths and moderate the weaknesses of your employees. “Over the years, I’ve noticed that good football coaches have a system-that is well reasoned, thorough, and adaptable to one’s opponent,” says Ringland-Johnson’s CEO, Brent Johnson. “Great coaches, however, continually create newer systems to maximize the strengths and moderate the weaknesses of their present roster. ‘Three yards and a cloud of dust’ would have been a sinful waste of a Joe Namath or John Elway. “Although sports analogies don’t always work, this one stands up to my particular management philosophy. I ‘draft’ (recruit) people based more upon their overall skills than any one talent. It’s the concept of taking the best athlete available and finding a position for him later. “We do not hire widget-makers; we employ people to work with systems and customers. One-dimensional people don’t fit our need situation. “Once
Chapter 75: Brent B. Johnson, President and CEO
Chapter 76: Michael W. Wickham, CEO Overview Roadway Corporation Hire and care for good quality people within the organization. Roadway’s Michael Wickham thinks that success in running a company comes from hiring and caring for good quality people within the organization. “Once you have them hired and cared for,” he says, “you must help them stay engaged in pursuing corporate success. To do this, you must have a clear vision of what success means yourself. And you owe it to the people in the organization to clearly communicate that vision and the mission all the way through the company. This gives people a chance to understand and measure their own contribution to the cause. “When we spun off from our parent company in 1996, it was critical-that we regained a focus on our company as a stand-alone. People were very anxious about standing alone as a union carrier in a tough industry. “We labored hard and long to create and communicate a simple concise-mission for our company. We went to
Chapter 76: Michael W. Wickham, CEO
Chapter 77: Harold M. “Max” Messmer, Jr., CEO Overview Robert Half International, Inc. (RHI) Quickly turn creative ideas into successful business practices. Robert Half International’s CEO points to a Business Week article published in 2002 that referred to him as the “contrarian.” “This is probably an apt description,” says Harold “Max” Messmer. “I haven’t always followed industry convention. I believe you must cultivate a questioning attitude and be willing to take calculated risks in business. I’ve tried to instill this same entrepreneurial spirit in the people who work with me. “Several years ago, I wrote an article for a business publication that highlighted the importance of encouraging innovative thinking. The most discouraging thing a manager can do is to relegate the creative suggestions of his or her employees to the No Zone Layer. This is a term we’ve coined to describe the place where valuable ideas are lost because management is afraid to challenge existing ways of thinkin
Chapter 77: Harold M. “Max” Messmer, Jr., CEO
Chapter 78: Daniel Rose, Chairman Overview Rose Associates, Inc. Convey a compelling vision of what you believe your group can accomplish, and contagious enthusiasm can encourage them to achieve more than thought possible. “A leader should be able to convey a compelling vision of what he believes his group can accomplish, and contagious enthusiasm can encourage them to achieve more than thought possible,” says Daniel Rose of Rose Associates, which develops and manages quality commercial, retail and residential properties throughout the eastern seaboard with projects in New York City, Connecticut, and the greater Boston area. The company manages nearly 30,000 residential units and four million square feet of commercial space, and is one of the largest managers of street-level retail space in Manhattan. “In presenting to my team the exciting but realistic prospects for the development of the Pentagon City complex in Arlington, Virginia, or in conveying to a skeptical theatrical community
Chapter 78: Daniel Rose, Chairman
Chapter 79: Thomas C. Sullivan, Chairman Overview RPM International Inc. Hire the best people you can find. Create an atmosphere that will keep them. Then let them do their jobs. “What is my powerful leadership secret or technique?” asks RPM’s chairman, Thomas Sullivan. “Actually, it’s a business philosophy that my father, Frank C. Sullivan, imparted to me. He always said, ‘Hire the best people you can find. Create an atmosphere that will keep them. Then let them do their jobs.’ “When he died in 1971, the company, then known as Republic Powdered Metals, had annual revenue of about $11 million and net income of $600,000. During the next 30 years, we were able to grow the business to $2 billion with net income of more than $100 million by consistently applying this philosophy. “Shortly after my father’s death, we began growing RPM by adding acquisitions to our internal growth. RPM has been a very effective consolidator in the specialty coatings industry, with more than about 100 total ac
Chapter 79: Thomas C. Sullivan, Chairman
Chapter 80: James W. Keyes, President and CEO Overview 7-Eleven, Inc. Teach! A lot has been written about the importance of knowledge in the business world: knowledge management, the information age, the learning organization, data as a strategic advantage. James Keyes, CEO of 7-Eleven, takes organizational learning very much to heart. “The most effective means of gaining alignment and execution of my strategic plan is to have my senior management engaged in teaching,” says James. “I discovered long ago that many people are good at repeating the basics of a strategic plan, but their understanding may be shallow. If they don’t have a thorough understanding of the strategy, execution will suffer.” James requires his senior managers to educate their teams about the strategy and how to implement it. “When called upon to teach, senior managers must do several things. First, they must prepare their curriculum. Second, they must clarify any understanding with me before they teach. “Third, and
Chapter 80: James W. Keyes, President and CEO
Chapter 81: Walter M. Higgins, Chairman, President, and CEO Overview Sierra Pacific Resources Treat every individual, regardless of who they are, with respect. “I think the single most important thing I do is literally go out of my way to treat every individual I deal with, regardless of who they are, with respect,” says Walter Higgins of Sierra Pacific, energy provider for Nevada and northeastern California. “I believe the results in the long run will be far better if every person-believes that their contributions and opinions are respected. In my heart, I know if I didn’t, I would get less desirable results. “Every now and then, you have to deal with someone you don’t like. It takes personal discipline to treat such a person respectfully instead of popping off, but if there is tension, the result will not be as good. “Keeping your cool in a tense situation is something that can be learned, and to be a leader, you must learn it. You do not have to go with the emotion of the moment. Yo
Chapter 81: Walter M. Higgins, Chairman, President, and CEO
Chapter 82: Adrien Arpel, CEO Overview Signature Club A, Ltd. If you are excited about each new technique, innovation, or product you create, your passion is communicated to your staff. Countless business success books advise us that, to succeed, we must be passionate about what we do. Adrien Arpel, founder of one of the most successful cosmetics companies of all time, agrees. “My most powerful leadership technique, in a word is passion,” says Adrien. “If you are excited about each new technique, innovation, or product you create, your passion is communicated to your staff. I treat each product as the second most important idea since the invention of the wheel—and that’s not easy since my ‘inventions’ are skin treatments, cosmetics, and jewelry. “But the people who work for me know I truly love the products I develop, and my passion communicates itself to everyone: chemists, purchasing agents, copywriters, package designers, marketing staff, and most of all, the customer. Everyone feel
Chapter 82: Adrien Arpel, CEO
Chapter 83: Stephanie Sonnabend, President Overview Sonesta International Hotels Lead people the way they want to be led. “I lead people the way that they want to be led,” says Stephanie Sonnabend of Sonesta. “I lay out the vision and then work with my people on developing strategies for implementing the vision. Some people can easily translate vision into strategy; others need to be lead down the path to make the connection. My vision is always closely connected to Sonesta’s core values, which are: Practice high standards of integrity and ethics. Value employees as individuals. Exceed customers’ expectations. Service with passion. “For Sonesta Resorts, we wished to turn a hotel stay into a memorable experience. Our Vice President of Food and Beverage, along with our training team, Training by Design, customized programs to make dining more of an experience. This involved everything from how the food is presented on the plate to how it is served. At two of our beach resorts, we develop
Chapter 83: Stephanie Sonnabend, President
Chapter 84: Jim Parker, CEO and Vice Chairman Overview Southwest Airlines Be a servant leader. “Be a servant leader,” advises Jim Parker of Southwest Airlines. “I believe that as a leader, one must have a true desire to serve in order to be effective. I see my role as a servant leader as one that encourages employees to always stretch their abilities to the next level so that they will grow in their positions. “Leaders at Southwest find themselves removing barriers to an individual’s success instead of finding reasons to say no. We consistently encourage employees to express their ideas on working smarter and more productively, and then they implement those ideas that work. All of this equates to employees who find positions that allow them to do a job that they are passionate about, and, therefore, they work harder at what they do—which equates in the long run to extreme loyalty and high productivity, as well as an unmatched sense of ownership. “I believe it would be difficult at Sout
Chapter 84: Jim Parker, CEO and Vice Chairman
Chapter 85: Ron Sargent, CEO Overview Staples Get your hands dirty. Ron Sargent, CEO of office supply giant Staples, advises leaders to, “Get your hands dirty. Before you can be a great leader, you need to understand the inner-workings of the business and where and how the greatest impact can be made. In retail, it is about people—talented associates and satisfied customers. “My first day as CEO I put on the red shirt and black pants (Staples retail stores uniform), went to a Staples store and spent the day helping customers and working alongside associates. Spending time on the front lines is invaluable to help a company achieve excellence. “I interact with customers directly on a regular basis, and I encourage all associates at all levels to do so. I answer my own phone and email customers directly. In my first year as Staples CEO, I have worked to rally all 55,000 of our associates around centering everything we do on satisfying customers. Everything in our strategy is built around
Chapter 85: Ron Sargent, CEO
Chapter 86: Barry Sternlicht, Chairman and CEO Overview Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Innovate or die! For Barry Sternlicht of Starwood, staying in business means “you either constantly innovate or you die. A focus on innovation at all levels of an organization, from the front lines to the executive suite, is what elevates companies to greatness, engaging the organization to respond to a constantly changing world and tough competitive landscape. “I work hard to create a culture that rewards associates to think about unique ways we can distinguish our hotel brands from our competitors. I appreciate even the wackiest of suggestions, because it shows that people are being creative and are fearless enough to share their ideas. And you know what, sometimes wacky works! “Great innovations are often instinctual and simple. Sometimes an idea is so different or out-of-the-box that it is hard to even test. You just have to go for it. “I am relentless when it comes to removing complacency.
Chapter 86: Barry Sternlicht, Chairman and CEO
Chapter 87: Marcy Syms, CEO Overview Syms Be as close to impartial as you can in making decisions. Marcy Syms tries not to make up her mind before she has as many facts as can be collected. “and I try to be as close to impartial as any of us can ever be in making decisions that are best for the company, and ultimately best for our customers,” she says. “For instance, we originally sold men’s clothing only. Evolving into women’s and children’s clothing went against our gift, but it was best for our customers. “We realized that what our customers want most from us is brand name clothing at discount prices, no matter what the category. Today we’ve expanded to sell sheets, pillows, domestics—whatever great brand name merchandise we can get at discount prices. Our store prices for everything we sell are never more than 10 percent above the wholesale price. “Our success in children’s clothing proved that our brand could extend to almost any merchandise. We’ve sold leather goods, gift items,
Chapter 87: Marcy Syms, CEO
Chapter 88: Higinio Sanchez, CEO Overview Telvista Start the day with a smile. “One of the things I have been doing for the past twenty years is to really listen to people,” says Telvista’s Higinio Sanchez. “Treat everyone you talk with—the security guard, the vice president of a company, your daughter—as important, because they are important. “I run a technology company that connects people one-to-one over the telephone and the Web, and for me, the most important aspect of our business is not hardware or software, it is the humanware —the people. “Leaders are not born. What makes you a leader is other people. People-make a leader, and we cannot become leaders by ourselves. “You cannot learn to be a leader. You need to live as a leader to become one. Show yourself to others as you see yourself in the mirror every day—with integrity, humanity, and humbleness. Once you start doing that, you become the kind of person others want to emulate and follow, and then the leader arrives. “Of cour
Chapter 88: Higinio Sanchez, CEO
Chapter 89: Melvin J. Gordon, CEO Overview Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc. Know where you want the company to go and spell out a route to get there. “Moses is a prime example of how not to lead. In the exodus from Egypt, he did not know where he was going or have a route and timetable for getting there. The result was that it took 40 years to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land. Besides that, he didn’t delegate. He carried the heavy Ten Commandments down from Mt. Sinai and almost broke his back, when he had younger followers who could have easily carried the load,” says Melvin Gordon, CEO of Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc. “About a decade ago, I gathered our vice presidents into my office and told them, ‘We have no ambition to be the largest company in sales volume in the candy industry, but we are going to direct our efforts to become the most profitable per dollar of sales.’ Branded candy had been our company’s niche since it was founded in 1896 by an Austrian immigrant who brought
Chapter 89: Melvin J. Gordon, CEO
Chapter 90: Bart C. Shuldman, Chairman, President, and CEO Overview TransAct Technologies Inc. Call an “audible.” Bart Shuldman’s most powerful leadership technique is to call an “audible” at any time and any place when changes occur. What is an audible? “When a quarterback walks up to the line and sees a different defensive scheme, he calls an audible at the line to adjust his play,” Bart explains. “As the year develops, many things change—competition might come out with a new product or a terrorist bomb might go off that effects your market. A good business leader will look at the change and, if necessary, call an audible and make a necessary change to the plan that is in response to the change in market. “It is a powerful tool, because in today’s business environment, things change rapidly. If a business leader understands that, and makes the necessary changes to accommodate the changes in the market and environment, then success has a better chance of happening. “A business leader
Chapter 90: Bart C. Shuldman, Chairman, President, and CEO
Chapter 91: Steve Belkin, Chairman and CEO Overview Trans National Group Value, empower, and appreciate your staff. “Value, empower, and appreciate your staff,” advises Trans National’s Steve Belkin. “I send a birthday card and write a note thanking them for their caring and effort. For the company’s 10th, 15th, 20th, and 25th anniversary, we took the entire staff to Bermuda for the day to thank everyone for all their hard work. Steve’s advice for becoming a better leader is the same as his most powerful leadership secret: “Value, empower, and appreciate your staff. Treat them with respect. I encourage them to take risks. To try and fail is better than not trying, as long as they learn and grow from their mistakes. Only if they grow will the company grow. “I feel and I tell them they are the most important asset of the company. I treat them with respect each day. We also hold companywide, monthly Spirit Committee events. And, we give Tiffany gifts as a thank you to recognize their 1, 3
Chapter 91: Steve Belkin, Chairman and CEO
Chapter 92: Elizabeth Elting, CEO Overview Transperfect Translations Have a service orientation. Liz Elting’s most powerful leadership secret is to, “have a real service-orientation with employees and clients. Get feedback from the people-you want to influence and use it where appropriate. “For example, when speaking to clients in biotech and pharmaceuticals, they said they were interested in working with an ISO 9001:2000-certified company. As a result, we are becoming certified, and I anticipate this will increase revenues substantially. “Let your clients and employees know you care about them. Ask them how to help make the company better. Make employees happy to come for work and stay for years. Make clients happier by solving their problems. “We ask clients for feedback on every project. I also send each of our more than 1,000 clients a survey every year, and we have changed our business based on things they have told us. “I also meet with employees on a regular basis. I get their f
Chapter 92: Elizabeth Elting, CEO
Chapter 93: Donald L. Evans, Secretary of Commerce Overview U.S. Department Of Commerce Put your trust in other people and they will trust you. “Put trust in other people, and by trusting others, I have found that they will trust you,” says U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Don Evans. “Nothing is more important to being an effective leader than having an unshakable trusting relationship with those whom you work with and those you lead. “Another powerful principle that guides me is to let people know I care about them, because I do. My actions are grounded in the belief that we are all here to serve a call greater than self—to make other people’s lives better. “It has been my experience that good leaders are optimistic, positive, have an inspiring spirit, look over the horizon, and believe in long term and high-impact goals. “Be a good listener. Let people know that you are concerned about their needs, anxieties, and dreams. By doing so you connect with those you lead in a way that shows you
Chapter 93: Donald L. Evans, Secretary of Commerce
Chapter 94: Henrietta Holsman Fore, Director Overview United States Mint One idea that changes the world. U.S. Mint Director, Henrietta Holsman Fore, organized her responses to our interview questions as so: Ideas that change the world. When you assume a position of leadership, look for one or two big, bold ideas that will change the world and make it better for everyone. A visionary and practical leader is the key component in leading big, bold innovative change in a company, department, or team. In government, presidential appointees have an average tenure of eighteen months. Therefore, any big, bold ideas that you lead should be important and sustainable enough to transcend your tenure and be continuously improved for a decade after you leave. Let everyone win. Look for ideas in which change is positive, creative, and sustainable. Examples of creative, sustainable ideas. At the U.S. Mint, we are in the first phase of a project with the Federal Reserve Bank to provide coins in any de
Chapter 94: Henrietta Holsman Fore, Director
Chapter 95: Steve Wadsworth, President Overview Walt Disney Internet Group I believe there is inherent leadership in the strength of a well-organized, focused team. “I don’t think about leadership as a set of techniques or planned behaviors or an image. I don’t have a particular secret or set of leadership rules that I consciously follow,” insists Steve Wadsworth, President of Walt Disney Internet Group. “I believe there is inherent leadership in the strength of a well-organized, focused team. If I had to describe my leadership approach, I would say it is about creating, empowering, and guiding teams that together will guide our organization to the right solutions. “I rely on the wisdom of a team to set a clear vision, I rely on the intellectual capital of a team to develop creative ideas, and I rely on the resources of a team to execute. My role as a leader is to pull the team together, lead the team through these critical decisions, and help the team achieve its best. “How I do that
Chapter 95: Steve Wadsworth, President
Chapter 96: Michael G. Medzigian, CEO Overview Watermark Capital Partners, LLC Lead by example. “Lead by example,” advises Watermark’s CEO, Michael Medzigian. “Expectations must be set very high in order for an organization to achieve and maintain world-class status. “I don’t believe that it is practical for a leader to set higher goals for others than he demands of himself. Excellence begets excellence! Part of the expectation that a leader should place on himself is a fluent understanding of subordinates’ jobs—certainly with respect to all direct reports, and the deeper into the organization the better. “I remember very early in my career the feeling of frustration associated with believing that I performed at a higher level than certain superiors. I suspect that this is a common dilemma for young, highly motivated people—sometimes accurate, but more often reflective of a lack of understanding of the superior’s skills and duties, or of the knowledge that the superior would not or cou
Chapter 96: Michael G. Medzigian, CEO
Chapter 97: Peter H. Soderberg, President and CEO Overview Welch Allyn I believe in a highly interactive, personal approach with employees and customers. “I believe in a highly interactive, personal approach with employees and customers,” says Peter Soderberg of medical equipment manufacturer, Welch Allyn. “ This method utilizes one of my personal strengths, which is interpersonal communication, to paint the corporate vision. The way I communicate this vision is through a living, evolutionary presentation called Strategic Directions. “It’s the job of the CEO in a company like Welch Allyn, with real product breadth and diverse global markets, to knit the organization and its priorities together through common threads and a clear vision as to where we’re headed. People are more engaged if they can relate their job to the broader purpose of our company. The more people hear the Welch Allyn vision and direction, the more they understand and relate to its purpose. The Strategic Directions p
Chapter 97: Peter H. Soderberg, President and CEO
Chapter 98: Tyler Young, CEO Overview Wf Young, Inc. Constantly initiate change. Strategic innovation is a hot topic today on the business seminar circuit, and many of the CEOs we interviewed, including Tyler Young of WF Young, Inc., rank innovation and change high on their list of priorities. “My success as a leader has come about due to my ability to constantly initiate change,” says Tyler. “Old companies need to reinvent themselves without losing their traditional values. The ability to push forward fresh initiatives has reaped significant benefit for my company.” WF Young is a 110-year-old family business. They have manufactured and marketed over-the-counter drugs and animal health care products over the company’s history. They are best known for their consumer product, Absorbine Jr. “Several years ago, I initiated a strategy to transition to a virtual marketing entity that relies on the outsourcing of products and services,” explains Tyler. A virtual marketing company uses outside
Chapter 98: Tyler Young, CEO
Chapter 99: Anne M. Mulcahy, CEO Overview Xerox Corporation Get the cow out of the ditch. The following is based on a speech that Xerox CEO, Anne Mulcahy, delivered to the Detroit Economic Club in September of 2002. As Anne sees it, one of the most critical leadership skills is the abilityto lead an organization out of a crisis and turn negatives into positives quickly. “Xerox has been through a period of enormous crisis,” says Anne. “But we’re back, and getting stronger every day.” She says that as a new CEO, she got her best advice from a customer in Dallas, a prominent businessman who is active in civic and political life. “He delighted in telling me that I reminded him of a farmer whose cow got stuck in a ditch.” So she asked him what she could do about it. “He said, ‘You’ve got to do three things. First, get the cow out of the ditch. Second, find out how the cow got in the ditch. Third, make sure you do whatever it takes so the cow doesn’t get in the ditch again.’” Mulcahy used th
Chapter 99: Anne M. Mulcahy, CEO
Chapter 100: Peter A.J. Gardiner, CEO Overview Zindart, Ltd. Perform or Go. “After I got a few years of management under my belt, I developed an assessment tool I could take into any company. It revolved around asking three questions: What business are we in? What kind of organization do we need to execute? What metrics should be used to monitor and measure our activities? “With these three questions thoroughly answered, I could determine the strategic direction for the company and the structure needed to support it: the people it would require, a clear definition of responsibilities, the proper levels of authority, what monetary incentives would be offered to management, and the performance that would be required for success. “All that was left would be to make sure the management team understood and embraced the marching order: POGO, or ‘Perform Or GO.’ “POGO gives top executives a clear direction, goals, and incentives. They’ve helped me outline the tools they’ll need, they now have
Chapter 100: Peter A.J. Gardiner, CEO
Conclusion The Top 15 Leadership Strategies of the World’s Most Successful Ceos Have a clear vision, a specific direction, and a goal for your organization Focus on the two or three things most important to your vision and goals. Don’t spread your attention too thin Communicate your vision, strategy, goals, and mission to everyone involved—senior management, employees, suppliers, vendors, customers, shareholders, and other stakeholders Listen to what others tell you. Be willing to accept and act upon criticism and suggestions Surround yourself with the right people, a strong team Treat your employees exceedingly well. Help them become successful in their careers and their lives Apply the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you Be in a business you love and are passionate about. Constantly innovate to gain and sustain competitive advantage and serve your customers better Plan everything. Leave nothing to chance Be a leader and actually lead. Take responsibility.
Resources Books The Leadership Engine by Noel Tichy. The Leadership Challenge by James Kouzes and Barry Posner (Josey-Bass, 2002, hardcover, 496 pages, $27.95) The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader by John Maxwell (Thomas Nelson, 1999, hardcover, 157 pages, $17.99) Leadership by Rudolph Giuliani (Miramax, 2002, hardcover, 407 pages, $25) More Than a Pink Cadillac: Mary Kay, Inc.’s Nine Leadership Keys to Success by Jim Underwood (McGraw-Hill, 2002, hardcover, 204 pages, $21.95) Periodicals Executive Leadership, monthly newsletter published by Newsletter Holdings, 703-905-8000. Leadership, monthly newsletter published by Ragan Communications, 773-975-5020. Leadership Strategies, monthly newsletter published by Briefings Publishing Group, 800-722-9221. Schools/Centers The Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, NC (http://www.ccl.org/index.shtml) William F. Achtmyer Center for Global Leadership (School of Business at Dartmouth) (http://mba.tuck.dartmouth.edu/cgl/index.html) Ce
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