Real Leaders Don't Boss Read online

  One leader who does fit the dynamic and whose corporate and civic accomplishments demonstrate his commitment is Limoneira’s Edwards. His vision helped him lead his company back to its roots of stewardship of the land and the community. Working with Limoneira’s rich assets and community buy-in, Limoneira is achieving an enviable sustainability—long-term success for all parties. “Part of sustainability is that you have to take care of your workforce. Our people are our great asset,” says Edwards. To that end, the company worked in partnership with its nearby community, Santa Paula, California, and developed a community master plan for growth and long-term success.3

  Judith Rodin, president of the University of Pennsylvania from 1994 to 2004, and current president of the Rockefeller Foundation, is another great leader whose passion helps the world around her in lasting ways. “I believe for a university to be truly world class it needs to do great, visible things in its own backyard,” she said while still at Penn. Under her leadership and fueled by her passion, the university has become a beacon in its own backyard. Among her accomplishments was revitalization of the West Philadelphia neighborhood around the university. Rodin also oversaw a meteoric rise in student applications, research grants, new faculty, and fundraising as well as leaps in reputation—all major markers by which universities are measured.4 Marc H. Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, had this to say about Rodin and her accomplishments at Pennsylvania:

  At a time when many urban academic institutions raised fences and erected buildings with forbidding walls to protect their staff and students from encroaching crime, the University of Pennsylvania and President Judith Rodin questioned how this approach would benefit the institution in the long run. Rodin’s account of the university’s ground-breaking initiatives to embrace and reinvigorate the surrounding neighborhood shows how anchor institutions must operate in the 21st century if they are to remain competitive.5

  When Steven Sample took over as president of the University of Southern California in 1991, the school was a sports giant, but its academic reputation didn’t measure up to its athletic prowess. With legendary zeal and passion, he set about transforming the school into an equally strong academic institution. His efforts and success at doing so are renowned, as is the fact that he was a forerunner in forming alliances and partnerships with communities to revitalize neighborhoods around college campuses. Along the way, he teamed with leadership guru Warren Bennis to teach a course on leadership at the university, and together they coauthored A Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership (Jossey-Bass, 2001). When announcing his plans to retire in August 2010, Sample said:

  For Kathryn and me, the presidency of USC has been far more than just a job. It has been a calling, an all-consuming passion to move this university ahead farther and faster than any other university in the United States. We have been blessed to have pursued this mission in the company of many colleagues and friends who share our commitment to USC’s advancement. Our years here have simply been exhilarating.6

  Passion and commitment lead to transformation and excellence—one of the leadership lessons from Kenneth Beachler. He is a former executive director of the Wharton Center for Performing Arts at Michigan State University, and former vice chairman of the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. Beachler’s leadership and inspiration—passion and commitment—were to bring serious, high-quality performing arts to central Michigan. He succeeded handsomely, under the leadership of President Clifton R. Wharton, Jr., by helping to highlight the need to construct a state-of-the-art performing arts facility on the campus of Michigan State University. Beachler, an actor, writer, and director of substantial stature in his own right, was unwavering in his goal, yet sensitive to the needs of the community. He realized the importance of building lasting relationships with the external community, for without them the popularity of the arts would wane over time. Instead, they grew in number year after year because of his ability to build important bridges with many diverse constituencies far beyond the boundaries of the campus. Beachler’s influence was instrumental in keeping ticket prices reasonable so people of all income levels could experience top-quality performances.

  As the actions of these individuals reflect, real leaders learn to express their passions in positive ways and to tap into the wants, hopes, and dreams of those around them. These are leaders who make indelible impressions on others, in their words and in their actions.

  No Guts, No Glory

  Real leadership takes guts—not the kind of guts that it takes to charge into gunfire, but the kind that makes someone stand up for his or her ideals and confront the challenges on the figurative battlefields of corporate and personal life. In the world of sports, the commonly used motivational admonition “no pain, no gain,” challenges athletes to reach a goal. In the military, soldiers say “no guts, no glory.” In both arenas, as in business, maintaining a safe level of achievement is seldom the best option. This ability to make tough decisions despite the threat of alienating support can be learned and taught in business and in life.

  In a recession or when a company is struggling, real leadership is not necessarily having the guts to lay off half your staff, either. It’s more likely to be the intestinal fortitude for instituting painful, across-the-board pay cuts in order to retain an entire workforce through rocky economic times.

  That’s what Paul F. Levy did at Harvard’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Though he ran into issues later in his tenure and resigned his post as CEO amid controversy in early 2011, many of the things he did as that organization’s leader were admirable. At the height of the recession, Levy had the uncanny skill and the rare compassion to bring his medical and hospital staff together in a mutual sacrifice in order that fewer jobs should be cut. He had a bold vision for the medical center and dramatically enhanced its culture, reputation, and quality. Convincing doctors, nurses, and other staff to agree to pay cuts or smaller wage increases so the lowest wage earners in the hospital could keep their jobs is a remarkable feat of compassion and persuasion.

  There are other gutsy leaders who understand the need for simple courage, and the willingness to stand up and make the tough decisions. These are our generations’ profiles in workplace courage. A couple role models include:

  Columbia University President Lee Bollinger. He made the courageous and controversial decision to invite Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at the school’s New York City campus. A First Amendment scholar, Bollinger was severely criticized for the invitation and for his own remarks that day. But in listening to the Iranian leader speak—whether one agreed with what he said or not—the world learned much more about him.

  Jack Welch, former head of General Electric. He is a legendary leader for many reasons. One of his gutsiest moves was to jettison several of GE’s businesses, though they were highly profitable. His decision was based, in part, on the fact that these divisions had little chance of ever being the best in their respective industries. This is a courageous example of streamlining a company into greatness.

  Giving Back: Leaders Who Inspire

  An important aspect of a real leader’s inspiration is his or her ability to recognize need in the community and respond through charity and volunteerism. This is not a uniquely American concept or the sole purview of real leaders, but true leaders unquestionably manifest and exude the humility and gratitude inherent in giving back. Where a boss’s attitude may be “I’ve got mine; now you get yours,” a real leader says, “Let me share with you what I am fortunate enough to have.”

  Two Americans I have long admired for their superb leadership, humanity, public service, and far-reaching contributions to countless persons and organizations are Dr. Clifton R. Wharton, Jr. and Mrs. Dolores D. Wharton. During just eight years as president and first lady of Michigan State University, the Whartons elevated the stature of the nation’s first land grant university in a manner very few could. In addition to heightening the quality and breadth of the univ
ersity’s faculty, research programs, and community service, they also led the university’s initial capital fundraising campaign, which ensured the university’s success long after their tenure ended. Significantly, the Whartons’ active involvement in the arts prompted the university to build a state-of-the-art performing arts facility. The Whartons recognized that all the great universities made major commitments to the arts—music, drama, dance, and painting—with corresponding facilities, faculty, and programs. In 1982, MSU bestowed the ultimate honor upon them by naming their premier arts complex the Clifton and Dolores Wharton Center for the Performing Arts.

  Though much has been written about Clifton and Dolores Wharton’s intellect, passion, foresight, and modesty, when you have the opportunity to speak with them it is impossible not to become caught up with how thoughtful and erudite they both are. Moreover, you’re drawn closer to them through their unparalleled spontaneity, positive and upbeat demeanor, and charm. Here are two incredibly accomplished people—each a leader (Dolores Wharton has served on more than 30 corporate boards)—who continue to take an active role in each other’s activities. They discovered that a genuine, enthusiastic interest in the other’s work is a critical part of their individual achievements and one of the most important ingredients to a happy, successful marriage of more than 60 years.

  As Dolores Wharton suggests, to lead others requires that one be knowledgeable and able to inspire. Her husband adds that leaders must be people with great integrity and honesty, and also be humane. Real leaders are “teachers” in the broadest sense. As an example, Clifton Wharton established a Presidential Fellows program at Michigan State that provides many with an opportunity to learn how to lead a university. Today, nearly a third of those who learned under his tutelage are presidents of colleges and universities.

  In a diverse number of organizational settings—including leading a major university, international development, government service, and philanthropy—Wharton demonstrated time and again the virtues of listening attentively, empowering and nurturing others, developing teams, and eschewing the power trap where leaders assume they have all the answers and where arrogance unravels prior successes.

  If I could follow any two individuals for a concentrated period of time to sharpen my leadership skills, Clifton and Dolores Wharton would be at the top of my list. These two pioneers, social activists, and change agents are an American treasure.

  Limelight Not Required

  Real leaders don’t seek center stage; they seek success for others. On Thanksgiving Day 18 years ago, an Oxnard, California, father of a four-week-old boy was driving on the freeway with his wife to the San Fernando Valley. He happened to look at his son and noticed he had stopped breathing. The family quickly got off the freeway and noticed that a sporting goods store had several cars parked there so they stopped, and the mother ran into the store and yelled for help.

  As fate would have it, a physician from Santa Paula had decided at the last minute to try to find a Ping-Pong table so he could play with his son, who was coming home from college. The physician was not just any physician, but Fran S. Larsen, MD, former director of the much-heralded Family Practice Residency Program at Ventura County Medical Center. Larsen ran to the couple’s car and discovered that the baby had no pulse, was not breathing, and was, for all practical reasons, dead. Larsen administered CPR and chest compression, and miraculously the baby began to breathe again.

  As the infant recovered and the family celebrated his renewed life, the family practitioner had silently departed. The family later uncovered the doctor’s identity and had a special reunion in his medical office. They continued to bring in their son yearly so Larsen could see how he had grown. (He graduated from high school in 2011.)

  A few years later, the immensely popular and highly regarded Larsen was chosen as “Physician of the Year” for his superb medical skills, humility, community service, compassion, training of innumerable residents, successful treatment of countless patients from the region, and donating time as an team physician for one of the high schools. The world is looking for more leaders that do not seek the limelight, but simply do what they are taught to do and do it well.7

  Sports notables Charles Woodson and Dikembe Mutombo also are giants in their respective fields. Both are media-reticent, reserved men who share a common bond: to make the world a much better place for the less fortunate, and to focus the spotlight on people in need rather than on themselves. Those are signs of a real leader.

  Woodson, a former University of Michigan All-American cornerback, is the only NCAA Division I-A football player to win the prestigious Heisman Trophy as a defensive player. Today he is a standout in the National Football League, and not just for his on-the-field performance. In 2007, Woodson donated $2 million to the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital. The publicity-shy Woodson earmarked his donation for pediatric research to help find cures for pediatric cancer, heart disease, kidney disorders, and autism.

  In basketball, Dikembe Mutombo is a standout on the court and off. A native of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and a Georgetown University graduate, he once blocked 12 shots in a single game while he played for John Thompson’s Hoyas basketball team. “Deke,” as he’s known to friends, went on to become one of the NBA’s most prolific shot blockers in his 16-year career and earned four NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards. A leader who firmly believed in giving back long before he made millions of dollars, Mutombo founded a state-of-the-art hospital and medical research facility in Kinshasa, Congo. It’s a region in Africa where more than 500,000 children under the age of 5 die each year, most from preventable causes. Among other services, his hospital will train several hundred clinicians and improve treatment of HIV/AIDS patients.

  Side Effect: Building Bottom Lines

  Stronger leadership is an outgrowth of these individuals’ inspirational giving back. By developing themselves as leaders, Woodson and Mutombo spark others around them to become real leaders, too. As you aspire to become a real leader, recognize that these torchbearers realize inspired leadership can be the fuel that helps others to achieve things they might not otherwise accomplish on their own. Real leaders also help those around them understand that upsetting the status quo is sometimes required to design a better future for their organization.

  William J. Kearney, first vice president of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, and senior resident director of its Ventura Coast office, is another extraordinary executive who leads by example. He is a mentor, community leader, and competent financial confidant who has dedicated his professional career to helping others through his work and his involvement in the Ventura County region.

  For the past three decades, Kearney has been the first in the office at 4:30 a.m., works all day, then usually heads to various board meetings in the evenings. Among the types of community organizations to which Kearney lends support and expertise are higher education (including the California State University–Channel Islands), families and children through Casa Pacifica, the United Way, and the arts. Another Merrill Lynch executive had this to say of his leader: “He’s always interested in finding the best answer for his clients’ needs.”

  Inspiring leaders advance their organizations to new heights every day through their actions on and off the court, on and off the field, in the workplace, and beyond. They lead from the top, but make sure people at every level of the organization are engaged. These are leaders who also ensure that their people are heard, involved, and trained to be more innovative in moving the company, the team, and their lives forward.

  This tradition of highlighting the history of an organization can have a significant impact on leadership development. The lessons of the past, and respect and appreciation for those who came before, can instill a great sense of pride in being part of something special and unique. It also helps potential leaders understand the organization from a much deeper perspective.

 
When people feel that they are a part of something important or something that fills a need in the world, they take their work more personally and strive harder to see a mission fulfilled. A case in point is radio station KCLU-FM, home to the smallest yet most prolific team of professionals I have ever had the pleasure of championing. The station is an NPR affiliate owned by the Regents of California Lutheran University (CLU) in Thousand Oaks, California. Led by its indefatigable and inimitable general manager Mary Olson, the four-person radio station serves Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. The station’s only trained journalist is National Edward R. Murrow award-winning news director Lance Orozco. Operations and program director Jim Rondeau is a substantial broadcast award-winner in his own right. The entire team is supported and complemented by the multi-talented membership director, Mia Karnatz-Shifflett.

  Winner of more Mark Twain, Associated Press, Radio Television News Association, Golden Mike, Edward R. Murrow, and other awards than many of the nation’s largest stations, KCLU unquestionably has a big-league news presence yet a unique and special local flavor. The station is truly the “go-to” place for live and breaking news, and the community relies on KCLU staff to keep them apprised of any natural disaster affecting Southern California.

  After 17 years of broadcasting from a very cramped former student chapel in an older residence hall at CLU, KCLU moved into a new and much improved facility in 2011. Its new $3.1 million home, the Paulucci Studios, is a testament to the many years of hard work and faith from its staff and the ongoing support of its listeners, volunteers, and donors.

  One of the leadership challenges I faced was convincing CLU leadership as well as many of my colleagues that a new broadcasting facility should be included on the university’s list of fundraising priorities. Faced with many important academic and facility needs, this was not an easy sell. But as a university-wide capital campaign was in the planning stages, I fervently believed that raising private funds for a new freestanding broadcasting facility with state-of-the-art production studios and a “community room” (where forums of local and national topics could be discussed) would help KCLU expand its programming and reach. Moreover, KCLU could more effectively be leveraged to help raise the university’s awareness, strengthen its brand, and further enhance its reputation in the region. After the KCLU staff made an excellent presentation to the university strategic planning committee, my colleagues rallied to approve a new station being placed on the capital campaign priority list.