TAKING ACTION

When it comes to improving and expanding the STEM talent pipelines, educators and industry leaders are conducting their own research and development.

Last fall, the Obama Administration announced plans to strengthen America’s economic competitiveness by improving education and interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

In a speech, President Obama stated: “Lifting American students from the middle to the top of the pack in STEM achievement over the next decade will not be attained by government alone. I applaud the substantial commitments made … by the leaders of companies, universities, foundations, nonprofits and organizations representing millions of scientists, engineers and teachers from across the country.”

The President could well have been talking directly to leaders in Central Florida. Read more

If you’re going to survive the economic turmoil, you must innovate your way out of it. Here are nine ways your company can create one bright idea after another.

Yes, the recession still is with us, and companies everywhere continue to feel the pain. Amid the lingering malaise, even the most optimistic leader might wonder, is there an end to this particular tunnel?

Sure there is, but you’re going to have to excavate it yourself — and you’re going to have to light your own way. Read more

Timely (and perhaps timeless) insights drawn from some of America’s top leaders reveal just what we all need to hear.

Corrupt politicians. CEOs caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Financial industry executives whose greed perpetuated the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression.

Such headline grabbers paint a grim picture of leadership in America. That’s distressing at a time of crisis, when we desperately need strong leaders to inspire us.

Fact is, all the negative press is misleading.

There are some great leaders out there — from the past and in the present — and it’s time we paid attention to the leadership wisdom they can impart. Indeed, the men and women who do it right, who lead and have led with integrity, wisdom and selfless devotion, are the ones we should be focusing on right now.

I got this belief from the men and women I’ve interviewed for my recent book (“Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows: Learn How to Inspire Others, Achieve Greatness and Find Success in Any Organization,” McGraw-Hill 2009). All acknowledge that they got to the point they’re at today by learning from the best during their time in the White House Fellowship Program. The program, created more than 40 years ago by the bipartisan efforts of President Lyndon B. Johnson and John W. Gardner, former president of the Carnegie Corp., provides some of the nation’s most promising young citizens with a firsthand look at the behind-the-scenes workings of the U.S. political system. A select group of men and women, chosen through an intense application, interview and deliberation process, spend an entire year working alongside top government officials.

What I learned is that the true heroes are not the Fellows themselves but their mentors in the program. Cumulatively, their lessons provide a blueprint that could get America back on track.

In “Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows,” I include 20 timeless tenets of successful leadership, each illustrated by multiple anecdotes. Here are three of them plus a peek at the other 17:

LEADERSHIP LESSON 1: There’s more to life than work.

Great leaders have deep reserves of physical, spiritual and emotional energy, and that energy is usually fueled by a strong, supportive relationship with the people they love, regular exercise, a healthy lifestyle and setting aside time for reflection.

The Story Behind the Lesson: Doris Kearns Goodwin

At 6 o’clock on a cold January morning in 1973, presidential historian, Pulitzer Prize–winning author and NBC news analyst Doris Kearns Goodwin (White House Fellow 1967-1968) received a call from former President Lyndon B. Johnson, with whom she had become a trusted confidante while working on his memoirs.

“He told me to get married, have children and spend time with them,” Goodwin said. “He talked about how he should have spent more time with his family, because that’s a different and more worthy kind of posterity than the public one that he had been seeking throughout his entire political career. That would be our last conversation, because he died of a heart attack two days later — but what a wonderful thing to leave me with.”

Goodwin heeded Johnson’s words. For example, she turned down the opportunity to be considered for the position of head of the Peace Corps during the Carter administration because she knew it would require her to travel often and be away from her young children. Over the years, she’s concluded that those who live the richest lives manage to achieve a healthy balance of work, love and play.

“To commit yourself to just one of those spheres without the others is to leave open an older age filled with sadness, because once the work is gone, you have nothing left — no hobbies, no sports,” Goodwin said. “Your family may love you, but they are not in the center of your life as they might have been had you paid attention to them all the way through. And I always argue that the ability to relax and replenish your energy is absolutely essential.”

LEADERSHIP LESSON 2: Put your people first.

No organization is better than the people who run it. The fact is that you are in the people business —the business of hiring, training and managing people to deliver the product or service you provide. If the people make up the engine of your success, to be a great leader you need to attend to your people with a laserlike focus.

The Story Behind the Lesson: Mitchell Reiss

Mitchell Reiss (WHF 1988-1989) has seen firsthand that a leader’s focus on his or her people is an incredibly powerful tool. Reiss learned that valuable lesson during his White House Fellowship from his principal, the National Security Advisor and former Secretary of State and former White House Fellow

Gen. Colin[EWP1] Powell.

“Two weeks after I started my Fellowship, there was a picnic over the weekend for the National Security Council staff and their families,” Reiss recalled. “We got there promptly, but Gen. Powell was already there helping set up, helping cook the burgers and hot dogs, and personally greeting every single person, not just on the staff but their families. He came over to me and [not only knew my name but also] introduced himself to my wife, Elisabeth, and thanked her for allowing me to work the hours that I worked at the NSC. He told her she should feel that she is part of the NSC family as well.

“That very brief but very personal interaction with Powell had an extraordinary impact on her. After he left, she turned to me and said, ‘You’d better do a good job for that man. If you need to stay late at work, I will never complain.’ That’s the sort of transformative impact that leadership can have, and I was able to see it up close and personal with Colin Powell. This lesson was invaluable when I later worked at the State Department, where I tried to replicate this sense of teamwork and compassion.”

LEADERSHIP LESSON 3: Root out prejudice.

Great leaders recognize that talent and leadership abilities are distributed randomly. Therefore, they do not form judgments about a person based on ethnicity, gender, religion, age or any other factor. They root out prejudice and biases in themselves and others and ensure that there is equal opportunity at all levels for all people to rise to positions of leadership in their organization on the basis of merit and character.

Leadership Lessons: The Other 18

LEADERSHIP LESSON 4: Always focus on the mission. To be a great
leader, you have to be intensely focused on the core mission of your
organization: know it, understand it, and live it. Make sure everyone
in your organization can answer these questions: Who are we? What do
we do? Whom do we serve? At the end of the day, the mission is the
true North Star that guides every action you take.

LEADERSHIP LESSON 5: Act with integrity. The actions of great leaders are consistent with their words. Saying the right thing doesn’t mean much. Doing the right thing means everything when you want people to follow you passionately.

LEADERSHIP LESSON 6: Create a sense of urgency. Effective leaders create a sense of urgency by communicating with their team to set a goal and a workable timeline for achieving it. They hold team members accountable by checking their progress at regular intervals.

LEADERSHIP LESSON 7: Be passionate. When you gamble on your passion, the payoff can be greater than you ever imagined. It’s been said that if you do what you love, personal success will follow. But it could also be said that if you do what you love, the team will follow.

LEADERSHIP LESSON 8: Be persistent. Great leaders learn to cultivate a habit of persisting. Former President Calvin Coolidge said, “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful men with great talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

LEADERSHIP LESSON 9: Be a great communicator. Leadership is about influencing others, and this cannot be achieved without the ability to communicate.

LEADERSHIP LESSON 10: Ask the tough questions that need to be asked. Whatever your station in life, there will come a day when you’ll have to decide whether to speak out or forever hold your peace. When that day comes for you, remember that great results begin with great questions.

LEADERSHIP LESSON 11: Take risks. If need be, lay it all on the line to meet a challenge. American writer and lecturer Dale Carnegie once said, “Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes the furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The ’sure thing’ boat never gets far from shore.”

LEADERSHIP LESSON 12: Understand that not every battle is the end of the war. Too often leaders allow themselves to be sidetracked by other people’s prejudices and personal attacks. They focus too much of their attention on counterattacking those individuals and waste precious energy and time on irrelevant issues. Leaders who demonstrate grace under fire with a laserlike focus on their true mission are the ones who will achieve greatness one day.

LEADERSHIP LESSON 13: Energize your people. A great leader needs stamina and vitality to be physically energized, emotionally connected and mentally sharp. Instead of being the type of leader who sucks the energy away from others, resolve to be the kind who strives to bring passion and positive energy to the workplace every day.

LEADERSHIP LESSON 14: Be a great listener. The most effective leaders are the ones who take the time to listen not just to their team members’ words but to the priceless hidden meaning beneath them.

LEADERSHIP LESSON 15: Be persuasive. To move people toward a position they don’t currently hold, you must not only make a rational argument but also frame your ideas, approaches and solutions in ways that use basic human emotions to appeal to diverse groups of people.

LEADERSHIP LESSON 16: Know when to compromise and when to stand firm. Although it’s not possible to resolve every conflict through negotiation and concession, it is feasible in most cases. The tougher decision is when not to compromise, which often puts your livelihood, your reputation and the organization you lead at risk. Keep this in mind the next time you have to choose between seeking compromise and holding firm on a critical issue: If you can resolve the matter through give-and-take without sacrificing your core beliefs and integrity, find the middle ground. You’ll soon learn that compromise is the art of making everyone a winner.

LEADERSHIP LESSON 17: Be a problem solver. Guide each person on your team toward the goal of becoming a top-notch problem solver. Sure, it takes time and effort to teach problem-solving strategies to your people, but when you experience the payoff, you’ll know it was an investment worth making.

LEADERSHIP LESSON 18: Lead by walking around. Leaders who sequester themselves in the C-suite quickly become disconnected from their people. If you want to know how best to lead your organization, head down to the lunchroom, the shop floor or the purchasing office and ask the “stupid questions.” The chances are good that your people will be delighted to help you answer them.

LEADERSHIP LESSON 19: Be a transformational change agent. A successful change agent must start by developing a clear understanding of the organization’s past and present and then lead his or her team toward developing its own vision for the future. The most successful change agents help their team overcome the urge to retreat into their comfort zone and encourage people to move forward.

LEADERSHIP LESSON 20: Lead through experience and competence, not through title or position. For more than four decades, by pairing young people with established leaders, the White House Fellows Program has given hundreds of young Americans the tools, experiences and mentors necessary for them to become confident, well-prepared problem solvers and leaders.

Charles P. Garcia is a former White House Fellow, graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and Columbia Law School, and best-selling author. In 2006, he sold his investment banking firm, which had grown from three people to 60 offices in seven countries; Inc. magazine identified it as one of the top 10 fastest-growing privately held companies nationwide. Garcia was named entrepreneur of the year by three national organizations. He [EWP1] serves as chairman of the Board of Visitors of the U.S. Air Force Academy.

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[EWP1]Insert “Gen.”?

Having a strong online presence is no longer an option. It’s a business necessity.

Why do companies start blogging, send tweets or create Facebook pages? To build a buzz? To participate in online conversations? To accumulate friends, fans and followers?

Yes. And no. Read more

Will using this traditional metric lead you to riches or to rags? Maybe it’s time for a new look at the old return on investment.

by Sharan Jagpal

It’s no secret that the business world is slow to change. Sure, it has made the evolution from typewriters to computers for word processing and from snail mail to e-mail for written communication. But when it comes to the core of doing business, such as the methods and measurements used and the way departments are siloed, many 21st-century companies might as well be stuck in the Stone Age. Read more

In the midst of a changing industry, area specialists offer their views on ways to take new account of your business.

In recent years, more than ever before, accounting firms have adjusted to their changing marketplace. Once considered merely a stodgy group of “bean counters” reluctant to adapt, those in the industry are increasingly viewed as essential partners in complete business operations, providing an array of consulting services that extend well beyond P&L statements. Read more

Specialists from six area law firms offer valuable insight and free guidance for decision makers of busineses large and small.

In the entrepreneurial world, it’s often said that the difference between a successful business venture and a financial catastrophe lies in the advice of a trusted advisor. The problem is that there’s no shortage of people, qualified or not, willing to tell you how to run your business.

Indeed, finding the right resource isn’t easy, especially during troubling economic times, when the inclination is usually to look out for oneself first.

FirstMonday offers assistance. The editors have tapped some of the region’s leading law firms in an effort to deliver, at least for starters, information that can help you run your business just a bit smarter

Read more