June 16, 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM, AMN Healthcare (Map)

Leadership is a skill more important today than ever before in a fast-changing and diverse work environment. [...]]]> Rear Admiral John “Chris” Sadler

• United States Navy
• Commander, Naval Air Forces Reserve
• Deputy Commander, Naval Air Forces
• Deputy Commander, Naval Air Forces U.S. Pacific Fleet

June 16, 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM, AMN Healthcare (Map)

Leadership is a skill more important today than ever before in a fast-changing and diverse work environment. If you want to be successful in your leadership role, it will take a shift in your thinking and an investment of your time.

Join Leadership Builder for an evening with the TOP GUN graduate, you will learn how to develop your own leadership skills and grow leaders in your organization.

You will learn the key principles of effective leadership development.

RSVP Now

Malin Burnham spoke at our event on February 16.  As a San Diego leader who does not shy from controversy, I was interested in what he would have to say about building community and achieving goals. The talk was a mix of his personal ideas about community, business, teams, cell phones and [...]]]>

Malin Burnham spoke at our event on February 16.  As a San Diego leader who does not shy from controversy, I was interested in what he would have to say about building community and achieving goals. The talk was a mix of his personal ideas about community, business, teams, cell phones and time management. His ideas came across in snippets. It seemed that each piece held a very long story from which he learned the lesson, but time was short, and he wanted us to get all the lessons not just one. He also mentioned several great books that I am going to check out and are listed below.

Where you born in San Diego?

Burnham started with a question:

“How many people in the audience were born in San Diego?”

One.

This seemed to prove his theory that “immigrants (defined as not born in San Diego) have built San Diego.”

Is San Diego cooperating to a better future?

While certainly San Diego does much to keep its title of “America’s Finest City,” Burnham has seen a key issue that he says goes back in San Diego history.  John D. Spreckels, who has been credited as turning San Diego into a struggling, bankrupt village into the beautiful and modern city, was asked in 1923: what is the matter with San Diego?  He replied “lack of cooperation!”

Malin sees what he calls “small town undertakers” trying to take down cooperative, big projects, which are designed to better the city.

I have seen parts of the “lack of cooperation” during my time in fundraising.  I found it was difficult to get people involved in local causes because many gave to organizations “back home.”

What is the role of for-profits and non-profits in community?

Burnham asked another, more rhetorical question: ”Will non-profit would be the leaders of the future?”

He believes that we need more input from the community. He asks, “What is the problem? Speak up!”

He believes that nonprofits could be the key to cooperation because of a key difference.  He says that profit companies bow to title, and nonprofit organizations have to work through persuasion.

Yet there is still a very large role for profit companies.  He believes that in order to build a business you have to know and be involved in the community.

Community before self. That’s Burnham calling card.

Teams, teams, teams

Burnham’s personal style: always assume part of team, always won but never by himself.

No cell phone…?

Burnham has not had a cell phone…he wants to operate on own time, could you do this? (not sure I could)

One-liner session:

• Question what you read about statistics and polls.
• You have to think through decisions to second or third or fourth step.
• If you give responsibility, must give equal authority to achieve goal. And give room for risks and failure.
• Leadership is proactive not reactive.
• Be prepared to lead when you are not in charge.
• Don’t dismiss the devil’s advocate. They may care the most.
• Leadership is a risk with lots of failures. (Churchill)
• Dream, plan w/details and timeline, then follow through, commit.

Q&A

Q: How do you develop thicker skin? A: Know what you want to do is the right thing to do. Never get 100% agreement. Ignore rest.

Q: How do you build teamwork? A: Give glory of victory to everybody.

Q: How do you prepare to lead? A: Read. He recommends:

• No A$$hole Rule
• Essential Bennis
• Switch
• Made to Stick

One more book: Change by Design.

He said Apple has never designed a first product. True?

-> What books have you read that helped you succeed?

The most important advice of all

Find what you love doing that you would be happy to be doing on the last day of your life.

By Jessica Yingling of Little Dog Communications

Almost everyone said they’d rather lose their buildings and equipment because to rebuild their human organization would [...]]]> Years ago, business owners were asked, “If you had to choose between a fire that wiped out your facilities versus having all of your people quit and walk out at the same time, which option would you take?”

Almost everyone said they’d rather lose their buildings and equipment because to rebuild their human organization would require a lot more effort and be more difficult to accomplish.

The recession of the past two years put many organizations into a position of having to decide between people and profits in order to stay in business. Some of those decisions were painful, and in some cases, the way decisions were made had an adverse impact on the human side of the organization. As a result, trust, commitment, and morale have all taken a hit. The facilities and the equipment are intact, but the people are not present in the same way as before.

As a result, employees are watching senior leadership more closely than ever before, says Ken Blanchard, best-selling author and cofounder of The Ken Blanchard Companies. “People are looking for clues to see if their organization is only interested in the bottom line or if they are equally concerned with the people side of the business.”

As Blanchard explains, “When you look at the leaders in great organizations like Chick-fil-A in the quick service business, Nordstrom in the retail industry, Wegmans in the grocery business, and Southwest in the airline industry, you’ll find leaders who make necessary business decisions yet their people still feel that they have their interests in mind also. In these organizations, the employees trust their leaders.”

Rebuilding Trust Takes Time

Building or rebuilding trust can be a challenge. It isn’t something that can be addressed directly. It is a byproduct of how people perceive your actions and intentions over time. While senior leaders and immediate managers cannot command trust—because trust must be earned—there are things they can do to rebuild a sense of respect and confidence over time.

What Can Senior Leaders Do?

A good place for a senior leader to start is to look at where the organization is headed. What is the strategic direction and how will the organization get there?

Senior leaders need to create a compelling vision that defines or redefines the organization’s business. The key here is to have a clear focus on the customer andmake that everyone’s goal. During the past recession, people saw what looked like self-serving behavior on the part of a lot of leaders. In many organizations, it seemed as if top leaders saw the organization only as a way to achieve personal ends.

A variation of poor visioning, while not quite as bad as pure self-serving behavior, is an organizational vision that makes the bottom line the “be all, end all” reason for existing. These leaders start to think that the only reason they are in business is to make money and to watch their bottom line. The unspoken message to rank-and-file workers is that people are a side venture—a means to an end.

Without a clear vision, people do not have anything to serve except themselves. When senior leaders identify a compelling vision of the future and align the organization’s goals and values toward this vision, everyone can move in the right direction and focus their energy on the customer.

Advice for Frontline Managers

Frontline managers are the implementers. They have a responsibility to understand the vision, goals, and values of the company and communicate them effectively to their people. Make sure that each and every employee’s work is connected to an overall department or organizational goal and that the employee can see how their work has an impact. Everyone needs meaningful work; it unleashes energy and raises morale.

To build trust and respect with direct reports, frontline managers should schedule regular one-on-one meetings with their people. Managers should use these sessions to clarify expectations, solicit input, answer questions, and provide feedback. Nothing shows that you care and respect a person—and their work—more than spending time with them, checking on their progress, and providing help when necessary.

What about Individual Contributors?

Individual contributors have a responsibility to make sure they are clear on the goals of the organization and have the authority and resources necessary to serve the customer. If individual contributors are not clear on what the vision is, or don’t feel they have the resources necessary to succeed, they need to ask their immediate manager for help using “I need” statements. They must push for help on behalf of serving the customer better.

Conclusion

Trust and respect are cornerstones in rebuilding the soul of an organization. Immediate managers and senior leaders must include people in the decisions that affect them as much as possible. Inclusion sends a message to employees that leaders really care about what they think. When employees sense this, they are more willing to trust leaders. But when people see their leaders go behind closed doors to make important decisions, they get a feeling that their input doesn’t matter. Organizations that trust and respect their employees include them in the decision-making process.

To rebuild trust, you have to see your people as business partners and respect them for their contributions. Senior leaders need to set a clear vision of something bigger than themselves for people to serve. Frontline managers need to operationalize the vision and goals and bring the values to life. Finally, employees need to ask for the resources they need to serve customers. When everyone in the organization works together to live according to the values and accomplish the goals, then you have a great human organization that is focused on both results and people.

Next Event: May 5, 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM, AMN Healthcare (Map)

Thursday, February 17, 5:30pm

Malin Burnham, the native San Diegan, who is a prominent San Diego downtown real estate developer, philanthropist and civic leader, is also the chairman of nine non-profits organization and has co-founded 14 organizations in his long and storied career.

A Stanford [...]]]> Managing Your Career and Leadership Development

Thursday, February 17, 5:30pm

Malin Burnham, the native San Diegan, who is a prominent San Diego downtown real estate developer, philanthropist and civic leader, is also the chairman of nine non-profits organization and has co-founded 14 organizations in his long and storied career.

A Stanford graduate, Burnham won the coveted Lipton Cup four times and the 1976 Miami to Nassau race.  At the age of 17, Burnham became the youngest skipper ever to sail to a World Championship in the International Star Class of yacht racing.

Burnham made a $310 million deal to open a Burnham Institute lab in Orlando.  During its 30-year history in La Jolla, discoveries by Burnham Institute scientists have contributed to the development of new drugs for Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease and cancer.

Burnham played a leading role in bringing both the U.S. Olympic Training Center and the America’s Cup to San Diego.  He is a former partner/owner of the San Diego Padres and the San Diego Sockers.

Board member of:

• Sanford|Burnham Medical Research Institute
• UCSD Foundation
• Rady School of Management
• SDSU Campanile Foundation
• USS Midway Museum
• Co-chairs the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine
• Co-established the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate at University of San Diego

REGISTER HERE

Online registration $35, at the door $45

A light dinner, beer, wine, and softdrinks will be provided.

Agenda:
5:30pm Networking Reception
6:30pm Keynote Presentation
7:30 Q&A

Location: AMN Healthcare
12400 High Bluff Drive San Diego 92130

Listen to what General Mills CEO Steve Sanger recently told 90 of his colleagues: “As you all know, last year my team told me that I needed to do a better job of coaching my direct reports. I just reviewed my 360-degree feedback. I have [...]]]> Great leaders encourage leadership development by openly developing themselves.

Listen to what General Mills CEO Steve Sanger recently told 90 of his colleagues: “As you all know, last year my team told me that I needed to do a better job of coaching my direct reports. I just reviewed my 360-degree feedback. I have been working on becoming a better coach for the past year or so. I’m still not doing quite as well as I want, but I’m getting a lot better. My coworkers have been helping me improve. Another thing that I feel good about is the fact that my scores on ‘effectively responds to feedback’ are so high this year.”

While listening to Steve speak so openly to coworkers about his efforts to develop himself as a leader, I realized how much the world has changed. Twenty years ago, few CEOs received feedback from their colleagues. Even fewer candidly discussed that feedback and their personal developmental plans. Today, many of the world’s most respected chief executives are setting a positive example by opening up, striving continually to develop themselves as leaders. In fact, organizations that do the best job of cranking out leaders tend to have CEOs like Steve Sanger who are directly and actively involved in leadership development. That has certainly been my experience. This has also been confirmed by a recently completed research project led by Marc Effron at Hewitt Associates, one of the largest HR consulting firms. Hewitt and Chief Executive magazine put General Mills on their latest list of the top-20 companies for leaders, among such familiar names as IBM and General Electric.

Hewitt found that these organizations tend to more actively manage their talent. They put lots of focus on identifying high-potential people, better differentiate compensation, serve up the right kinds of development opportunities, and closely watch turnover. But crucial to all these efforts were CEO support and involvement.
No question, one of the best ways top executives can get their leaders to improve is to work on improving themselves. Leading by example can mean a lot more than leading by public-relations hype.

Michael Dell, whose company made the Hewitt list, is a perfect example. As one of the most successful leaders in business history, he could easily have an attitude that says, “I am Michael Dell and you aren’t! I don’t really need to work on developing myself.” Michael, however, has the opposite approach. He has done an amazing job of sincerely discussing his personal challenges with leaders across the company. He is a living case study from whom everyone at Dell is learning. His leadership example makes it hard for any leader to act arrogant or to communicate that he or she has nothing to improve upon.

Johnson & Johnson, tied for first on the top-20 list, has successfully involved its executives in leadership development. Its CEOs, formerly Ralph Larsen and now Bill Weldon, and top executive team regularly participate in a variety of leadership-building activities. Having a dialogue with the CEO about his business challenges and developmental needs makes it a lot easier for employees to discuss their own business challenges and developmental needs.

Executive candor can even help turn around a troubled company. Consider Northrop Grumman, the aerospace defense contractor. CEO Kent Kresa inherited a company that had a poor reputation for integrity, a battered stock price, and an unfortunate reputation as one of the least-admired companies in its industry. His leadership team reversed the company’s poor image and engineered an amazing turnaround – ultimately becoming the Forbes’ most-admired company. From the beginning of the process, Kent led by example. He communicated clear expectations for ethics, values, and behavior. He made sure that he was evaluated by the same standards that he set for everyone else. He consistently reached out to coworkers. He didn’t just work to develop his leaders–he created an environment in which the company’s leaders were working to develop him.

Unfortunately, in the same way that CEO support and involvement can help companies nurture leaders, CEO arrogance can have the opposite effect. When the boss acts like a little god and tells everyone else they need to improve, that behavior can be copied at every level of management. Every level then points out how the level below it needs to change. The end result: No one gets much better.

The principle of leadership development by personal example doesn’t apply just to CEOs. It applies to all levels of management. All good leaders want their people to grow and develop on the job. Who knows? If we work hard to improve ourselves, we might even encourage the people around us to do the same thing.

Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 30 books include: Mojo: How to Get It, How to Keep It, and How to Get It Back When You Lose It! – a New York Times (advice), Wall Street Journal(business), USA Today (money) and Publisher’s Weekly (non-fiction) best seller, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There – a New York Times best-seller, Wall Street Journal #1 business book and Harold Longman Award winner for Business Book of the Year. Succession: Are You Ready? is the newest edition to the Harvard Business ’Memo to the CEO’ series.