Leadership
Lessons from Peter Drucker
Doug Schallau, former President of Junior Achievement joined our staff meeting today and shared with us words of advice that Peter Drucker dispensed many years ago:
"Say please and thank you. Manners count."
"Focus on what, not who."
"If you have a good idea and you have to explain it, it might not be that good of an idea."
West Point Leadership: Responsibility and Service
Colonel Thomas Kolditz, US Military Academy at West Point
Col. Tom Kolditz, PhD, Professor and Head of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership, discusses leadership in dangerous contexts, and how competence and the degree to which a leader expresses individualized concern builds trust.
A Visit to the United States Air Force Academy
Major General Randall Fullhart and I were met in Colorado Springs by my aides, Captain Emily Bulger and Cadet Katherine Dials for the 17th Annual National Character and Leadership Symposium, Guardians of Trust: Leaders in the Modern Era, where I was invited to speak.
The Mission of the United States Air Force Academy is to educate, train, and inspire men and women to become officers of character, motivated to lead the United States Air Force in service to our nation.
While touring the Academy Visitors Center with Cadet Olsowski, who happened to be a proud Brownie Troop leader, I learned that a cadet’s first year begins in June with six weeks of Basic Cadet Training called “BCT.” At the end of BCT, cadets receive their shoulder boards signifying acceptance into the Cadet Wing and the official start of their freshman year.
The Symposium was kicked off with Superintendent Lt General Mike Gould and the Cadet Rifle Team. There were more than 700 participants from all three sectors.
Judith Registre, the Director of Policy and Outreach at Women for Women International, UK, was a featured speaker. She has spent the last eight years doing field work in Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Africa and Sudan.
Throughout the three days of the Symposium, I met groups of cadets, including a luncheon at the request of 23 cadets who are women, who had all been Girl Scouts. I was even reunited with a University of Pittsburgh Hesselbein Leadership Summit alumni, Reed Traphagan.
The positive culture at the U.S. Air Force Academy is palpable.I came home inspired and grateful to the cadets and faculty who, in the end, sustain the democracy.
Celebrating Our Humanity: Serving Diverse Populations
The call came in from an excited new father. “I have a new baby boy!” the dad said to Linda Spiegel at Margaret Tietz Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a member of Beth Abraham Family of Health Services (BAFHS).
“Wonderful!” she replied. “So how can I help you?”
“We’d like to know if, next week, we can have the traditional Jewish bris ceremony and reception inside your facility so that Great Grandma “Bubbe” can be there to celebrate with us. It wouldn’t be the same without her.”
Spiegel said yes without a moment’s hesitation. A week later, after hours of planning and preparation, the ancient Jewish tradition – complete with kosher refreshments for 200 invited guests – went off without at hitch.
At BAFHS, we celebrate and treasure everyone’s diverse backgrounds and experiences. Margaret Tietz is just one example of the dedication to diversity reflected in all BAFHS facilities. At our Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation Jamaica Adult Day Health Care program, Director Sheva Turk ordered Rosetta Stone language-learning software and told interested staff members that they could use late-day work time to learn Spanish, in order to better serve their many registrants who are native Spanish speakers. More than half the staff, including Turk herself, immediately signed up to participate.
At BAFHS’ various Comprehensive Care Management (CCM) facilities, daily activities, the music playing on the speakers and the food reflect local populations. Visitors can play dominoes at one site and do Tai Chi at another. There is even a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) site serving the Dominican Sisters of Amityville. The program is sensitive to the Sisters’ religious traditions, while also catering to the health care needs of members from the community. In Chinatown, a quilting program mingles Spanish- and Chinese-speaking patients. Many of the women in both ethnic groups had worked in the garment industry, so they started quilting together and have now produced several quilts. These women have grown very close and are a cohesive group now, all without sharing any spoken language.
Diversity even comes home through Best Choice Home Health Care, also a member of BAFHS. Clients are able to speak with the central office in any of numerous languages, and home health aides speak the languages they are comfortable with – from Algerian and Chinese to Russian and Spanish. Aides take specific in-service trainings focusing on Diversity in the Home, receive special recipes and learn to cook in different styles to create meals that home-bound clients from different backgrounds will all say “taste like home.”
The variety of our clients is mirrored by the diversity of our own programs and services as well as our staff. BAFHS offers home care, skilled nursing and rehabilitation, adult day health care, managed care, music therapy, HIV/AIDS care, senior housing, and training for home health aides, among other specialties. Our employees speak about 72 different languages and dialects. This multitalented workforce has been our key to success when it comes to providing high quality healthcare to diverse groups of people.
Peter Fragale began his career at Beth Abraham Health Services, a member of Beth Abraham Family of Health Services (BAFHS), in 2003 as the Director of Labor Relations. In that position, he worked to improve the long standing adverserial relationship between labor and management. As Senior Vice President/Chief Human Resources Officer for BAFHS, Peter follows the charge of Michael Fassler, President and CEO of BAFHS, to promote an environment which introduces new initiatives and recognition programs that foster improved relations among the staff and create opportunities for learning and development.
Have you seen INVICTUS?
LEADERSHIP LESSONS TO SHARE I wrote down three lessons that were validated in this timely film... 1. SEE DIFFERENCES DIFFERENTLY. Master seeing DIFFERENCES differently so you can see through the eyes of those who are essential to CHANGE—especially, if they are your "enemies." Understanding what matters to them and genuinely caring about it is important. It sets you free to authentically do your important work. 2. INVEST IN KNOWING YOUR PEOPLE. If you want people to follow you, teaching them to believe in themselves first makes it easier. To do this, invest in knowing and caring about who they are. Then demonstrate mutual trust and respect with every day-to-day opportunity afforded to you. 3. THE POWER OF "THE EXPERIENCE." Helping people experience "the end in mind"—even for a short while—makes it easier to take the leader's vision to the next level, step-by-step. It shows people they are in charge of their destiny. "It always seems impossible until it is done." -Nelson Mandela
Debbe Kennedy
The Founder, President & CEO of Global Dialogue Center and Leadership Solutions Companies, Kennedy is also the author of numerous books and publications. Her newest book is Putting Our Differences to Work: The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership, and High Performance (Berrett-Koehler 2008). She is also the author of Breakthrough!®: Everything You Need to Start a Solution Revolution®,which has been translated into several languages, Action Dialogues: Meaningful Conversations to Accelerate Change, and the Diversity Breakthrough!® Action Books. Photo Credit: Original oil painting by Sally K. Green .
Third World Girls in the US
Look for Ms. Woodbury’s writings at girleffectusa.com.
Girls are the most hopeful solution to growing social and economic challenges throughout the world. Girls and women accomplish nearly 70 percent of the human work efforts that not only sustain families, our civil societies as well as our economies. Unleashing the potential of girls is the pathway to shifting the patterns of inequality and incivility in virtually every community around the globe not just those in developing countries. Research is clear that in societies where women and girls are oppressed and underutilized the economy also suffers. This makes girls the most powerful and underutilized resource available to humankind.
Last summer, one New York Times article captured both the various facets and importance of investing in girls. The Women’s Crusade by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn is actually several stories within a story. Staggering statistics of genocide based on gender. Profiles of individual girls and women who overcame abuse, poverty, lack of education, societal stigma—enormous odds—then improved their own lives and lives of those around them. The Girl Effect is a movement that began several years ago to illustrate the magnified return on investment when girls are educated and supported to take their place as leaders in society. I encourage you to watch this video, which parallels two lives: the first, a girl who lives in poverty, following in the footsteps of generations of women before her; the second illustrates the life of an educated girl, investing her earnings in a cow to feed her family, expanding the herd, and sharing the profits with her community members, who are able to learn and follow her example. The exponential effect, over time, can change (save) the world. In a separate but related blog, Kristof announced the Half the Sky Competition, soliciting stories from readers who have had an experience of needs of girls and women in countries around the world. Also invited were solutions – simple actions that build on the capacities of women and girls in their communities. In the multitude of responses, there was one that said, “I live in a Third World country. You know it as Detroit.” The author, Frances Saad, goes on to discuss the plight of the impoverished in the United States of America and question why it seems less in vogue to recognize and address poverty here, rather than in countries that are readily accepted as “third world.” Her question is timely. This is why some of us have gathered to bring voice, attention and organization to a movement called The Girl Effect USA. While the illustration of the original Girl Effect video, set in a third world country, is perfectly clear, it is much more difficult to see The Girl Effect in a wealthy nation like the USA. Few American girls will begin their gainful employment raising cows. Yet, millions of American girls are oppressed in myriad ways, from situations of abuse and the trafficking of them for sexual exploitation to being socialized to believe their value is largely set their sights low and see their value focused on how they look – their beauty, rather than who they are and what they can accomplish. The Girl Effect USA proposes that the erosion of civil society in the USA must be addressed and that girls are the solution here, too. The power of women and girls is ancient and universal, and we can no longer afford to squander the potential of their full contribution to the health and well being of our families, communities and economies.
Third World Girls in the United States
Look for Ms. Woodbury’s writings at girleffectusa.com. Girls are the most hopeful solution to growing social and economic challenges throughout the world. Girls and women accomplish nearly 70 percent of the human work efforts that not only sustain families, our civil societies as well as our economies. Unleashing the potential of girls is the pathway to shifting the patterns of inequality and incivility in virtually every community around the globe not just those in developing countries. Research is clear that in societies where women and girls are oppressed and underutilized the economy also suffers. This makes girls the most powerful and underutilized resource available to humankind.
Last summer, one New York Times article captured both the various facets and importance of investing in girls. The Women’s Crusade by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn is actually several stories within a story. Staggering statistics of genocide based on gender. Profiles of individual girls and women who overcame abuse, poverty, lack of education, societal stigma—enormous odds—then improved their own lives and lives of those around them.
The Girl Effect is a movement that began several years ago to illustrate the magnified return on investment when girls are educated and supported to take their place as leaders in society. I encourage you to watch this video, which parallels two lives: the first, a girl who lives in poverty, following in the footsteps of generations of women before her; the second illustrates the life of an educated girl, investing her earnings in a cow to feed her family, expanding the herd, and sharing the profits with her community members, who are able to learn and follow her example. The exponential effect, over time, can change (save) the world.
In a separate but related blog, Kristof announced the Half the Sky Competition, soliciting stories from readers who have had an experience of needs of girls and women in countries around the world. Also invited were solutions – simple actions that build on the capacities of women and girls in their communities. In the multitude of responses, there was one that said, “I live in a Third World country. You know it as Detroit.” The author, Frances Saad, goes on to discuss the plight of the impoverished in the United States of America and question why it seems less in vogue to recognize and address poverty here, rather than in countries that are readily accepted as “third world.” Her question is timely. This is why some of us have gathered to bring voice, attention and organization to a movement called The Girl Effect USA.
While the illustration of the original Girl Effect video, set in a third world country, is perfectly clear, it is much more difficult to see The Girl Effect in a wealthy nation like the USA. Few American girls will begin their gainful employment raising cows. Yet, millions of American girls are oppressed in myriad ways, from situations of abuse and the trafficking of them for sexual exploitation to being socialized to believe their value is largely set their sights low and see their value focused on how they look – their beauty, rather than who they are and what they can accomplish. The Girl Effect USA proposes that the erosion of civil society in the USA must be addressed and that girls are the solution here, too.
The power of women and girls is ancient and universal, and we can no longer afford to squander the potential of their full contribution to the health and well being of our families, communities and economies.
An Interview with Frances Hesselbein: The House is on Fire
On Sunday, February 28 Frances Hesselbein was interviewed on The CEO Show, know as "The '60 Minutes' of radio".
In their conversation, host Robert G. Reiss, an expert in developing and implementing customer centric strategies, asks Frances about her greatest concern: Frances responded, "The state of public education in our country. The house is on fire. How do you sustain the democracy if you do not educate all of your children?" Listen to their conversation.Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits
Society is asking nonprofits to do more than ever before – and with fewer resources. In order to make a more significant impact on the problems in society that nonprofits address, innovative breakthroughs at the strategic level are needed to make quantum leap progress toward accomplishing their missions. How can social sector organizations create Breakthrough Strategies?
The method I propose begins with achieving clarity on mission and intended mission impact. One of Peter Drucker’s five most important questions is “What are our results?” Once this is clear then a nonprofit can articulate its Mission Gap – an identification of unmet mission needs. Often, Mission Gaps are more like Mission Chasms and this is a daunting challenge for nonprofit professionals, but also a part of the responsibility of working in the social sector.
By identifying the Mission Gap, focus is given to the strategy development process and a nonprofit can then use an Aspirational Mindset to create a Vision of the organization in an ideal state – what the organization would be like if they could have it any way they wanted it. This is consistent with the concept of Strategic Intent, which Gary Hamel and C. K. Prahalad have shown can lead to breakthrough performance.
Next, connected to the Vision, the organization sets five Strategic Stretch Goals five years into the future – again using the Aspirational Mindset – to stretch the imagination and harness creativity. The goals are designed to catapult the organization toward its Vision and set the context for new strategic actions.
With the future it wants to create clearly in mind, the organization then discerns the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats it faces – within the context of the Vision and Goals. Note that this is quite the opposite of most strategic planning exercises in which SWOTs are first established as constraints on what is possible in the future. The method I propose starts with creating an ideal future, and then looks at the current reality to figure out how to leverage it to pursue the vision.
With clarity on Vision, Strategic Stretch Goals, and SWOTs, the organization then begins the process of strategy development. It uses the aspirational energy from the Vision and Strategic Stretch Goals to generate strategic creativity. This is what Peter Senge refers to as Creative Tension.
The result should be an integrated and coherent “strategy narrative” which provides a “cause & effect story” of how the organization is going to take itself from its current reality toward its Vision and close the Mission Gap as effectively as possible. It is important that the strategy be coherent and includes positive, reinforcing strategic actions that will move the organization forward in new and powerful ways. The importance of these reinforcing actions among essential operations is a key concept from Systems Thinking that we have all learned so much about from Russ Ackoff.
The final result is a new and creative strategy which is designed to produce a breakthrough in the mission impact that the organization seeks to achieve. And it is these kinds of breakthroughs we must commit ourselves to in order to meet the significant needs that now exist in our society.
Robert M. Sheehan, Jr. is the Academic Director of the Executive MBA Program and the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland – College Park. He is also Principal of Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting. His newly released book is Mission Impact: Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits.
Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits
Society is asking nonprofits to do more than ever before – and with fewer resources. In order to make a more significant impact on the problems in society that nonprofits address, innovative breakthroughs at the strategic level are needed to make quantum leap progress toward accomplishing their missions. How can social sector organizations create Breakthrough Strategies?
The method I propose begins with achieving clarity on mission and intended mission impact. One of Peter Drucker’s five most important questions is “What are our results?” Once this is clear then a nonprofit can articulate its Mission Gap – an identification of unmet mission needs. Often, Mission Gaps are more like Mission Chasms and this is a daunting challenge for nonprofit professionals, but also a part of the responsibility of working in the social sector.
By identifying the Mission Gap, focus is given to the strategy development process and a nonprofit can then use an Aspirational Mindset to create a Vision of the organization in an ideal state – what the organization would be like if they could have it any way they wanted it. This is consistent with the concept of Strategic Intent, which Gary Hamel and C. K. Prahalad have shown can lead to breakthrough performance.
Next, connected to the Vision, the organization sets five Strategic Stretch Goals five years into the future – again using the Aspirational Mindset – to stretch the imagination and harness creativity. The goals are designed to catapult the organization toward its Vision and set the context for new strategic actions.
With the future it wants to create clearly in mind, the organization then discerns the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats it faces – within the context of the Vision and Goals. Note that this is quite the opposite of most strategic planning exercises in which SWOTs are first established as constraints on what is possible in the future. The method I propose starts with creating an ideal future, and then looks at the current reality to figure out how to leverage it to pursue the vision.
With clarity on Vision, Strategic Stretch Goals, and SWOTs, the organization then begins the process of strategy development. It uses the aspirational energy from the Vision and Strategic Stretch Goals to generate strategic creativity. This is what Peter Senge refers to as Creative Tension.
The result should be an integrated and coherent “strategy narrative” which provides a “cause & effect story” of how the organization is going to take itself from its current reality toward its Vision and close the Mission Gap as effectively as possible. It is important that the strategy be coherent and includes positive, reinforcing strategic actions that will move the organization forward in new and powerful ways. The importance of these reinforcing actions among essential operations is a key concept from Systems Thinking that we have all learned so much about from Russ Ackoff.
The final result is a new and creative strategy which is designed to produce a breakthrough in the mission impact that the organization seeks to achieve. And it is these kinds of breakthroughs we must commit ourselves to in order to meet the significant needs that now exist in our society.
Robert M. Sheehan, Jr. is the Academic Director of the Executive MBA Program and the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland – College Park. He is also Principal of Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting. His newly released book is Mission Impact: Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits.
Should We Have to Wait for a Crisis in Order to Transform Organizations in the Public, Private and Social Sectors?
Peter Drucker has always advised asking and answering fundamental questions of our organizations and of ourselves before deciding to continue, change, or stop a business practice. Now, as economic hard times affect all sectors, there is an opportunity for organizations to take Drucker’s timely and critical advice:
● It is more important to do what is right than doing things right, and
● We are getting better and better at doing that which should not be done at all.
With funds in short supply, many people and their organizations find themselves cutting corners and scaling back on services and the employees who implement these services. By making such reflexive “quick-fixes” we are ignoring the question posed by Drucker.
Defining an organization’s value added to all stakeholders, both internal and external is critical. Doing so is at the core of “doing what is right” before doing things right.
I have been developing and validating concepts and tools for what I call “Mega thinking and planning” and defining in measurable terms the variables and criteria for societal value-added. Mega thinking and planning employs an “Ideal Vision” which is based on asking people almost world-wide “what kind of world do you want to help create for tomorrow’s child?’ It provides variables, in measurable terms, for thinking, planning, designing, and evaluating. It is ”ideal”, providing such variables as zero loss of life or permanent disabilities from murder, rape, physical abuse, violence, poisons, adulterations, environment and other human caused activities (and their consequences). If one is not intending to move ever-closer to the Ideal Vision, what do they have in mind? Using it can be both practical and ethical.
It is being applied in many places throughout the world, from Australia to Europe, Asia to the subcontinent, South America to Mexico in private and social sector organizations. One large-scale application use Mega thinking and planning to provide the core driver for the Sonora Institute of Technology (ITSON) in Mexico whose vision is:
VISION
ITSON is part of an integrated social system that provides a sustainable quality of life to its citizens by producing value-added contributions to a global knowledge-based society and economy
When applied with objectivity, as it is at ITSON, it provides the basis for identifying what an organization does that could be continued, modified, changed, or discontinued. For example, at ITSON all funding opportunities, new courses, projects, activities, and initiatives are first examined before approval to determine the extent to which they will add measurable value within and external—to ecosystems—to the university. ITSON has recently caught the positive attention of Ernst & Young as one of two innovative Mexican universities and of two Mexican presidents. Mega thinking and planning can answer the key question of “if my organization is the solution, what’s the problem?”
Each and every organization, in order to survive and thrive best adds value to all internal and external stakeholders. It should be done formally and have measurable performance terms so that organizations can plan, design, develop, implement and continually improve based on valid criteria. If so, we can act on the two Drucker principles noted above.
About Roger Kaufman, Ph.D, CPT. Mr. Kaufman is a Distinguished Research Professor at Sonora (Mexico) Institute of Technology and Professor Emeritus, at Florida State University. Change, Choices, and Consequences: A Guide to Mega Thinking and Planning, The Assessment Book: Applied Strategic Thinking and Performance Improvement Through Self-Assessments and Thirty Seconds That Can Change Your Life are three of thirty-nine books that Mr. Kaufman has written in this area.
Guiding Growth: How Vision Keeps Companies on Course
“Life has an odd way of throwing me curveballs,” I thought a decade ago. Just as I had decided to write Guiding Growth, it was hard to imagine that I was writing about something I had never believed in only a few years earlier.
Through the 1980s and well into the ‘90s, I was telling the world of my hard-core cynicism about the need for organizations to have a vision. The curmudgeonly cynic of management fads and all things that even smelled like a craze, I saw vision as ripe for the picking. Atheism is probably a better word to describe my attitude then, given the zealousness of the believers.
But by the back-end of the 1990s, I found myself transformed into a veritable believer. I saw how a well-articulated and fully-implemented vision could positively impact organizational performance, often profoundly.
After conducting two major research projects I effectively disproved my hypothesis of the meaninglessness of visions, it was time to eat crow. It was a stunning realization for me, and I published the results originally in MIT's Sloan Management Review. Executives who read the piece were asking for even more information about how to develop and implement a vision. Weaving together research linking vision and successful organizational growth, along with consulting experiences that laid-bare the process for helping CEOs and executive groups articulate and implement visions seemed like the book I wanted to read. To my surprise, in spite of the veracity of vision, no one had written it. The Guiding Growth project was born.
While there may be unanimity in the belief that organizations need vision, there’s agreement that we’re doing a lousy job at it. As The Conference Board releases the results of their annual study involving 700 global CEOs each year from the for-profit, non-profit and government sectors, the CEOs continue to rank "engaging employees in the vision" as one of the top management and marketplace issues with which they struggle. They really believe in vision, but unfortunately they have a difficult time developing a growth vision and executing against it.
I’ve seen personally in my own work that it’s exceedingly difficult for them to stretch their thinking toward the future. They're highly "grounded," realistic people. They are drawn towards missions, which describe what an organization does now, rather than vision, which describes why an organization engages in these activities. Visions, therefore, must describe the desired long-term future of the organization and how it plans to change something in the world. It’s a future that is typically not quite achievable but not so fantastic as to seem like a ridiculous pipedream.
The vision-development process is therefore quite a balancing act. It requires imagination, a mental capacity for synthesis, and a trust in one’s intuition. Visions need to challenge people, evoke a feeling that draws people towards wanting to be a part of something quite special. When a vision is framed as something that is achievable within a set amount of years, then it falls into the terrain of a strategic plan.
I, personally, get motivated by challenging visions that reach out to the future and give me a beacon for organizational direction. Strategic plans don't turn me on; they don't turn most people on, but they are necessary. And the data we’ve collected over the past fifteen years is quite clear about the relationship of vision and strategic planning: those plans have a highly significant probability of being achieved only if there is an over-arching vision guiding them.
Seven years after Guiding Growth was published, I now reflect back on it for insight to why founders of non-profits find it so hard to let go. The program I direct at my university for non-profit CEOs who are following the founder of their organization helps the new CEO consider ways to lead more effectively in the shadow of the founder – whether the founder has remained in some capacity or has physically left. Regardless, founders still cast a long shadow.
Our experience with “Following the Founder” – now working with our third cohort of CEOs – indicates that one of the biggest challenges for the new CEO is to bring their own “voice” to the organization’s vision. One reason for the success of these non-profits was the aspirational vision articulated by the founder and the passion with which he or she was able to convey it. Over time, the vision and founder can become inextricably linked in the eyes of others and, while the founder is no longer the formal CEO, the “eyes” are still on the originator of the vision.
The vision process is hard. Leadership transition in founder-based non-profits is hard. But when vision is seen as both the challenge and opportunity for successful succession, we have seen eyes open wide to creative possibilities for the new leader to tweak the vision as a means for successful transition. Fine-tuning the vision can keep the organization vibrant, ready for its next stage of life, and can be a central force for letting the “child” become independent.
Mark Lipton, Ph.D. is Professor of Management and Director of the Tenenbaum Leadership Initiative at Milano: The New School for Management and Urban Policy, in New York City.
Watch Mark Lipton's Leadership Dialogue on VISION.
WBE Hall of Fame 2009
"The WBE Hall of Fame recognizes exemplary achievement and leadership in business, government, volunteerism and citizenship. Individuals recognized will have clearly demonstrated a passion for excellence and are true role models for other women to emulate."Congratulations Susan!
WBE Hall of Fame 2009
"The WBE Hall of Fame recognizes exemplary achievement and leadership in business, government, volunteerism and citizenship. Individuals recognized will have clearly demonstrated a passion for excellence and are true role models for other women to emulate." Congratulations Susan!
WBE Hall of Fame 2009
"The WBE Hall of Fame recognizes exemplary achievement and leadership in business, government, volunteerism and citizenship. Individuals recognized will have clearly demonstrated a passion for excellence and are true role models for other women to emulate." Congratulations Susan!
The Entrepreneurial Generation
In Saturday's OpEd in the New York Times, Tom Friedman wrote, "We need to get millions of American kids, not just the geniuses, excited about innovation and entrepreneurship again."
In 2001, Frances Hesselbein, founding President of The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, now the Leader to Leader Institute wrote "When the Roll is Called in 2010," "To meet the challenges and opportunities of the years to come requires hard work..." In the article, Frances listed a detailed checklist, "not just for survival, but for a successful journey to 2010." One piece of advice was to "Develop the leadership mind-set that embraces innovation as a life force, not as a technological improvement. Adopting Peter Drucker's definition: Innovation is change that creates a new dimension of performance."
Tom Friedman's OpEd prompted Donna Fenn, on the Inc. blog to write "The Entrepreneurial Generation" and Ms. Fenn actually describes meeting Frances Hesselbein:
"Last month, I had the incredible privilege of having tea with Frances Hesselbein, former CEO of the Girl Scouts, founder of the Leader to Leader Institute, and now the Chair for the Study of Leadership at West Point (she’s the first woman appointee and the first non-graduate of West Point to hold the position). Ms. Hesselbein, who Peter Drucker described as one of the greatest leaders he had ever met, knows leadership when she sees it. And she told me with great enthusiasm that she views the current generation of cadets at West Point as the most promising group of future leaders she has ever met. Why? “They understand the importance of service,” she said. And she wasn’t talking just about service to one’s country, but to communities in general. “The first thing they want to tell you about is the volunteer work they’re doing,” she said. I found the same to be to be true among the young entrepreneurs I interviewed for my book: 70% said their companies had a social mission. But make no mistake: they’re laser-focused on the bottom line as well and they understand why growing a profitable, sustainable company that creates jobs is a social good in and of itself. It’s pretty clear to me: this is a generation worth investing in."
In Frances Hesselbein's words: "To serve is to live."
The AMA Handbook of Leadership Now Available
In a challenging business climate, enterprises look to their leaders. Some situations call for drastic change, while others require the fortitude to stay the course. Who better to help today's leaders than a who's who of the greatest leadership thinkers of our time? The AMA Handbook of Leadership, to which I am a contributing author, features insights from best-of-the-best thought leaders and executive leadership coaches around the world. Packed with exclusive, never-before-published articles and full case studies, the book covers a wide range of leadership challenges such as sustainability, competitive advantage through leadership, leading across cultures, succession, diversity, and countless other issues critical to current and future business leaders.
Order the AMA Handbook of Leadership, eds Marshall Goldsmith, John Baldoni, and Sarah McArthur here.
Video Footage from Drucker Centennial Week
View video footage from Drucker Centennial Week:
- Hear Frances Hesselbein—former CEO of the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. and the person who Peter Drucker said “could manage any company in America”—on “The crucible generation: Hope of the future.”
- Watch Ken Blanchard—author of more than 30 books on management and regarded by many as one of the most influential leadership experts in the world—speak on “Leading at a higher level.”
- Listen to Pastor Rick Warren discuss Drucker's insights about leadership and personal integrity.
A 2009 Travelogue
By Frances Hesselbein
In writing my latest Leader to Leader journal column “A Time to Remember”, I shared the following: “I will always remember 2009, the richness of the encounters, the celebration of the lives and contributions of great thought leaders in our country, and globally.”
As we enter a new year, I would like to share with you some of the highlights of 2009.
• Celebrating Peter Drucker’s Centennial, led by A.G. Lafley, and speaking at the Drucker Graduate School CEO Forum, all of us sharing the significance of our moments with Peter, as students, faculty, leaders in all three sectors. We came from all over the world to celebrate the 100th Birthday of “the man who invented modern management.”
• Celebrating the Drucker Centennial Events in Beijing, Nanchang, Shanghai and Hong Kong, China. Rarely have I been so inspired—with warm, responsive audiences, with an outpouring of love and appreciation of Peter Drucker from Chinese students, faculty, business leaders, philanthropists, philosophers, community, organization leaders, who are devoted to Peter Drucker, his philosophy and his works. Never a down moment. Speaking in Nanchang on “The Leader of the Future—Imperatives of Leadership,” to the Drucker Forum. From Nanchang to Shanghai for a keynote to the China Executive Leadership Academy. Being awarded the first China Drucker Fellow Award presented by Bright China Group’s founder, Chairman, Shao Ming Lo. Spending time with the Girl Guides of Hong Kong, first with their Executive Committee, then with their members and even a chorus of five year old Daisies. As they sang they did little dance steps. My hosts told me that we had reached 5,000 people in these four cities, by the end of our journey.
• Hosting our fourth annual Leader of the Future Award Celebration and honoring General Eric K. Shinseki, now Secretary for Veteran’s Affairs, in President Obama’s Cabinet. General Shinseki, U.S. Army (Ret.) was the former Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army and one of our great principled, ethical, effective leaders, with a long and inspiring leadership history. My tribute to General Shinseki and his moving response are on our website here. Guests included our first honoree, Leader of the Future Awardee 2005, Alan Mulally, President and CEO of Ford Motor Company. He, his wife and daughter hosted the Ford table next to General Shinseki’s.
• Attending Linkage’s Women in Leadership Summit where I presented The Frances Hesselbein Excellence in Leadership Award to Laureen Seeger, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, McKesson Corporation.• Visiting Claremont where the Drucker Graduate School again had a jubilant celebration of Peter Drucker’s Centennial, again several speeches, including one with students. I could share with them the significance of the same celebration in Asia, just two weeks earlier.
• Being at West Point for the Military Child Education Coalition annual session for the Student2Student Program. The history of West Point, founded in 1802, and its current recognition as Forbes “2009 Best College and Business School in America” provided great inspiration. Add working with gifted faculty, sessions with Cadets, and the Military Child Education Coalition team, and you have a never to be forgotten week for these fortunate Student2Students. The six values our students distilled are: “Potential, Unity, Respect, Progress, Leadership, Excellence.” They found that the values spell “purple”; so we now have a purple t-shirt. On the front: “FHSLP 2009 West Point, New York Student 2 Student”On the back, the six values to live by.
• My first session with a class of Cadets at West Point as The Class of 1951 Chair for the Study of Leadership. This is a two-year appointment, and every six weeks I will go to West Point. In the future, I plan to take with me a great thought leader from all three sectors, and we will engage the cadets in a Leadership Dialogue. All the time I was on those hallowed grounds with the inspiring young Cadets and their devoted faculty, my belief, “To serve is to live,” was even more passionate.
As I mentioned in the Journal, this article comes through as more of a travelogue, but I wanted to share with you how all of us are part of the Drucker Foundation/Leader to Leader Institute global family with common philosophy, common language, common values, sharing Peter’s message.
A 2009 Travelogue
By Frances Hesselbein
In writing my latest Leader to Leader journal column “A Time to Remember”, I shared the following: “I will always remember 2009, the richness of the encounters, the celebration of the lives and contributions of great thought leaders in our country, and globally.”
As we enter a new year, I would like to share with you some of the highlights of 2009.
• Celebrating Peter Drucker’s Centennial, led by A.G. Lafley, and speaking at the Drucker Graduate School CEO Forum, all of us sharing the significance of our moments with Peter, as students, faculty, leaders in all three sectors. We came from all over the world to celebrate the 100th Birthday of “the man who invented modern management.”
• Celebrating the Drucker Centennial Events in Beijing, Nanchang, Shanghai and Hong Kong, China. Rarely have I been so inspired—with warm, responsive audiences, with an outpouring of love and appreciation of Peter Drucker from Chinese students, faculty, business leaders, philanthropists, philosophers, community, organization leaders, who are devoted to Peter Drucker, his philosophy and his works. Never a down moment. Speaking in Nanchang on “The Leader of the Future—Imperatives of Leadership,” to the Drucker Forum. From Nanchang to Shanghai for a keynote to the China Executive Leadership Academy. Being awarded the first China Drucker Fellow Award presented by Bright China Group’s founder, Chairman, Shao Ming Lo. Spending time with the Girl Guides of Hong Kong, first with their Executive Committee, then with their members and even a chorus of five year old Daisies. As they sang they did little dance steps. My hosts told me that we had reached 5,000 people in these four cities, by the end of our journey.
• Hosting our fourth annual Leader of the Future Award Celebration and honoring General Eric K. Shinseki, now Secretary for Veteran’s Affairs, in President Obama’s Cabinet. General Shinseki, U.S. Army (Ret.) was the former Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army and one of our great principled, ethical, effective leaders, with a long and inspiring leadership history. My tribute to General Shinseki and his moving response are on our website here. Guests included our first honoree, Leader of the Future Awardee 2005, Alan Mulally, President and CEO of Ford Motor Company. He, his wife and daughter hosted the Ford table next to General Shinseki’s.
• Attending Linkage’s Women in Leadership Summit where I presented The Frances Hesselbein Excellence in Leadership Award to Laureen Seeger, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, McKesson Corporation.
• Visiting Claremont where the Drucker Graduate School again had a jubilant celebration of Peter Drucker’s Centennial, again several speeches, including one with students. I could share with them the significance of the same celebration in Asia, just two weeks earlier.
• Being at West Point for the Military Child Education Coalition annual session for the Student2Student Program. The history of West Point, founded in 1802, and its current recognition as Forbes “2009 Best College and Business School in America” provided great inspiration. Add working with gifted faculty, sessions with Cadets, and the Military Child Education Coalition team, and you have a never to be forgotten week for these fortunate Student2Students. The six values our students distilled are: “Potential, Unity, Respect, Progress, Leadership, Excellence.” They found that the values spell “purple”; so we now have a purple t-shirt. On the front: “FHSLP 2009 West Point, New York Student 2 Student”On the back, the six values to live by.
• My first session with a class of Cadets at West Point as The Class of 1951 Chair for the Study of Leadership. This is a two-year appointment, and every six weeks I will go to West Point. In the future, I plan to take with me a great thought leader from all three sectors, and we will engage the cadets in a Leadership Dialogue. All the time I was on those hallowed grounds with the inspiring young Cadets and their devoted faculty, my belief, “To serve is to live,” was even more passionate.
As I mentioned in the Journal, this article comes through as more of a travelogue, but I wanted to share with you how all of us are part of the Drucker Foundation/Leader to Leader Institute global family with common philosophy, common language, common values, sharing Peter’s message.
© 2009 Symphonic Strategies, Inc.