“Letters from Leaders:” Your Reputation and Integrity are Everything

Below is an excerpt from Maria Razumich-Zec’s letter published in Letters from Leaders: Personal Advice for Tomorrow’s Leaders from the World’s Most Influential People.  Razumich-Zec’s words eloquently address the importance of reputation and integrity in business and the role of leadership.  At the time of this writing, she served as general managing director of the New York Palace Hotel.


I offer these thoughts as a welcome to my fall quarter students. Exploring the theory and practice of successful leadership with you will be my privilege and my pleasure. I’m looking forward to an engaging semester!

Charlene Blockinger, Ed.D.

Throughout my life I have been inspired by my family, friends and colleagues.  The following are some of the principles that have guided me in my career and life.

1. Your reputation and integrity are everything. Follow through on what you say you’re going to do.  Your credibility can only be built over time, and it is built from the history of your words and actions.

2. Respond to people in a timely manner; this shows respect and responsibility.

3. Be nice and treat all individuals with respect, no matter what place or position they hold.

4. Take on additional responsibility wherever and whenever possible.

5. Dress and act for the position you aspire to have; soon others will see you in that role and the promotion will follow.

6. Approach situations with an open mind. Have no expectations, but rather abundant expectancy.

7. Listen to your gut. If something internally feels right or feels wrong to you, it probably is, so listen to your inner voice. Ask questions of yourself and be true to yourself. Know who you are and what you want, and let this mantra guide you through your life.

8. Have empathy for others. To have compassion is human and humbling.

9. It’s important to give back to the community in which you live and work.

10. Attitude is EVERYTHING. Be positive, optimistic, engaging, spirited. You’ll reap the rewards tenfold.

Letters from Leaders highlights excerpts from Letters from Leaders: Personal Advice for Tomorrow’s Leaders from the World’s Most Influential People, compiled by Henry O. Dormann, who says of leaders: “Some leave money, others leave inspiration. Many leave both. But all are anxious for young people to learn from their successes and even their failures.”

Announced through LinkedIn 9/30/2016

Two Exceptional Development Opportunities for Chicago-Area Learning Professionals (plus a bonus!)

If you are interested in expanding your professional knowledge base, I recently attended two programs you might want to consider: “Learning in a Competence-Based World” and “Learning Agility and the Brain: Fostering Learner Success in a Changing World.”  The programs, described below, are offered through DePaul University’s Center to Advance Education for Adults (CAEA) as part of its Adult Learning Innovation Institute. Early Bird Registration is now open for the fall session: Learning in a Competence-Based World: Mindsets, Models and Methods. For more details and to register, visit: https://cblinstitute2016.eventbrite.com

"Learning in a Competence-Based World: Mindsets, Models and Methods"

This interactive, two-day workshop, facilitated by Catherine Marienau, Ph.D. and other leaders in competence-based learning (CBL), clearly defined the term and reinforced the theories and concepts that underpin the concept: how people learn from experience, whether the setting is informal or formal. The program is especially geared to higher education faculty, training and development professionals, human resources administrators, coaches and mentors, and members of associations and agencies that promote adult learning. Topics included developing learning objectives, constructing competence statements, and assessing learning.

“Why should you care about competence-based learning?  That question served as the focus as the program leaders guided the participants through the steps that move learners to identify and demonstrate a competence. By explaining how to construct competence statements and define assessment criteria, the leaders linked CBL to all aspects of development.

Catherine Marienau, whose name is practically synonymous with adult education, and her colleague Kathleen Taylor recently published a book titled, Facilitating Learning with the Adult Brain in Mind: A Conceptual and Practical Guide .  The authors effectively tie neuroscience with the concepts of adult learning.

“Learning Agility and the Brain: Fostering Learner Success in a Changing World”

The VUCA Model (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) served as the springboard for this interactive, two-day workshop.  Recognizing, understanding, leveraging and developing agile approaches to successfully navigating our VUCA world was the program’s focus. 

Pamela Meyer, the program’s leader, addressed many important topics, including “Agility Awareness,” “Behaviors and Dispositions,” “Learning-Agile People,” “Personal Learning Agility Reflection,” and “Lessons from Agile Teams: Learning in Action.”

Before attending the program I had already read Pamela’s book, The Agility Shift: Creating Agile and Effective Leaders, Teams, and Organizations (you can download the first chapter here: http://pamela-meyer.com/the-agility-shift/), and came to the session with high expectations. I was not disappointed. By the end of the second day, I had achieved a deeper understanding of learning agility and the components of the “Relational Web” that supports the concept in action: Relevance, Responsiveness, Resilience, Resourcefulness, and Reflection.  

Bonus for my students (and my LinkedIn connections)!

Both Catherine Marienau and Pamela Meyer have graciously agreed to be interviewed this fall for the classroom and online leadership teaching/learning series, “Conversations with 21^st Century Leaders.”  The interviews will be announced through LinkedIn. It will be a privilege to talk with these leaders and gain their insights on current thinking in adult education.  Stay tuned for more information.

 Announced through LinkedIn 8/8/16

Talking about TED - The Career Advice You Probably Didn't Get" by Susan Colantuono

After you have viewed Susan Colantuono's TED Talk, please share your thoughts about her premise and advice. In what ways have you witnessed the impact of what she refers to as "the missing 33%," which consists of business, strategic and financial acumen?  And, how do global skills factor in?

Ode to a Spring Quarter Class Finale

The objective of the wrap-up session for “Global Leadership: Developing the Mindset That Matters” was to reinforce course content and galvanize understanding of the skills necessary to successfully navigate our global, VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) world.

But with our final spring quarter session occurring on the Saturday afternoon of the Memorial Day weekend, it seemed unlikely that restating global leadership concepts one last time would have impact. Instead, we viewed the TED Talk, “The Career Advice You Probably Didn’t Get,“ by Susan Colantuono, CEO of Leading Women, another offering in the “Talking About Ted” series.

Speaking to both women and men in middle management, Colantuono posed the question: What has to happen to move to the top? “There’s a missing 33% of the career equation which is required to close the gap,” she claimed. “One needs to use skills, talents and abilities to help the organization achieve its strategic and financial goals, and one does that by working effectively with others inside and outside the organization.” According to Colantuono, the missing 33% consists of business, strategic and financial acumen.

Much to my surprise, Colantuono made no mention of the importance of global skills. Considering that we just completed ten weeks of reading, practicing, and regurgitating concepts of successful global leadership, I wondered if the students would notice the missing piece.

Following goodbye hugs, handshakes, and wishes for future success, I gathered my things and headed off to a lovely little restaurant for a light dinner and a glass of wine, eager to read the students’ presentation feedback forms. Much to my delight, responses to the first question—Was this presentation relevant to the course?—were unequivocal:

“No mention of global leadership skills”

“U.S cultural references, only”

“The global skills component is missing from this presentation, and often missed in business”

“She overlooks the global skills that aren’t discussed on a regular basis in the business world”

“I would value global leadership being added to this list”

“Bravo!” I thought, and ordered a second glass of wine to celebrate.

Aside from the missing global skills piece, I would summarize students’ comments on Colantuono’s well-designed presentation as follows:

In terms of new ideas, the talk seemed to encourage a new level of confidence among students in the ability to self-promote. While students were aware of the leadership gap and gender divide, the statistics Colantuono presented reinforced the magnitude of the gap. Several students mentioned mentoring both women and men to the missing 33% as a vital element of their personal leadership skill development. In general, the presentation helped to expand students’ awareness of the challenges present in reaching top positions and the specific steps required to close the gap.

Published through LinkedIn 7/19/16

 

Leadership in Action: Storycatchers Theatre -- "The Revolving Door"

I recently attended a Storycatchers Theatre production, "The Revolving Door"—an original musical written and performed by the Temporary LockDown Ensemble at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center in Chicago.  This inspiring project, established almost 30 years ago, connects Chicago’s artistic community with incarcerated juveniles to help them “make thoughtful life choices through the process of writing, producing and performing original musical theatre inspired by their personal stories.” 

According to the Storycatchers Theatre’s website, during the organization’s first decade a company of professional actors presented original musicals based on stories gathered from Chicago-area youth, using these productions as a vehicle for post-performance reflection and discussions.  In 1990, the program shifted from using professional actors to engaging adolescents in the full process—from story collection to performance.  As the understanding of adolescents and their life challenges deepened, the Storycatchers model emerged.

Following the compelling performance I attended, the young actors individually shared reactions to their involvement in the project. Several thanked the volunteers for contributing their time and energy, while others added: “I want to continue doing this,” “. . . it got me out of my comfort zone,” “. . . it helped me overcome my fear of speaking before people,” “. . . I never thought I could do this.” 

As an instructor of leadership principles, I found the performance led me to reflect on the meaning of leadership, and how the vision and success of this project exemplifies the concept of leadership in action.  As a member of the audience, I wondered how the lives of these young people would be affected as a result of their involvement in the project. Would they, in turn, become leaders within their own communities?

Clearly, the collective efforts of the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, Nancy B. Jefferson School, The Arts Infusion Initiative of the Chicago Community Trust and the volunteers involved in Storycatchers Theatre are contributing to the personal growth of young people who at some point lost their way but are looking to regain
control over their lives.

For more information on Storycatchers Theatre, go to http://www.storycatcherstheatre.org.

In closing, I’ll share a poem that appeared in the program, written by the Temporary LockDown Ensemble.

Why Do I Try To Fly?

Why do I try to fly when I’m destined to fall?
Why do I try to run when they want me to fall?
I spread by wings so I can soar and take off.
I try to stand tall, aim for up above.

My battle’s lost, and the devil’s won.
The storm clouds in my head block the sun.
Nobody sees my tears, not anyone.
I refuse to be the things I have done.

All my desperation, all my red rage
Put my feelings on paper, and call it a ram-page.
Am I a fool?  Being used like a tool?
My perception of decisions, it is wrong or is it cool?
Walking through the valley of the numb and deceived
Should I keep on this road, or make myself believe
That anything is possible
With the strength that lies in me?
With the strength that lies in me?

Posted through LinkedIn 6/30/2016

A conversation with recent grad and future 21st century leader, Parag Gupta

Image of Parag Gupta originally displayed on http://www.sparkcleanenergy.org/

For the second installment of the "Conversations with 21st Century Leaders" series, I interviewed Parag Gupta, a recent doctoral graduate in Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University. For more information about Parag, visit the post on the LinkedIn Pulse to read his bio and find his LinkedIn profile.

The "Conversations with 21st Century Leaders" series is intended to help students in leadership courses at Northwestern University gain a real-world understanding of the complex issues today’s leaders face. The interview consists of four parts and you can watch all of them on embedded the YouTube playlist below. The videos are split by topic into four sections: Leadership and Personal Development, Cultural Connections, Getting to Know You Questions (submitted by students in my course), and a concluding Wrap Up.

Please watch the interview and share your thoughts in the comments section.

Letters from Leaders: The Importance of Integrity in Business and Leadership

Below is an excerpt from Stephen Joel Trachtenberg’s letter published in Letters from Leaders: Personal Advice for Tomorrow’s Leaders from the World’s Most Influential People.  Trachtenberg’s words eloquently address the importance of integrity in business and the role of leadership. 

I offer these thoughts as a parting gift along with my congratulations and best wishes to my graduating students. Exploring the theory and practice of successful leadership with you has been truly a privilege and a pleasure.

Business needs expansive leaders.  But business also needs leaders who appear trustworthy because they are trustworthy—leaders who will keep their promises to their employees, stockholders, and customers.  To put it simply—and as optimistically as I can—I would say that business needs leaders for whom integrity is built in or second nature.  If you will, Integrity is not a product or the result of a course on the way to earning an MBA.  It is not a veneer or public stance.  To the contrary, it should be bred in the bone and be as important in one’s life as one’s public life; always on and functions, 24/7.

Leaders with such a deep-seated sense of integrity would, I believe, profoundly and rather quickly help restore a great deal of the public’s confidence in American business.  Good leaders would also choose to work with others who have the same sense of integrity or, failing such perfect recruits, do everything they can to instill the same belief in the irrevocable importance of integrity.

This last point is important. Part of leadership is the ability to teach formally and by example.  Are there such young people available today?  Are they on the campuses of America’s colleges and universities?  And are they thinking of careers in business and especially hoping for positions of leadership?  Yes to all questions.  Are there enough of them?  I don’t know the answer to that.  I think it has to be part of any university’s mission to look at the character of its students and to encourage them to do the right thing.  In other words, to increase the number of young men and women for whom integrity is the norm.

This is no easy job, but neither is teaching quantum physics or neurosurgery, both of which we do extremely well.  The questions “leaders” have raised are difficult—and of course that is why they have raised them.  But if difficulty were an insurmountable obstacle, there would be no universities—and few if any men and women of any age would be willing to take on the burdens of leadership, no matter how great the rewards.  But leading a life of integrity and honesty is not an obstacle but an outlook.  And I am, finally, optimistic enough to believe that many young people share that outlook and that many more, seeing their success, will emulate them.  Integrity, I would tell them, does pay.

Stephen Joel Trachtenberg
President Emeritus and Professor of Public Service,
The George Washington University

Letters from Leaders highlights excerpts from Letters from Leaders: Personal Advice for Tomorrow’s Leaders from the World’s Most Influential People, compiled by Henry O. Dormann, who says of leaders: “Some leave money, others leave inspiration.  Many leave both.  But all are anxious for young people to learn from their successes and even their failures.”

Published through LinkedIn 6/1/16