MAGAZINE
The National Leadership Consortium 04
Creating Breakthrough Value Morehouse’s David Thomas makes a
12
What’s Going On? EW Walton challenges today’s corporate environment
16
Coffee With Keith Straight talk with Keith Wyche, the nation’s most revered
26
Where Can We Win? Shirley Davis and Chuck and Carly Vivian lead 30
difference in leaders and leading organizations
corporate thought leader
$4.44 US | Spring 2018
strategic senior business leaders in creating the NLC’s road map for success
www.LEAD360Summit.com
CONTENTS 4
CREATING BREAKTHROUGH VALUE
Visionary David Thomas proves that one can change the world
12
WHAT’S GOING ON?
16
COFFEE WITH KEITH
21
THE CONFIDENT LEADER
26
ABSTRACT: WHERE CAN WE WIN?
28
LEAD360 Magazine’s Executive of the year: Cindy kent
38
DEBORAH ELAM SHIFTS TO CALLING PLAYS
Has national politics impacted today’s business climate?
Thought leader Keith Wyche shares his views on our new reality
Defining and measuring confidence— you may be surprised
4
12
16
Strategies for real success in the new corporate environment
Mega leader creates her own playbook for c-suite clientele
SPECIAL EDITION ISSUE | SPRING 2018
21
26
38
For full video, go to www.bit.ly/WinAnyway
MAGAZINE CREATING BREAKTHROUGH VALUE Morehouse’s David Thomas makes a difference in leaders and leading organizations PAGE 4
WHAT’S GOING ON? EW Walton challenges today’s corporate environment PAGE 12
COFFEE WITH KEITH
WIN ANYWAY. Leading with courage
DEBORAH ELAM Corporate Playbook
Straight talk with Keith Wyche, the nation’s most revered corporate thought leader PAGE 16
WHERE CAN WE WIN?
Shirley Davis and Chuck and Carly Vivian lead 30 strategic senior business leaders in creating the NLC’s road map for success PAGE 26
$4.44 US | Spring 2018
www.LEAD360Summit.com
LETTER
EDITOR FROM THE
EW Walton
Thank you for doing something that may seem a bit
old-fashioned. Whether you are reading this magazine to improve your leadership skill set, tap into the who’s who of diverse business leadership, or simply comb through for spelling errors, this ten minutes is your time to grow. And that’s what the team at LEAD360 Magazine wants you to do. In a time when information is instant, we are working to create a bold new publication for business leaders that improves strategic business solutions, encourages collaboration of people and ideas across industries, and highlights those who are winning against growing odds. The magazine focuses on business leaders from many sectors. Whether you are a middle- or senior-level Fortune 500 corporate executive, micro-corporation leader, public sector leader, or education leader, you will find value in the LEAD360 approach. The “360” asserts that leaders have more than a set of competencies to cultivate. To create a truly meaningful executive life, we must also grow our connections, community, and consciousness at work, at home, and in the world. Total well-being benefits us all and is fundamental to the golden thread of this magazine, everything we do, and everything we offer you, including the summits and academy. LEAD360 Magazine asks the tough business questions and addresses the unspoken truths in a professional yet fearless manner. And although analyzing and shar-
“
In a time when information is instant, we are working to create a bold new publication for business leaders.
”
ing descriptions can be useful, the leaders, academicians, and writers who contribute to this publication will focus more on finding and delivering solutions. Please enjoy this premier edition of the magazine we envision bringing to you for years to come. We are confident that you will find something of value in our innovative approach to enhancing strategic business leadership! EW Walton, PhD, MBA
DEDICATION This inaugural issue is dedicated to my family: my wife, Dr. Chanda Moseley Walton; and our kids, Matthew, Maya, and Maxwell. My inspiration comes from my business mentors, Ruth Ann Walton (my mom), the late Matthew Walton (my dad), Dr. Shirley Davis, Keith Wyche, Thomas Dortch, and Dr. Edward Brown.
Hundreds of millions of customers benefit from our global team of builders Amazon is a company of pioneers who bring varying backgrounds, ideas, and points of view to inventing on behalf of our customers. LEARN MORE AT AMAZON.COM/DIVERSIT Y Amazon is an Equal Opportunity Employer
CREATING
BREAKTHROUGH
VALUE EW Walton, PhD, MBA
G rowing up in Kansas City during the Civil Rights Movement,
Dr. David A. Thomas was inspired to change the world. “I saw lawyers and preachers as the leaders of change, but I thought I was too much of a sinner to go the preacher route,” Thomas laughs. “So I decided to become a lawyer.” With this goal in mind, Thomas attended Yale University but soon changed the focus of his studies from law to organizational behavior. At age 22, he was hired by a community-based program in New York that trained kids to be peer counselors for at-risk youth. Applying his understanding of organization, leadership, and change, Thomas transformed the once-floundering outreach into a thriving organization that helped changed lives.
Photography by James Kegley
LEAD360 Magazine | page 4
The successful application of organizational behavioral theory energized Thomas and fed his desire to use his knowledge to help others. “I realized that what I really loved was moving from practice to theory to educating people,” he says. “I saw what we did different and conveyed that to other people so they could try to make a difference in their work.” For more than thirty years, Thomas has been going out into the world, studying a phenomenon, breaking it down so people can understand it, and then teaching others the principles so they can transform their lives or their organizations.
Blazing Trails
Throughout his prestigious career, Thomas’s work has influenced hundreds of thousands of lives and helped shape countless businesses and organizations. Thomas was a professor at the Wharton School of Finance before joining the faculty at Harvard in 1990, eventually serving as faculty chair for Harvard Business School’s Executive Education Program. Thomas authored two books – Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America and Leading for Equity: The Pursuit of Excellence in Montgomery County – and more than 60 case studies and articles for leading academic journals and practitioner publications. Thomas and his work have received many awards, including the Executive50 Beacon Award (currently the NLC’s Executive of the Year Award), which is given annually to a visionary leader who exhibits continued and dedicated commitment to leadership development in a truly inclusive fashion.
A Conscious Choice
Later, as Dean and William R. Berkley Chair of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, Thomas continued to apply the very business principles he has defined and honed over the years.
“I [was] trying to build a diverse student body and a diverse staff and turn it into one of the most outstanding business schools in the world,” he says. Thomas returned to Harvard after five years, leaving McDonough with an increased number of faculty and staff of color, newly launched research initiatives, and an impressive boost in funds. Now, appointed Morehouse College’s twelfth president this past October, Thomas begins a new era of visionary leadership. Behind all the accolades and accomplishments remains the idealist who decided long ago to change the world. And change it, he has. “There has been tremendous progress made for opening up the possibilities for executives of color in general, but there is a significant amount of work that remains to be done,” Thomas says. “One of the things that helped is that there were leading executives who were the trailblazers, who were courageous in terms of not forgetting to pull people with them and conscious of the need to create opportunities. It’s important to this generation—to the folks who are represented in organizations, such as the NLC—that they evaluate their commitments to make a difference to others as well as themselves. That consciousness will be key in terms of whether or not we continue to make progress.”
About Thomas’S Groundbreaking Work
Published in 1999, Breaking Through earned the George R. Terry Award from the Academy of Management for the most outstanding contribution to the advancement of management knowledge.
He and co-author John J. Gabarro examined six years of data exploring the promotion and career experiences of 54 ethnic minority and White executives and managers from three companies. Their analysis addressed topics that were well known but rarely closely scrutinized. They posited that “American companies may tout their equal opportunity initiatives, but with 95 percent of all executive of all executive-level positions in the United States held by white males, most of these programs clearly fall far short of their goals when it comes to diversifying their management.” However, according to their analysis, “Even in the face of such overwhelming odds, some minority executives do break through to the highest leadership roles.” The onus, they suggest, lies with both the company and the individual. While the companies featured in the book all took different approaches to their diversity programs, each had some level of success. The fundamental ingredients for instituting effective programs include making a definitive commitment, choosing a program that fits the company culture, and soliciting input from all the organization’s stakeholders, including representatives from diverse groups. Those professionals who exhibited the most success in breaking through to the upper ranks all demonstrated a few key common characteristics: Focusing on critical competencies, learning, and broadening their experience base (personal value) Establishing a reputation for integrity and contributing significant impact to the business (organizational value) Investing time and effort in relationships, including a distinct portfolio of mentors and sponsors (interpersonal value) These core attributes, as identified in Breaking Through, are some primary areas of focus of [the NLC] and its wide curricula of executive development programs. “No other leader in the field of executive leadership development better exemplifies the mission and vision of [the NLC],” says EW Walton, president and CEO. “Dr. Thomas’s innovative work directly informs our organization’s focus on helping professionals enhance their corporate athleticism through peer mentoring, executive-level programming, and networking opportunities.”
LEAD360 Magazine | page 5
3M Congratulates Cindy Kent on becoming LEAD360 Magazine’s Executive of the Year 2018
Cindy Kent
President & General Manager 3M Infection and Prevention Division
Authentic. Visionary. Inspirational.
Behind These GreaT Walls
You’ll Join the Company of Great Minds
GeorGetown University’s McDonoUGh school of BUsiness offers master’s degree programs in business and leadership that match your schedule — daytime, evening, or weekends. study on our campus in washington, D.c., or in a series of intensive modules around the world. what truly distinguishes Georgetown’s McDonough school of Business are the people you will meet. our world-renowned faculty members are committed to an exceptional educational experience, and our students bring rich and varied backgrounds to every class. if you understand the rewards of leadership and the value of knowledge, you will know why Georgetown Means Business.
For more information, visit GeorgetownMeansBusiness.com
Georgetown Means Business
OuR puRpOSE OuR MISSION
In a business environment growing ever more competitive, complex, and polarized, we create programming that devises realistic blueprints of success for leaders of color.
FOR ORGANIZATIONS
The NLC exists out of the perpetual LEAD360
need to attract, develop, and illuminate a pipeline of value-adding senior business leaders of color.
FOR OuR COMMuNITY OF LEADERS
Our touchpoints include the LEAD360 Summit, the Thought Leader Think Tank, LEAD360 Magazine, executive mentoring, and a host of customized programming.
MICHELLE GAuLDING, MBA Vice president Regional Sales, Medtronic “The leadership consortium has been an amazing resource. The exposure to talented, successful, and capable leaders willing to invest in personal and professional networking, development, and training is a tremendous resource. As is often said, ‘Iron sharpens iron.’ I’m a better leader because of my engagement with LEAD360.”
To view video, click here.
OuR STORY It started with three individual contributors who quickly realized that the road to senior management was neither linear or level. As each of us attained increasing responsibilities, success became more complicated and challenging. We soon recognized that we must be able to master both the cultural politics and the profits in a way that is unique to Black senior leaders. Leaders of color require executive development that courageously addresses the cultural component of advancement while exposing us to the highest level of competency enhancement. By building on competence, connectivity, and a vibrant community of leaders, we all made it to the vicepresidential ranks. Further, we have been able to help others to elevate their roles and effectiveness.
OuR DIFFERENCE Many highly regarded academies and organizations do a superb job offering conferences and career fairs. However, we at LEAD360 know this general approach results in only partial solutions for the very real challenges experienced by leaders of color. We offer a year-round cache of engagements (LEAD360 CONNECTIONS) that provide customized and actionable business strategies. Further, we provide peer mentors and coaches to help developing leaders walk through the many difficult, sometimes obscure, pathways of career advancement. This holistic process offers our leaders fresh perspective, increased confidence, and greater strides. Consequently, these leaders strengthen their organizations’ greatest resource: its people. In addition, we add value to corporations through continuously cultivating a leadership bench that fuels a pipeline of senior leaders across industries. This bench can be called upon—and relied upon—to advise an organization’s executives and business leaders. We encourage and invite corporations to partner with us and enroll their leaders as members of LEAD360. page 1
LEAD360 Magazine | page 9
THE LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM CREATING AN ECOSYSTEM OF EXCELLENCE THE LEAD360 SUMMIT
The Lead360 Summit offers a multi-faceted experience that addresses the challenges and competencies of middle-management leaders who seek the necessary skill sets to excel in their current role as well as position themselves for executive-level success. Participants are selected by their companies in recognition of their current performance and future aspirations.
LEAD360MAGAZINE
Our magazine addresses key leadership issues and highlights top leaders and organizations. The publication features awesome leaders such as Dr. David A. Thomas, president, of Morehouse College, former professor at Harvard Business School and former dean of Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business; Cindy Kent, president at 3M; Keith Wyche, C-suite leader and world-renowned author; Deborah Elam, retired from GE and current president and CEO of Corporate Playbook; and Quentin Roach, senior vice president and CPO, Merck. This publication is distributed to the ERGs of Fortune 500 Companies.
THE MENTORSHIP PROGRAM
Mentoring sessions are included with organizational partnership and membership. The personalized assessments included in these sessions promote business expertise, acumen, and confidence and elevate executive leadership skills at all levels.
OUR YEAR-LONG CONNECTION
To stay connected, we hold regional roundtables, Thought Leader Think Tanks, and webinars essential for leaders in today’s business environment. These engagements serve to keep executives on task regarding their Executive Development Plan and connect them with well-regarded executives in a virtual setting. Partnership recognition appears at each function and in each publication throughout the year.
THE MASTER CLASS
Held on the campuses of our Ivy League and top-tier university partners, these intense two-day sessions include topics such as Change Management, Vision Casting, Executive Communication, General Management for Emerging Leaders, Profit and Loss Management, and other realworld subjects that encourage further success for both the individual participant and the organization.
Why GSK ? BECAUSE WE LIVE AND BREATHE OUR VALUES What are you looking for? A company that sees what you can do, not who you are? An inclusive culture that welcomes different perspectives, experiences, and styles? A chance to add your ideas to a rich diversity of thinking? An opportunity to make a difference? Wouldn’t it be great if a company could answer all those questions for you. And, ask you to answer some of the biggest questions around like, what’s the future of healthcare? What does a truly global business look like? And how do you help millions of people worldwide to do more, feel better and live longer?
www.gsk.com/careers Do more, feel better, live longer
WHAT’s
GOING on? EW Walton, PhD, MBA
B
y many accounts, leaders of color have performed outstanding achievements despite incredibly challenging odds. Pioneers such as Sheila Johnson, Dr. Sybil Collins Mobley, and Janice Bryant Howroyd have each created diverse foundations upon which those like them might attain, and enjoy, enormous success. Similarly, the emergence of corporate athletes like Ursula Burns, Rosalind Brewer, Ken Frazier, Don Thompson, and Ken Chenault serves as a sign that our next wave of leadership excellence would also be recognized and rewarded. Oh, and let’s not forget that the United States of America elected one Barack Obama to serve in the ultimate executive office.
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During this historic time, our leaders should be at peak levels of success and esteem. However, the drastic reduction of those at the c-suite, e-suite, and middlemanagement levels is producing a soundtrack of uncertainty, causing many to ask Marvin Gaye’s question of the 1970s, “What’s Going On?”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR As a marketing executive and thought leader, Dr. EW Walton is dedicated to creating an ecosystem of professional and personal development for today’s business leaders. Greatly inspired by the work of John H. Johnson and Earl Graves, he aims to impact the business community through LEAD360 Magazine. Dr. Walton received a bachelor’s degree from Central State University, a master of business administration from the University of Toledo, a doctorate from The Pennsylvania State University, and an executive leadership certificate from Wharton.
In late 2016, the National Leadership Consortium held a highly insightful roundtable meeting near Atlanta, Georgia, made up of African American middle and senior corporate leaders. We presented some cultural observations on US business leaders along with data from articles published by Fortune, Black Enterprise, and the Harvard Business Review. In addition, we brought in Harvard Business School graduate and former CEO Joe McGhee to lead a candid, courageous, and solution-based discussion to determine what is going on. The group agreed that the success of Black corporate leaders in today’s environment is attenuated by the following factors:
Absence of an Effective Leadership Support Community
Leading from the middle or top of large corporations can be a lonely existence for leaders of color, mainly because the pathway to perceived value and political agility becomes less obvious. So, what is the key ingredient to
executive role attainment? The answer may be found in the research. Dr. David Thomas, former dean of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, revealed timely and groundbreaking research in his HBR article “Race Matters: The Truth about Mentoring Minorities.” The researchers concluded that diverse leaders who reach the highest corporate levels share one characteristic: a strong corporate community. Thomas specifies that members of that community must include mentors and corporate sponsors. He pointed out, however, that those who merely receive instructional mentoring tend to plateau in the middle-management zone. Those who have deeper developmental relationships with their sponsors go farther up the ladder than those who do not. This deeper relationship means that the sponsor takes a courageous and public position of support for the mentee. In fact, Thomas calls for the sponsor to take on the mentee as a protégé.
If we take the research a step further, we might extrapolate that an entire ecosystem of support will even further advance and sustain an upward career trajectory.
An Unplanned Recession Industries that had begun to show pre-recession growth for diverse leaders appear to have abandoned the effort to increase minority representation at the middle-management levels. In the pharmaceutical industry, for example, the recession was to blame for the acceleration of mergers and acquisitions. One positive result was that more smaller companies began cropping up, thus offering great opportunities for senior leaders to take part in running these companies from the top. The reality is that those individuals who were tapped by venture-capitalist firms tended to hire only their friends. Only on rare occasions did those boards and executive and leadership teams display any Black representation.
LEAD360 Magazine | page 13
ing been only 15 CEOs of color in Increasing Microaggressions in the top 500 revenue-generating companies, with less than five tothe Workplace day. Declining in a related fashion Yes, we are calling it out. The new polarizing political environment has successfully penetrated the safe harbor of the corporate meeting room, although it wasn’t a very long distance from the water cooler to the conference table. Beyond the Atlanta roundtable, we spoke with leaders throughout the country and across industries. With notable consistency, leaders revealed some of the most unnerving stories of passive and blatant disrespect, which non-Black counterparts do not experience.
Similarly, talent-management and succession-planning decisions are becoming increasingly contentious when addressing the lack of cultural diversity at higher levels. Thus, fewer opportunities exist that stray from inner-circle or relationship hires, which results in homogenous leadership teams with respect to culture, gender, and intellect.
Scarcity of True Profit-and-Loss Opportunities Black leaders accounted for less than 5% of those serving on executive teams within the Fortune 100, as per the 2014 Corporate Diversity Survey conducted by US Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey. Similarly, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics noted in its 2015 report Labor Force Characteristics by Race and Ethnicity that Blacks make up less than 7% of all managerial jobs across industries. Fortune reports there hav-
LEAD360 Magazine | page 14
is the intentional call for more diverse e-suite and middle managers. The result is less opportunity for such middle managers to eventually advance to fill executive-level roles.
Muted courage among Black senior leaders As noted previously in the work of Dr. Thomas, strong mentors and sponsors are important to break the concrete code to greater responsibility. The unspoken truth is that some leaders are isolated in their positions such that they are unable or unwilling to help those who abide within their own culture. Stefanie K. Johnson and David R. Hekman pointed out in their 2016 HBR article “Women and Minorities are Penalized for Promoting Diversity” that corporate leaders who support diversity tend to pay a penance for their efforts. We have observed that some senior leaders believe that helping another Black leader should be done “underground” or “strategically.” At the same time, people of other cultures sponsoring a highly-qualified candidate for promotion—regardless of race— put on a campaign that resembles that of a host school for a Heisman Trophy candidate. The result is that the candidate with the boldest campaign, along with the requisite support, gets the job. So, what does this phenomenon suggest for the selection of your campaign manager?
How do we win? One thing I have noticed is that a great deal of people focus their aim on defining the issue in a clear and systematic manner. They spend countless hours and dollars defining the problem, with much less effort going toward creating a solution. The principle reason is that it’s harder to solve a problem than to bellyache about it. However, the NLC chooses to focus on the solutions, or the “win.”
Strategy 1:
Establish a 360-degree support system.
As discussed in the Harvard article, the one key differentiator is your internal network. Similarly, having a community that cares about your success, development, and emotional well-being creates the balance that you need to enjoy your corporate journey. And the research shows that we tend to be great at the things we enjoy doing. A broad network avails you of opportunities that keep you aware of your commercial value—and that is principally why the NLC exists. We lead a year-long series of innovative and purposeful leadership events. As a result, you connect with a high-level group of leaders across industries to enhance your career, community, and legacy.
Strategy 2:
Take charge of your leadership development – invest in yourself.
Many of us give away our power and control much too easily. This dependent-variable mindset makes us say to ourselves: “I will participate only if someone pays for it.” Or, “If they want me to get better, it will be a part of my development.” The reality is (1) you must have the courage to ask your organization to support your training if you want something different; (2) there are few slots for that upper 5%, so if you are one of the 95% of us, you must determine whether you are willing to procure executive development on your own; and (3) if you are building your skill set to compete in the marketplace (internal or external), now is the time to build those skills and your network. One goal of the NLC is to build a consortium of high-quality partnerships. We’ve formed partnerships with organizations such as Cornell University, Cogency Group, Georgetown University, Bates Communications, and a growing list of platinum establishments. Our consortium approach avails best-business leadership training that allows you to make the final decision on your development.
Strategy 3:
Practice “zealous collaboration” – create your tribe.
We find that those who are willing to give and partner up have more success. To make full use of the vast amount of talent within our culture, we must work harder
to trust. Recall the community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before 1921, where we created an ecosystem of excellence, prosperity, and contentment. Think of those like Dr. William Pickard, CEO of Global Automotive Alliance, who built a formidable “tribe” of entrepreneurs, which resulted in his organization exceeding one billion dollars in revenues. Currently, Dr. Pickard’s tribe identifies additional businesses and invests in those that could be most profitable. Further, his team of peers serves as a “red team” for their aggregate business results, taking note of their actions, pointing out mistakes and successes, and forging ahead with new knowledge. Through collaboration they hunt, learn, and prosper. We are of the same belief that “yes, we can” collaborate with those who are most talented, resourced, hardworking, and intrinsically secure. While establishing a base tribe isessential to personal 360-degree leadership, interdependence across cultures is extremely important as well. Again, the NLC is all about partnership, working to become one of your most valuable resources for truly meaningful collaborations. If you ask our participants, many have formed lasting relationships and peer mentorships that resulted in career enhancements and business contracts. At times, the value has simply been the retention of sanity within a tumultuous situation.
Strategy 4:
Choose a workplace where being Black is a good thing.
This strategy is perhaps the most difficult to navigate, mainly because we usually engage
you at a point where you are successful at your current organization. However, for the 5% of you who are open to internal or external change, it is very important to do your research. Many of us have jumped at a role or opportunity for the numbers or the “growth,” only to have a less than optimal experience. First, look at the board of directors to see if it puts its money where its mind is. Don’t just review the website; check the financial reports to understand how the company invests and partners. Next, review the senior management team. A slate with no women or minorities is indicative of how far you will go without a significant fight. Last, your tribe may be able to inform you of the nuances of the organizational culture.
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Summary As you can see, winning in senior leadership begins with a thorough understanding of what’s really going on. However, the desired result comes with activation of the direct strategies needed to maximize your resources and skill sets. To that end, the NLC executes a series of summits, roundtables, and think tanks. The goals are (1) to grow a slate of uber-qualified diverse senior leaders for organizations to advantage, and (2) to become the ultimate support system for an expanding community of elite middle managers and senior leaders. Here you can find strong, downto-earth, high-quality leaders—leaders with the courage to support, partner, and move higher with all cultures, including ours. As we continue to work with the world’s most dedicated senior leaders, the NLC will bring forth a growing cache of innovative and meaningful engagements. These premium educational events will supply an increasing pipeline of formidable business leaders and create measurable growth for individuals, organizations, and communities.
COFFEE
WITH
KEITH by Nan Holley
Lead360 Magazine is honored to sit down with Mr. Keith Wyche for a cup of virtual coffee with a side of reality. We named this article based on Keith’s habit of making his executive presence available to all levels of his staff. Here, Mr. Wyche takes the time to share his thoughts on leadership and organizations. He communicates his vision for both to every individual in a clear and consistent fashion. We expected nothing less from our interview with Keith. And, of course, he delivered. No-nonsense executive, renowned author, and sought-after lecturer—thought leader Keith Wyche’s career path stands proudly as evidence of his skillful application of garnered knowledge and insight. With more than 30 years of experience in the corporate arena at companies such as Cub Foods, AT&T, IBM, and Pitney Bowes, Keith has successfully broken the code into the c-suite. He honors Lead360 by sharing some valuable thoughts for our next generation of leaders as he provides some unspoken rules and realities that all minority leaders need to know to take their career to the next level. Specifically, we explore with Keith this timely question: Undervalued, underestimated, and marginalized — how can future Black leaders attain and retain their position in the csuite? The National Leadership Consortium appreciatively takes this opportunity to sit down to coffee with Keith.
Lead360: What events occurred between the time you wrote Good is Not Enough and Corner Office Rules? Keith Wyche: What made me write Corner Office Rules came from a different motivation. Good is Not Enough was really written for that entry-level, new[ly]-enrolled executive, maybe five to six years in corporate America. What I found later was when I saw folks trying to move from middle management to senior management, our numbers were falling off. So much of it was because we, meaning African American executives, weren’t really understanding how the rules change the higher you [get] in an organization. Good is Not Enough could probably take you from a new job to mid-manager, but if you really want to crack senior VP and those higher roles, [you] really need to understand that the rules change at that level. I’ve seen too many of us failing because we didn’t grasp the new realities. Has the climate changed to allow minorities to move into the higher-level roles? The rules have changed a bit. The goalpost has moved. Too often we are still undervalued, underestimated, and marginalized relative to our contribution, so the struggle continues. If you look at the realities now, it’s even more so. There are probably fewer African American CEOs than there were in 2008 when I wrote the book, so the struggle continues. Over those years, I’ve done some consulting [for] and I’ve worked with corporations who were wellintentioned, wanting to value and grow diversity and inclusion.
I was a little disappointed to find that some didn’t have the appetite for what they really needed to do. It was more of a lip service. At the end of the day, we need to carry forth and go on. Those who are in positions of influence, power, and persuasion need to leverage that. How does one leverage that voice? What are some best practices that you’ve learned over the years, being in some of those roles of influence, power, and persuasion? I’ll go back to a time when I served on a board and we were looking for some key roles to fill. I raised the question, “Do we have a diverse slate of candidates?” And it was like, “What do you mean?” And I said, “Everyone on this slate is someone that everyone in this room recommended, and so if we only go on who we know, it’s a finite pool. Let’s make sure we look at a diverse slate of candidates. We are going to hire the best person, but if we look at a diverse slate of candidates, we are opening up that pool from which we are fishing.” It was eye opening. So, to this day, I still look and push that: Let’s make sure that when we are looking at promotions and jobs we are looking at everybody and we present a diverse slate. I’m involved in the succession planning process at my current company. What do you see as the wins and the drawbacks for succession planning? I’m a big proponent of succession planning. There are a few challenges to it. Number one: There is no one in the room representing you or wearing your t-shirt. It’s just a process that you are not a part of in that room. I’ve done one [ses-
sion] recently where I said, “Hey, let’s look at the slate of candidates that we said were high potentials. Does anything look strange about that slate?” You have to have the courage when you get in that seat. Too often we get invited to the seat, and to me, when you get there, you’ve got to say something — don’t just be happy to be in the seat, which happens too often. You raise the question, and you do it respectfully and out of a sense of transparency. You can say, “Hey, that slate looks interesting, but when you look at the low performers, what do you notice about that?” Don’t be afraid to have that voice. What do you see as the biggest challenge to African Americans in senior leadership? We are still undervalued, underestimated, and marginalized. It goes from our former president down. To me, that was very eye opening. You have the most powerful man in the free world, [in] this day, being in that [same] situation. We will always have the “black tax” [of] having to do twice as much. It’s hard for me because we are in a season, in my mind, where diversity and inclusion are no longer en vogue or are being looked at differently — where other cultures can check that box, and if we are not careful, we get left out of that box. What are some of the most relevant competencies that senior leaders should have but don’t? First, a compassion for people. I, for instance, have 30,000 people reporting to me in my current role. I can’t get anything done without compassion around people — not only for who they are but for their development and growth. That to
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me is number one. Secondly, you have to be someone who can develop a vision and create followership. It’s one thing to have the title, and it’s another to be in the role effectively. Whatever the initiative is, I try to get people rallied around it at the seat where they sit in that vision. It’s about connecting the dots. The guy bagging groceries in my grocery store sees where he connects to the overall vision of where we are trying to go. That’s something a lot of leaders don’t do. If you had to add one more “corner office rule” to fit into today’s political environment, what would it be? It would be in knowing that everyone wearing the same jersey isn’t on the same team. In tight economic times or in times of uncertainty in organizations, some people tend to go into their silos and go into a “what’s best for me” mode as opposed to [considering] what’s good for the organization. Not that I want people paranoid while walking around, but you have to be aware that there are times where everyone that has on the same jersey ain’t on the same team. What can we do to combat that? You need to make sure that you are someone that is always adding value and delivering [it] both for the overall good of the team and for the overall organization. Companies are still looking for those who are adding value. The better you are at doing that and articulating and defining what that value is, they will always find a spot for you on the team. It’s been some time since you wrote Good is Not Enough and
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Corner Office Rules. What epiphanies would you change or add since you wrote those books? This thought came after I wrote those two books: Generally, we view diversity and inclusion from a company perspective, as like the “secret sauce.” D & I initiatives are great, but they don’t go far enough. D & I mean nothing without EO. Diversity says I get invited to the party; inclusion says I get a seat at the table. But unless there is EO — equal opportunity for promotion and equal opportunity for advancement — then I come to the party hungry, and I leave hungry. If I don’t get that equal opportunity, then I am still left wanting. That’s where I’ve seen a lot of D & I efforts stop—whereby they say, you’re in the room, you’ve got a seat at the table, you should be happy. If you don’t have D & I plus EO, then one might get a hotdog on his plate and another person, filet mignon. How do aspiring Black leaders grasp the big picture when they are stuck in a D & I culture and don’t have the opportunity for the big-picture vantage point? A lot of that is on us. There is a lot of information out there to be retrieved from cyberspace on company websites. If no one is feeding you, you can feed yourself. You’ve got to be continuous learners and have intellectual curiosity. [I] may work in one phase of the company, [but] I owe it to myself, particularly if I am looking at the big picture in terms of my career [and] my growth, to say, “Although I am in marketing or finance, I have to seek info on what is happening in the industry and what is happening in the company.” Those are some of the big-picture things that you have to keep in mind. For example,
there was an article just today in USA Today that was talking about how the grocery store industry is changing. If I’m someone who is working strictly in grocery retail, I’ve got to read those tea leaves. I’ve got to see that brick-and-mortar stores aren’t necessarily where this industry is growing. There’s online this and online that, so it may change where I work in my company. The point is, you can’t look at your world through your small lens. This is extremely important when you are looking at a new role. The worst thing you can do is get a great job at a horrible company. Examples [are] present-day Sears, and several years ago, Blockbuster Video, who no one thought was going anywhere. You have to have a bigger picture about what is going on in the world. Expand your lens. Fill in the blank: “If you are_________________, then you will end up _____________.” What advice do you have for those aspiring to senior leadership? If you are not true to yourself and your purpose, then you will end up serving as someone else’s puppet. Please explain. We are all put here for a purpose. For me, life became fulfilling once I found out what that [purpose] was. You have to stay true to who you are and your core beliefs and your purpose in life. That [truth] may cause you to say no to certain things and certain opportunities, and yes to others. But don’t disregard your purpose and your passion for a paycheck or a title. Don’t lose who you are in your purpose because, at the end of the day, the job won’t love you back. It’s a tool and can be part of your purpose. I’ve seen so many people — par-
ticularly in my generation — who are the worst, with the big house and material things. That is not what it is really about. It’s about helping that next generation. It’s about helping others. The measure of true success is helping other people become successful. What two things — one internal and one external — need to take place for African Americans to begin to win by 2020? Internal: We’ve got to have a stronger commitment to education across the whole socioeconomic sphere. We as a culture have gotten away from that. My parents may not have given me everything, but they said, “Get that education, and once you get it, they can’t take it away from you.” We have morphed into a consciousness that education doesn’t necessarily hold the value that it used to in our community. I see it when I talk to teachers, principals, and the like. Our community is more concerned with why you took their child’s cell phone rather than having a discussion about missing homework. We’ve got to commit ourselves to education and continuous learning. We’ve got to recommit and refocus on financial literacy and financial stewardship. We’ve got to stop being the world’s biggest consumers and become better stewards of our money — be more concerned about what’s in our heads and less concerned about what’s on our feet. We’ve got to look at entrepreneurship as [a] means to uplift our people. As long as we are only looking for a job, very few of us will get wealth from the job. Entrepreneurship is not for everyone, but for those that it is for, it needs to be embraced. External: Companies and organizations need to be truly committed
to diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunity, and we have to have an honest dialogue about microinequities that are really out there. In this world, to be successful, you’ve got to manage your performance, your exposure, and your perception since we know [there are] people who have preconceived ideas of who you are based on your name or your background. We need to have that honest conversation, and I know this country has never had an honest conversation about these types of things. Until we do, we are always going to have what we have. Why do you think that is? On one hand, no one wants to acknowledge guilt on either side, so for me to have that conversation there should be some acknowledgment of culpability on both sides. Al Sharpton [said], “If I come off this stage and kick your chair and you fall down, that’s on me. If I come back a week later and you are still lying there, that’s on you.” [And in] etiquette, the way you show up at a job interview and the way you show up at a club should be two different looks. If I cannot distinguish between the two, then there is a problem. Do you have any other thoughts that we didn’t discuss today that you feel are significant for the next generation? They are the brightest generation in history, and they were raised with technology at their fingertips. My only fear — somewhere I feel that I may have failed — is that we were so eager to give them the opportunities and the stuff that maybe we forgot to give them the struggle. A lesson to other parents is that we can provide the stuff, but don’t forget the struggle.
ABOUT KEITH
Keith Wyche has a new career advice book, Swag is Not Enough, co-written with daughter Alana Wyche.
MEET LEAD360’s BRAND STRATEGIST
Nick F. Nelson is helping NLC WIN ANYWAY. Nick is an awardwinning brand strategist, creative executive, and CEO of BRANDPRENUER, the Southeast’s premiere brand strategy, development and digital storytelling firm. BRANDPRENUER specializes in helping people, products, and organizations GET NOTICED by those who matter most to their brand through digital content, social media, events, publicity and influencer relations. Nelson is an innovative force in brand marketing and throughout his decade-long career has produced targeted marketing and communications strategies for leading consumer products, and entertainment brands, most notable include Disney, General Mills, HBO, NBC, STARZ, Warner Bros. Pictures, and Walmart.
THE CONFIDENT LEADER It Isn’t About
SELF-CONFIDENCE by Michael Seitchik, Director of Research and Assessment and Scott Weighart, Director of Learning and Development
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What is Confidence in Leadership?
Lisa is a high-potential leader on the fast track who says she needs to work on her self-confidence. At the same time, she’s highly regarded for her expertise and insights. Senior leaders routinely invite her to meetings. Yet, in her own mind, she doesn’t belong. “I don’t have as much experience as others in the room, and I’m not sure what to say.” But, when others are asked how they view Lisa, people — including her bosses — say she’s not only competent but highly confident. Ben is a vice president of a $15 billion food company, and he’s leading a major change initiative. Like Lisa, he isn’t exactly sure why senior leadership chose him, though he’s working hard to do an excellent job. “I feel like the senior leaders already have the answers, so I lack the confidence to speak up,” says Ben. Yet the senior team is giving him high marks for his thoughtful ideas and his ownership of the project. Many leaders are plagued by an inner voice that questions whether they feel the confidence to meet challenges head on. However, new research suggests that others may not notice when our self-confidence
flags. What they in fact are evaluating is what they see — behaviors we exhibit — and these behaviors can suggest to them that we have a healthy kind of confidence. They are typically unaware of how we feel inside. And when it comes to getting things done, their perceptions are a lot more relevant than how certain we feel inside. Much has been written about confidence, and most of it focuses on feelings of self-efficacy. We wonder: “Am I capable? Can I do this? What if I fail?” Amy Cuddy, author of Presence, has said that to be successful it’s important to “focus less on the impression you’re making on others and more on the impression you’re making on yourself.” But is this true when it comes to leadership? After three years of coaching and guiding senior leaders using a new, science-based assessment and model of executive presence, we’ve found that there’s much more to confidence than that. Data from more than 1,000 highpotential and senior leaders show that many who report feeling less than highly confident are still viewed as very confident and highly effective. In other words, leaders may harbor self-doubt, but when we measure how others see them,
through a set of research-based behaviors, we find those leaders are often judged quite favorably. People see them as risk takers, decision makers, and people who work in a reasonable and thoughtful way to move things forward.
The Double-Edged Sword of Confidence
Confidence is one of the 15 qualities of presence, defined as “the ability to engage, align, inspire, and move people to act.” In mature leadership, it’s “being selfassured in decision making and action; ready to accept the risk and responsibility for taking timely action.” The Bates ExPI measures how the leader “shows up” in the eyes of others through observable behavior. What we can safely say is that while it’s nice to feel a sense of confidence, many people don’t always feel it, and that’s okay, at least when you’re talking about getting the right things done. A high level of self-confidence doesn’t necessarily mean others evaluate us as leaders who are capable, ready, and high performing. If you are highly confident, you may not see the point of getting input from others. Why bother if you’re sure that you’re right? The negative im-
Atlanta, Ga | April 20-21, 2018 www.LEAD360Summit.com
ut confidence, and most of -efficacy. We wonder: “Am I hat if I fail?” Amy Cuddy, author of e successfulWe it’s important to “focus this data gathered e making on others and more on through g on yourself.” But is this truethe when Bates
ExPI, a multi-rater g and guiding senior leaders using measures survey that ment and model of executive of leadhere’s muchperceptions more to confidence ers’ executive presence. The high-potential and senior leadersBates feeling less than highly confident Model of Executive dent and highly effective. In other elf-doubt, but when we measureis based Presence on empirical studies and research in many disciplines, including leadership and management, comad360summit.com | April 20-21, 2018 munication theory, Atlanta, Georgia social action theory, psychology, and philosophy and ethics.
Dimensions
We gathered this data through the Bates ExPI, a multi-rater survey that measures perceptions of leaders’ executive presence. The Bates Model of Executive Presence is based on empirical studies and research in many disciplines, including leadership and management, communication theory, social action theory, psychology, and philosophy and ethics.
Facets of Behavior
of how we feel inside. And when it e, their perceptions are a lot more e feel inside.
Character
Substance
Style
Qualities that are fundamental to the leader as a person, to his/her identity, and give us reason to trust him/her.
Cultivated qualities of mature leadership that inspire commitment, inform action, and lead to above-and-beyond effort.
Overt, skill-based patterns of communicative leadership that build motivation and that shape and sustain performance.
Authenticity
Practical Wisdom
Appearance
The quality of being real, genuine, transparent, and sincere in one’s relations and interactions with others.
Highly honed qualities of insight and judgment that get to the heart of issues and produce prudent decisions.
Looks and acts like an able executive, adapts dress and demeanor to the situation, and handles social situations with tact.
Integrity
Confidence
Intentionality
Acting with fidelity to one’s values and beliefs, living up to high standards of morality, veracity, and promise keeping.
Self-assured in decisionmaking and action; ready to accept the risk and responsibility for taking timely action.
Clarifies direction and keeps actions aligned and on track, all without stifling dissent or neglecting needs to adjust course.
Concern
Composure
Inclusiveness
Demonstrating interest in others, encouraging adaptive development, and promoting a healthy sustainable culture.
Steady in a crisis, able to calm and focus others, and to bring objectivity and perspective to critical decisions.
Actively involves others, welcomes diverse points of view, encourages ownership in mission, and empowers initiative.
Restraint
Resonance
Interactivity
A calm disposition, characterized by reasonableness, and by avoidance of emotional extremes or impulsiveness.
Connecting with others; attentive, attuned, and responsive to feelings, motivations, and thoughts; deepens alignment.
Promotes an interpersonal style of dialog and timely exchange of information and questions to coordinate action.
Humility
Vision
Assertiveness
Awareness of one’s strengths and weaknesses, an openness to others, and a belief that all persons have worth.
Generates an inspiring, enterprise-wide picture of what could be; recognizes emerging trends, and engages all in strategy.
Speaks up, values constructive conflict, and raises issues directly without shutting others down.
The Double-Edged Sword of Confidence pact on others can be significant. • results in employees who are It can ironically cause people to and committed Confidence ismore one of thesatisfied 15 qualities of presence, defined as doubt you and be disinclined to (Kottke et al., 2013); and “the ability to engage, align, inspire, and move people to act.” follow you. A little self-doubt can leadership, it’s “being self-assured in decision making In mature • positively affects performance, help you slow down appropriately, and action; ready to accept the risk and responsibility for taking boosts the confidence of direct reaction.” The Bates ExPI measures how the leader “shows invite others to weigh in, betimely more ports, lifts the collective in the eyes of othersand through observable behavior. perdeliberate and thoughtful up” about formance of the organization as a decisions, and ultimately get betal.,to2008; PeterWhat we canwhole safely say(Hannah is that while et it’s nice feel a sense of ter outcomes. son etal., 2008).
The Power of Perception in Leading Others
It is important to understand the difference between our own feelings of confidence and others’ perceptions of how confident we are. Research has shown that perceived confidence in leaders • is fundamental to a leader’s credibility and to being taken seriously (Darling & Beebe, 2007)
confidence, many people don’t always feel it, and that’s okay, mature toabout engage, align, at least whenleaders you’re talking getting the right things done. and inspire others to go above and A high level of self-confidence doesn’t necessarily mean others beyond. evaluate us as leaders who are capable, ready, and high performing.
Leaders who demonstrate perconfidence are Ifceived you are highly confident, you maymore not see effecthe point of getting input from others. Why bother if you’re sure that you’re right? tive in increasing engagement and The negative impact on others can be significant. It can driving performance. You can learn ironically cause people to doubt you and be disinclined to lead this way whether or not to follow you always look in the mirror in the Magazine | 23 morning and feel fully LEAD360 confident That is, how you behave is the criti- you are going in exactly the right cal aspect of confidence that im- direction. pacts the performance of others. The right behaviors — from solicitHow Leaders Learn to ing opinions, giving others a voice, and rallying a group to make tough Look at Confidence calls together — have a powerfully Differently positive impact on teams and orgaLisa was pleasantly surprised by nizations. When you give people a her feedback on the Bates ExPI, voice, they tend to buy in, own the especially what she heard from sesolution, and hold themselves acnior leaders. Sure, some com countable. These behaviors enable
LEAD360 Magazine | page 23
mented in the open-ended section that they would appreciate it if she spoke up more in meetings. Still, the Confidence facet on the ExPI was her second highest-rated facet of the 15 facets. Her manager gave her an average rating of 4.83 out of 5. What did the manager see? On the item “Willing to take on the difficult issues without delay or avoidance” her average score from her manager, peers, and direct reports was 4.50, with her manager giving her a 5. When she saw her feedback, Lisa said, “I guess my lack of confidence and experience is in my head!” Ben rated himself lower than everyone else on every single one of the 15 facets. On the Confidence facet, his average self-score was 2.83. Yet, the average score from everyone else was 4.56 — almost a two-point difference. His selfrating in Confidence was tied for his lowest self-score, whereas others rated this facet in the top 5 of the 15. Confidence was obviously a “happy blind spot” for Ben. People commented that “his actions are something others should aspire to” and “he quickly grasps complex situations and delivers high-quality results.”
Ben’s boss saw him as capable and confident. His average score from others was 4.67, and his boss gave him a 5. On the item “Willing to take on the difficult issues without
LEAD360 Magazine | page 24
delay or avoidance” he gave himself a 2, and his average score from others was 4.56. Ben didn’t realize that others saw him as a confident leader who successfully challenged the status quo and got results. For Ben and Lisa, a great step in their development was at hand. Both of them felt better knowing how others view them — as extremely effective leaders who achieve real business results. Applying the results to the real world is a significant benefit of using a research-based assessment that looks at confidence and other qualities of executive presence as observed behaviors, not as gut feelings.
Coming to Grips with the Impostor Syndrome
Some people might assume that Ben and Lisa suffer from the Impostor Syndrome (also called the Impostor Phenomenon). First identified by Clance and Imes in 1978, the syndrome refers to successful people who cannot internalize or accept their accomplishments. They think they are frauds or fakes and their success is due to luck or something other than their abilities. Just as the research on the Impostor Syndrome would predict, interestingly, our experience also shows that getting positive feedback about their perceived confidence does not always have an immediately positive impact. People may reject positive feedback, or it may confirm for them, wrongly, that they are a fake. They believe they are successfully fooling others. So, what can change this? We do not lay claim to a solution to deepseated feelings of inadequacy, nor is that the subject here. What we
have found when our coaches provide feedback to leaders is that these leaders are often inclined to seriously reexamine the whole concept of confidence. If we can redefine confidence for these leaders, not simply as self-efficacy but also as how others see the way they behave, people like Lisa and Ben often do embrace a different view of their leadership capabilities. We are skeptical that advice such as “Fake it until you become it” works for everyone. There are many reasons why a person may or may not feel right for a job, prepared for a promotion, or right in making a call on a tough matter. The reasons we have doubts are often unconscious and therefore unknown to us. However, we believe perceived confidence can be improved in many or most leaders. This is true even if they get lower ratings in Confidence on the Bates ExPI assessment. What we have found is that leaders who change their behaviors can change perceptions. Often, small changes can make a big difference in how others perceive our confidence as well as the other 14 qualities of executive presence. For example, if someone receives relatively low scores on the Confidence item “Self-assured enough to invite and consider dissenting views,” the leader can, at their next meeting, break the team down into small groups and ask them to challenge assumptions the leader is making that could lead to problems in the future. There are many other ways a leader can signal confidence–– by thoughtfully communicating to others what the metrics are so people know how they will be held accountable, or by setting
priorities and timelines for making group decisions. Through these actions, we demonstrate confidence and it can have an impact on how we feel. As we notice others responding differently to us, it can increase our feelings of selfefficacy and continue to reinforce the behaviors.
Managing Overconfidence
As we touched on earlier, there’s a fine balance between confidence and overconfidence. A bit of healthy doubt guards against hasty, ill-considered decisions. Too much action bias, which is highly rewarded in business today, can mean we make a call too soon, leading to unintended consequences. On the other hand, the right kind of confidence can help leaders drive change and innovation.
• “Trusts his/her judgment and willing to take reasonable risks” • “Acts decisively when situations require action.” So what differentiates innovative from non-innovative leaders isn’t necessarily how quickly they work or how fast they make the call but whether they are accountable. These leaders are perceived as okay with taking reasonable risks and able to be decisive. They’re not decisive for the sake of being decisive but rather when situations require action.
When we reviewed our data on the difference between leaders perceived as innovative and those who aren’t, the innovative leaders seem generally more inclined to “slow down to speed up.” Interestingly, there was no difference in the way leaders perceived as innovative and those perceived as not innovative scored on two items related to taking quick action:
With so many organizations looking to leaders to innovate and drive change, we believe the right kind of confidence as defined by a science-based model is a better and more powerful way for managers and peers to evaluate leaders and for leaders to judge themselves. If each of us could embrace the idea that confidence is a cultivated quality of mature leadership, we might use a more accurate — and, in a way, forgiving — measure to evaluate how we are doing. These measurements might help us feel better when the stakes are high and we’re not sure what direction to go. They also, in turn, might make us more inclined to pat ourselves on the back when we demonstrate real, mature confidence.
• “Even under pressure is able to weigh options and act in a timely manner”
Summary: What the Confident Leader Is About
• “Willing to take on the difficult issues without delay or avoidance” However, these innovative leaders score higher than their less innovative counterparts for the following items: • “Accountable for results and consequences even when they are not positive”
In a nutshell, it seems then that the honest measure of confidence is whether a leader thoughtfully takes on challenges and is decisive in seeing them through. It is helpful and healthy to take into account how we are showing up to our peers, those who work for us, and our managers. This isn’t to say we may not want to develop a stronger sense of inner confi-
dence. But we can also accept that certainty and conviction are not always possible, or even necessary. If we can listen to others’ views, bring people together around a decision, act in a timely way, act responsibly, and answer for our decisions, these great accomplishments will be noted by all. In order to achieve success, it’s better to focus on changes we can make to be the best leaders we can be. If we work to bring a healthy balance of humility and mature confidence to our work, we will deliver good results for our organizations. Those accomplishments help us feel a genuine sense of satisfaction, gratification, and fulfillment. We know then we’re doing right by our selves and by others, and that is what helps us truly believe in ourselves.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Michael Seitchik is Director of Research and Assessment for Bates, where he provides leaders with actionable feedback on how to develop executive presence and drive business results. Michael has over 30 years helping senior executives through coaching and designing custom executive education workshops. Scott Weighart is Director of Learning and Development for Bates, where he creates innovative tools and content to assist the firm’s clients as they work toward mastering powerful communication and leadership skills. Learn more about our consulting, coaching, ExPI assessment, and leadership programs at www.bates-communications.com
Introduction
NLC ABSTRACT:
WHERE CAN
WE WIN? by EW Walton, PhD, Chuck Vivian, and Edward Brown, EdD
Overview
Purpose: In April of last year, a think tank of more than 30 senior leaders gathered for a forum at the Twelve Hotel Centennial Park in Atlanta, Georgia, with the purpose of creating a roadmap to increase success rates of Black senior leaders. Led by Chuck Vivian, Carly Vivian, and Dr. Shirley Davis, the team worked to identify key barriers to advancement that have resulted in a decrease in inclusion of Black leaders at both the e-suite and c-suite levels.
Too few Black leaders hold senior-level corporate positions. Reasons include lack of access to opportunities, lack of organizational support and professional development, lack of networking and mentorship, and politics and bias. Addressing these challenges requires strategies and actions focused on preparing greater numbers of Black middle managers to ascend to senior positions. Keys are identifying talent early on; readying talent by developing necessary skills, competencies, and networks; and exercising influence on placement of talent into solid opportunities. Other important elements include promoting diversity and inclusion on the agenda of corporate boards, presenting business cases showing the value of developing diverse leaders, and holding senior leaders accountable for developing a pipeline of diverse middle-management talent. Through the think tank session, ongoing leadership development activities, and the 2018 Lead360 Summit, the National Leadership Consortium (NLC) will provide tools, resources, and networks for developing talented Black middle and senior managers.
Respondents: The NLC invited a group of Black middle managers to participate in a research event to determine the obstacles to career success for their cultural group. The final selected group consisted of 38 corporate leaders of various titles. Of the respondents, 22% were chief executive officers of small firms, 35% were vice presidents, and 43% were directors. Methods: In the first phase of the research, respondents were asked the question “What is the greatest barrier to success for Black senior leadership?” After reviewing initial responses, the surveyor interviewed the participants to validate and gain more qualitative insight into their responses. Based on similarities, the responses were then categorized into four themes. In the next phase, four teams, each addressing one theme, will expand the survey and develop strategies that inform the NLC and similar organizations on how to elevate the trajectory of Black leaders across industries. Results: At the end of the initial phase, four areas were identified as key challenges: (1) organizational support and leadership development, (2) access to opportunities, (3) networking and mentorship, and (4) politics and bias. In the following sections, these challenges will be explored as areas of opportunity.
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Four Areas of Opportunity
Executive leadership development. At the senior levels, focus is placed on evaluation based on key performance indicators or business results. However, middle managers must first attain these senior positions to be evaluated primarily on performance. Many organizations provide access to executive leadership programs through high-caliber certificate programs (e.g., Harvard, Wharton, Georgetown), executive MBAs, or personalized executive coaching. Entry into these programs is typically reserved for the approximate 10% who are deemed “high potential.” Meanwhile, the remaining 90% are competing blindly against this marked development advantage.
Senior leaders of the think tank believe that creating broader access to these programs for diverse leaders can only aid both the senior leaders’ and organizations’ commercial and cultural success. To this end, the group will provide guidance as to what topics, competencies, and speakers are included in the NLC Senior Leadership Academy and Emerging Leader (ELP) programs.
Political bias, microaggression, and exclusion.
Greater access to opportunities.
To chronicle the instances of cultural bias or indifference would take this project off strategy. However, we did identify that most of the challenges are due to bias specifically to Black culture and do not fall simply under the umbrella of general diversity. This observation validates that our plight brings a different set of challenges than any other cultural group and, therefore, calls for a complex strategy to overcome. Again, the group of successful senior leaders will outline tactics they have found effective in managing to perform through the challenge.
The team recognized that senior-level opportunities are often filled well in advance of the posting. What was not clear is the winning combination of researching, networking, and performing that results in access to the golden circle. Specifically, few individuals are friends of those who are embarking on departmental expansion, organization restructuring, or even venture capital relationships. Second, senior leadership opportunities are presented at events different than the familiar career fair format. Organizations and highly successful leaders need to meet in a way that is conducive to the level and opportunity. But how can we make these connections more available to diverse senior leaders?
Sponsorship and networking. The think tank agreed that true career elevation begins with a strong network. That network chiefly exists within your current organization. However, creating an expansive network of senior leaders is critical to the longevity of your career. This necessity is especially true in times of industry uncertainty. The onus of networking with internal senior leaders and identifying potential sponsors remains with the individual leader. However, organizations that have greater success with increasing their diverse executive ledger tend to create multiple opportunities for connecting with the highest levels of management. Those organizations that are more difficult to navigate require a much more strategic approach. This group seeks to document those approaches that correlate with greater success.
Yes, it’s real. Almost all think tank participants this year experienced or witnessed the malignant impact of both conscious and unconscious bias—especially over the past few years.
Looking Ahead The National Leadership Consortium will hold the Lead360 Summit 2018 in April at the Twelve Hotel Atlantic Station in Atlanta, Georgia. The issues raised in this upcoming forum will form the basis for an ongoing dialog focused on growth and development and action plans. The summit will include TED Talk-like sessions, a focus on financial literacy, an emphasis on global management, and deep dives into strategic leadership subjects. We will also aim attention on development activities for emerging leaders through concurrent sessions. The NLC looks forward to continuing to lay a strong foundation for increasing numbers of Black business leaders at senior levels in conjunction with individuals, institutions, and organizations that recognize the value of increasing diversity, inclusion, and opportunity across all industries.
For external networking, the group felt that organizations such as the NLC, the National Association of Black Accountants, the National Black MBA Association, the Executive Leadership Council, and others can provide an excellent platform for making and strengthening connections. The NLC has asked the team for their perspective on how we can provide more effective opportunities for senior leaders to engage. Their responses will inform the NLC’s contemplation and execution of future networking programs.
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CINDY KENT: A Life
Authentic By Dana Johnson
Authentic. Visionary. Inspirational. Distilled to her very essence, these are three words coworkers use to describe Cindy Kent, President and General Manager of the Infection Prevention Division at 3M—just what one would expect from LEAD360 Magazine’s Executive of the Year. In selecting the recipient of this honor, LEAD360 conducts a comprehensive review that assesses candidates on five criteria: 1) a record of driving success in challenging markets; 2) courageous leadership; 3) outstanding commitment to bold sponsorship in creating other leaders; 4) willingness to be an accessible mentor; and 5) passion for community building as demonstrated through active service. Cindy Kent takes these five characteristics, designed to complement and further the mission of the National Leadership Consortium, to the highest tier simply by living a life of authenticity, integrity, and humility. “I’ve never compared myself to or competed against anyone else. My goals were always very personal, with the mission of being my personal best and living out my purpose,” says Kent. Her remarkable career path and ensuing business success is exceptional. Her practice of living out loud a principled, spiritual life is exemplary. Yet the most striking feature about her is that Cindy Kent is Cindy Kent, no matter the situation. In the boardroom, the office, the community, the same woman shows up to put her stamp on the project at hand and lead in the way only she can.
Cindy Kent
President & General Manager 3M Infection Prevention Division
LEAD360 Magazine’s Executive of the Year
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CINDY KENT: A Life
Authentic A Well-Built Foundation Kent’s life is a textbook example of welcoming opportunity when it knocks and creating opportunity when it doesn’t. From her beginnings, Cindy has excelled through various circumstances, emerging ever stronger and more determined to live a life of purpose. And although some would say good fortune may have a bit to do with it, it is more likely her Christian faith that nourished the mindset of possibility and abundance that set her on a trajectory for success. Born in Nashville to high schoolers Jessie W. Smith, an 18-year-old senior, and Larry E. Smith, a 17-yearold junior, Cindy was blessed with profoundly committed parents who insisted on providing her with a stable home and upbringing. “My foundation definitely started at home, with my parents,” Cindy says. The proximity of extended family created a nurturing village, with her paternal grandparents and seven of her father’s nine siblings living on one end of the street in their predominantly Black, bluecollar, working-class neighborhood, and Cindy and her parents living about ten houses down. Sent to Head Start at an early age and identified as gifted, Cindy benefited from a mother who focused on her daughter’s education, reading about and implementing experts’ suggestions for raising gifted
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children. “If articles said hot breakfasts were good for brain function, then I had hot breakfasts,” says Cindy. During the summers throughout middle school, Mrs. Smith fed Cindy’s blossoming intellect with educational programs. Cindy credits her father with her imagination and confidence, leadership traits that are still strengths today. After returning from service in the Air Force in Vietnam, Mr. Smith gifted Cindy with a newly heightened pro-Black stance. Instead of reading typical bedtime stories to her, he read Marcus Garvey and Richard Wright. They also went on outings to the airport, where they would choose a gate with a destination they liked, and he would ask Cindy to tell stories of the arriving and departing passengers. It not only fueled her creativity but also fostered her love of travel. Both her parents were integral to her development, attending ev-
ery parent–teacher conference, every award program. But more than educational development, they were instrumental in Cindy’s spiritual development. At the age of eleven, she gave her life to the Lord and was baptized. Cindy also began practicing her lifelong spiritual disciplines of prayer, Scripture reading, and fasting. Although Cindy and her mother took this life-changing step together, her father would join them at the new church a few months later, further strengthening their family bond.
“You are a brown girl who is good at math and science...” Cindy is quick to stress the crucial roles that others have played in her early life, from the African American second-grade teacher, Mrs. Bright, who recognized a bored and unchallenged child instead of a talkative troublemaker, to the highschool guidance counselor, Mrs.
Moorman, who encouraged and helped Cindy apply to a college preparatory school, six hundred miles away from home. Cindy’s parents’ eventual consent proved to be a pivotal event in her life. So, too, was the decision Cindy made during her junior year to pursue a degree in industrial engineering with some guidance from school counselor Ms. Solomon: “You are a brown girl who is good at math and science. You need to major in engineering.” Cindy applied to three schools— two for industrial engineering and the third for chemical engineering—and was accepted to all. Choosing Northwestern University for both its academic credentials and for providing the most substantial financial aid package, she began her journey there in a summer program for incoming African American students in engineering. Several of the twenty students that participated then remain close friends even today. In addition to the program activities that familiarized the students with professors and courses and helped the students build effective study habits, Cindy stayed involved with other organizations. She was an active member of the National Society of Black Engineers, which allowed her to attend regional conferences where she drew encouragement from interactions with other minority engineering students. A member of the school’s gospel choral group, the Northwestern Community Ensemble, Cindy served as an officer for three of the four years she participated. “Between these organizations, I always felt a tremendous amount of support—within as well as beyond academics.”
Cindy also worked in the office of the Dean of Students all four years, where Dean Carolyn Krulee’s oversight, described as “teetering between maternal and drill sergeant,” was in full force, offering support and a safe place to talk openly about any challenges. Between Krulee, faith, and family, and despite the grueling classes, Cindy graduated in four years with a fulltime job in her field. Looking back, Kent believes she made a solid choice in her area of study that serves her well in both business leadership and life. She feels that no other discipline could have prepared her any better for her career. “The greatest benefit of studying engineering is that it gave me a strong foundation for how to think—critical thinking, reasoning, and problem solving. Regardless of one’s ultimate career path, STEM fields prepare you to take big, complex problems and break them into smaller problems and, ultimately, solve them.”
Charting Her Course Having worked primarily in the corporate health care industry since graduating from college, Kent is brimming with expertise. She is currently President and General Manager for the 3M Infection Prevention Division—a $1.7 billion business committed to keeping patients safe from health care-associated infections and complications. Kent has global operational P&L responsibilities, including the development of strategic and annual operating plans. She also manages resource allocation across research
and development, clinical, manufacturing, and commercial functions. Kent relishes her work in health care and the ability to touch and improve lives. She believes strongly in the industry’s triple aim of improving access to care, attaining better treatment outcomes, and reducing the overall cost of care. “I absolutely love the work I do. I love being in health care. I love developing talent. I love innovating new ideas and business models. While it’s not always easy, it is well aligned with my interests and abilities.” Exploring interests and testing abilities are encouraged and supported at 3M, which Kent fully appreciates. She believes 3M is an outstanding company. “Their ability to drive innovation and growth is a direct result of the company having business leaders with scientific and technical backgrounds who can bridge the gap between customer needs and the technology to deliver really elegant solutions to the markets we serve.” Kent also credits the company with building a culture that supports innovation and encourages product development that directly impacts lives. Prior to joining 3M in 2013, Kent was Vice President and General Manager of the Gastro/Urology Therapies business unit at Medtronic, the world’s largest medical technology company. Under Kent’s leadership, the global franchise grew at a 21% 6-yearcompounded annual growth rate to become one of the fastest growing businesses at the company. Numbers like these reflect Kent’s
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drive for strong results and the high bar she sets for herself and the businesses and teams she leads. Several times in her career Kent has been assigned businesses with slow or declining growth and rose to the challenge, working with the teams to turn around the businesses and achieve sustainable growth. “I have been very fortunate to lead teams that accomplished unimaginable stretch goals to deliver values to the company.” One of Kent’s greatest and most recent successes came with the record-speed development and approval of a sterility assurance innovation for the instruments used in the operating room. Not only does the system allow for a rapid readout in 24 minutes, benefiting both providers and patients, its development was an exercise of various functions working together. “This was an amazing collaboration between engineers, folks in the research lab, technical services, regulatory affairs, manufacturing, and marketing—it really was a group effort and tapped multiple disciplines to bring it to market in record time. This reflects the team approach that drives 3M.” Kent’s first role out of college landed her at Eli Lilly and Company, where she stayed for fifteen years. After about twelve months, while still a new staff engineer, a senior leader initiated discussions on her broader career, encouraging her to explore other roles within the company. He suggested she experience as many roles as she could in the first five years of her career; only then would the company ask her to pick a functional home. “A few months later,” says Kent,
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“I found myself as a pharmaceutical sales representative, then [in] human resources, and that fifth year, doing a marketing role. I had a blast. What I had not anticipated was how well these experiences would prepare me for my future role as a general manager. I now have leadership and resource allocation responsibilities across several functions. Having worked in many of the functions has not only increased my empathy but also allows me to speak the same language as members of the various functional teams.”
“I truly believe that when you seek to walk in purpose, God will create a path and conspire with the universe to support you!” After settling into a marketing role with Lilly, Kent decided to leave in pursuit of educational goals. She had a dual degree in mind, one of which would be an MBA in Marketing. For the second graduate degree, she felt led to the Master of Divinity in Pastoral Care and Leadership. That dual program did not exist at Vanderbilt University, but the deans of both programs committed to helping her create it. A few months before she was to leave the company, she was called to the office of Pedro Grandilla, Lilly’s Chief Human Resource Officer. He informed Kent that the company intended to support her education leave—for both degrees—fulltime. She was elated that not only would Lilly reimburse her tuition and fees, but they would also allow her to retain her service tenure and
full medical benefits. Every detail of her impending adventure fell into place. “I truly believe that when you seek to walk in purpose, God will create a path and conspire with the universe to support you!”
Lifting as She Climbs Not surprisingly, Kent’s recognition of the people who have made all the difference in her career and education has led her to turn and do the same for others in whom she recognizes potential. She is a strong believer in developing talent. “In addition to integrity and leaders of character, I look for potential in people who are strong in their subject matter expertise but who maintain a level of humility and intellectual curiosity—always learning and wanting to be better and do better for the business. I look for collaborators who create space for the brilliance of others to shine without it taking anything away from them.” One such beneficiary was Kelly Wei, a PhD scientist at Medtronic. Wei considered herself purely a scientist, but Kent recognized that Wei’s curiosity, relationship-building skills, and credibility would likely transfer into business leadership. When a new and coveted role was created, Kent saw Wei in that role supporting her organization, a move that required a significant jump in job grade. Despite strong opposition from other leaders who believed Wei was too junior, Kent leveraged her organizational power.
“I fought hard for Kelly’s promotion into this role—which she eventually did get. Kelly was brilliant in the role, and I provided her both the support and air cover to soar. She crushed it, and within a few years was promoted into an even more senior leadership role.” A mutual respect is conveyed in Wei’s words: “Cindy is one of the most dynamic women leaders I know. Her vision is big; her passion is infectious. Cindy gives direct feedback, but she has a unique gift. No matter what the feedback is, you walk out of the meeting fired up and ready to be greater than what you have ever been.” Kent accepts this praise in stride. “I truly believe that we who have advanced professionally have a responsibility to create a path for others and to lift as we climb.” She takes great pleasure in focusing development efforts on those who are earlier in their careers, who are still “bright-eyed with wonder, ambitious with grand expectations.” Kent shows no shortage of gratitude for those who played important roles in her career and championed her contributions. “It seems only right that I pay it forward in similar ways.” In like fashion, Kent invests time and effort in the development of direct reports and those reporting to them. Kent hosts one-and twoday quarterly off-site development meetings for her top fifty leaders. She also puts on smaller, more intimate lunches limited to six to eight team members, providing time and space for them to share and for her to listen. “My mentor, James Dallas, once told me, ‘As you advance in an or-
ganization, people are more likely to talk about you than to you.’ I have found this to be a truism, and so I take extra effort to stay engaged and to understand the temperature at all levels of the organization.”
Leading the Way Kent has received wide recognition of her leadership both in career and community, nationally and internationally, garnering numerous honors and awards lauding her ability to provide vision, direction, and encouragement. It’s hardly surprising that Kent ascribes wholeheartedly to the Max Dupree philosophy of leadership: A leader’s role is to establish a compelling vision for the future and to say thank you. Kent’s strong vision and strategic and integrative approach to leadership has been honored by the business world time and time again: Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal’s “40 Under 40,” the Women’s Health Leadership TRUST of Minnesota’s “Top 35 Women Leaders in Health Care,” Twin Cities Business Magazine’s “2015 Wonder Women,” the Information al Technology Senior Management Forum’s “President’s Award,” and the Society of Women Engineers’ “Suzanne Jenniches Upward Mobility Award.” Most recently, in March of 2017, Kent was ranked by Black Enterprise Magazine as one of the “Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Business,” and in October of 2017, as one of the “Most Powerful Executives in Corporate America.” One particularly memorable mo-
ment happened when Kent’s father attended a 2013 awards ceremony and “Woman of Distinction” presentation by the Girl Scouts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and River Valley. Kent recalls that several people, including her boss, came by to meet her father. When a video highlighting Kent’s story and her contributions to the company and community was shown, he cried. She shares, “He just kept saying, ‘I had no idea. I kept trying to figure out why everyone was coming up to me asking what I thought about your success. I had no idea of the breadth of your impact.” Indeed, Kent’s talent to lead has moved her beyond success at work and in her immediate community to a place of growing significance in the world. As a 2007 German Marshall Fellow, Kent was selected from many emerging leaders from business, government, and civil sectors to participate in the transatlantic leadership development program that empowers through intense learning and networking. In 2013, Kent was awarded the Henry Crown Fellowship from the Aspen Institute. The aim of the fellowship is to develop the next generation of community-spirited leaders, providing them with the tools necessary to meet the challenges of business and civic leadership in the twenty-first century as participants engage in a journey of personal exploration. Kent follows the tenet that leadership and service intertwine, graciously lending her time and talents to further worthy missions. In the past, she has served on the boards of organizations in areas from health care to economic development. Currently, she holds
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a seat on the Board of Visitors for Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management. She is also a board trustee for the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, a nonprofit organization that drives gender equity and builds pathways to economic security for women and girls, particularly those marginalized. A member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Kent pledged in 2007 with the Minneapolis/St. Paul Alumnae Chapter, serving as chaplain of her local chapter as well as regionally. Although her business schedule no longer allows Kent to participate as regularly as she did in the beginning, she continues to be a financial member and to participate in key programs. “But our sisterhood bond is deep and is a lifelong commitment . . . . My line sisters and I are amazingly close and keep up with each other’s life milestones—the good and bad— as sisters would.” Kent is also a member of The Links Incorporated, the Executive Leadership Council, and The Committee of 200, all organizations that exist to strengthen, support, and inspire its members in leadership and service, all united in purpose to affect social and economic change for the greater community. Children and youth are often on the receiving end of Kent’s endeavors. More than a business leader at 3M, Kent is also an outreach leader as executive sponsor of a collaborative with a local integrated school district. The program, highly rated by students and staff alike, introduces students of color to careers in STEM fields and reaches thirty to forty students each year. Kent
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also enjoys giving back by engaging in career talks and recruiting for Northwestern and by giving keynote presentations followed by questions from the audience, her story translated into universal stories of failure as well as success. As a first-generation college graduate, Kent truly commits to the words of Luke 12:48, “To whom much is given, much is also required.” Kent and her husband, Kelton, currently provide tuition and financial support to two of Kent’s younger male cousins. And through their family’s Kent Legacy Fund, a philanthropic fund directed toward education, they have made a gift in science to Hume Fogg Academic High School, Kent’s alma mater and one of the nation’s leading public magnet schools. Their gift will be dedicated in the spring of 2018.
Taking Care of Self Still, Kent acknowledges that she does not and cannot accomplish these feats of leadership and service alone. First and foremost is her faith.
“...they can take off the superhero cape, let their guard down, and just be—without judgment...” Maneuvering through trying times both personally and professionally calls for prayer and guidance from people Kent trusts. “Depending on the nature of the challenge, those people could be family, mentors,
friends, church leaders, or professionals [such as] my executive coach. Of course, my husband is my biggest sounding board. And while my mother is now deceased, I still talk to my dad almost daily.” Her family is her foundation. “Everyone, even the most authentic leaders among us, needs a safe space where they can take off the superhero cape, let their guard down, and just be—without judgment and with total emotional safety. My husband and my birth family do that for me. I also appreciate that my family is so close, which speaks to the importance of staying connected.” Kent talks with her aunts and first cousins several times a week, sharing her joys and pains, wins and losses. Kent and her husband’s blended family of two adult children now live in different states, but they remain close. “Despite the distance, they always know we’re there when they need us.” Their daughter, Joffrey, who was five when Cindy and Kelton started dating, is now 22. Kent has savored the important life moments that being a bonus mom has afforded her. Their son, Jaron, is now 31. Through the years, both have observed Kent’s work and conduct and have sought her advice in their own careers. Kent and her husband’s blended family of two adult children now live in different states, but they remain close.
”
...I also appreciate that my family is so close, which speaks to the importance of staying connected.
Kent stays connected to others in person and through a strong social presence on Twitter and LinkedIn, usually leaning into all things leadership. Describing herself as “uber extroverted,” Kent finds that making time for friends and family recharges her batteries, so she tries to have dinner with friends each week and schedules regular date nights with her spouse. The energy spent maintaining these outward connections complements the energy spent doing inward work.To help her stay grounded, Kent believes in and applies the power of positive affirmations and intentions, focusing daily on five intentions that she uses like a mantra. Kent also follows guided meditations and podcasts, often listening to those topics that are relevant to the situations she is facing—overcoming fear, increasing mental clarity, applying the law of attraction, and more. “It might sound hokey to some, but it works for me.” Rounding out her spiritual practices, Kent prays daily and attends church services regularly.
She makes efforts to eat healthy, tries to make time for exercise, prioritizes good sleep, and never underestimates the benefits of alone time. When she can, she opts to block lunch time on her calendar for herself. “If I don’t have a lunch date, I will shut the door to my office, and even if I’m working, it’s a good time to decompress and re-center.” Recentering for another day in the authentic, visionary, inspirational life of Cindy Kent.
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Lifting up communities by investing in diverse-owned companies By Regina Heyward, head of Supplier Diversity, Wells Fargo “The rising tide lifts all ships.” As head of Supplier Diversity for Wells Fargo, I like to use that expression when talking about Supplier Diversity, or growing our relationships with certified diverse businesses. At Wells Fargo, we have focused on growing diverse businesses by offering executive training, providing access to capital, and partnering with external organizations to broaden opportunities that will benefit diverse-owned businesses, which are so vital to our country’s economy. My appreciation for community started from a young age. I grew up in Thomasville, Georgia — a small town in southern Georgia. I remember how the community worked together to lift each other up. We have the same outlook at Wells Fargo. We work across the business as “One Wells Fargo” to impact our community and diverse Regina Heyward, businesses. The supply chain Wells Fargo head of Supplier Diversity management group works with each line of business to define specific diverse supplier spend goals. We define diversity as a value expectation in all deals; we hold ourselves accountable for delivering supplier diversity impact at the highest level of the organization. And most importantly, we benchmark our performance against best in class corporations and we set aggressive goals for diverse supplier inclusion. Since I started my role as head of the Wells Fargo Supplier Diversity in 2014, we’ve grown our diverse supplier spend by over $446 million. Additionally, we’ve set a goal of spending 15% of our procurement dollars with certified diverse suppliers by 2020; but we know there is still a lot of work ahead. To help us reach that goal, we’re focused on two strategic areas: growing spend with certified diverse suppliers and working with business development organizations and the community to help build a strong network of diverse suppliers. It’s important to provide diverse businesses access to information, mentors, and advocates within corporate America, as well as entrepreneurial mindset development. We do that by investing in individuals and broader communities of business. wellsfargo.com © 2018 Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. All rights reserved. Member FDIC. IHA-5626001
One example of that work is Pacific Protection Service, Inc., which provides security services. We saw their potential and wanted to invest in their future. To help the company scale and grow, we paid for their President and CEO, Melvin Staples, to attend the weeklong Minority Business Executive Program at the University of Washington Foster School of Business. In addition to investing in Melvin’s executive education, we engaged a business consultant, The Daniele Group, to work directly with the Pacific Protection team in a one-on-one process improvement engagement that lasted 12 months. It is unique for an organization to directly invest in helping a diverse business improve its operations, but that’s what I know Wells Fargo to be; unique company that is serious about diverse businesses succeeding. Staples said, “The program gave me new tools when making financial, strategy, and leadership decisions and allowed me the opportunity to meet and confer with other minority business owners.” Another example: Working with local Minority Supplier Development Councils, Wells Fargo has also funded a “CEO Academy” in five states — California, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, and Texas. A yearlong program, the CEO Academy provides development, training, and mentorship for diverse suppliers demonstrating potential for growth and continued success. The first class of the CEO Academy graduated 90 small business owners this summer who can take what they’ve learned and focus on their next stage of growth. I also spend a lot of time working with Chambers of Commerce and nonprofit boards because there are so many opportunities that need to be tackled over the next few years in order to make sure that these small businesses can be sustainable. Together with these organizations, we can work on issues facing small businesses such as access to capital. I’m optimistic about our future — the company’s future, but also the broader community of small and diverse businesses. This is a journey — one we’re on together.
Deborah Elam is a rare find. A unicorn, some would say.
T
Deb Elam
CEO Corporate Playbook
his African American girl from New Orleans nearly reached the top of the pyramid of a Fortune 500 company. Today, the retired GE Foundation President and Chief Diversity Officer is CEO and president of Corporate Playbook™, a consulting firm that specializes in developing senior executives. Elam has often been likened to a unicorn by the people around her, particularly during the latter part of her career. She admires unicorns for their strength, their horn possessing extraordinary power. She herself has broken through glass ceilings and charged through walls of preconceived notions. Luckily for those who come upon the magical Elam, she’s happy to bring others along for the ride.
Deb Elam
Chapter Two By Dana Johnson
Corporate Playbook™, headquartered in Elam’s hometown of New Orleans, and bearing the emblem of a black unicorn, offers a host of services to pre-c-suite leaders, csuite leaders, and organizations. Drawing from a thirty-year career at GE, Elam helps usher leaders into a new day. She helps her clients frame, shape, and articulate what success means for them and what they conceive it will take to reach their summit. Additionally, she helps them delineate and refine their own role in that success.
tions. With the applicable experience, she landed the role and took it on in addition to being chief diversity officer, for which she had already been receiving accolades. Elam had recognized and believed she was uniquely qualified to lead in two roles, marrying the duties to maximize the results of both the company’s diversity initiatives and philanthropic endeavors. It is testimony that since Elam’s departure from GE, the jobs have been split back into separate roles.
As the first African American female corporate officer at GE and one of the top approximately 185 leaders in a corporation of 300,000, Elam looks back over a stunning career quilted in diverse industries—Financial Services, Insurance, Tech, Aviation—in diverse places—including Cincinnati, Washington, D.C., Raleigh, Atlanta, and Fairfield, CT. Her willingness to relocate between positions and sites allowed Elam to take on successively larger roles. Elam believes in being strategically proactive about her career. She advises others to actively lobby for positions, prepare for roles externally when necessary, and leverage their network. Most important, Elam says to have faith.
Following that thread of extensive expertise, Corporate Playbook™ helps companies form and develop strategies around philanthropic activities that align with and enhance business. Elam guides companies in identifying return on investment on diversity and charitable giving. She also offers resources for corporate crisis management and speaks at a myriad of events.
The wisdom Elam shares today as a consultant was first effectively applied in her own career. When the president of the GE Foundation announced his retirement, Elam’s interest in philanthropic management compelled her to vocalize her pursuit of the position. Because GE has only one such position, there was no opportunity within the company to learn about the duties involved. To gain an understanding of 501(c)3s, including grant making, Elam secured a seat on the board of a few nonprofit organiza-
Folks at the LEAD360 Summit will enjoy Elam’s presence this year as a featured senior leader. Fully tapped into the leadership vein, Elam will bring perspective to wherever leaders are in their career path. She observes that millennials are mobile, work to live instead of live to work, are risk takers, vote with their feet, and are open to cultures and to addressing issues of race. Elam emphasizes that younger leaders need to understand how the game works, win at the current rules, and then advance to where they them-
selves can change the rules. For baby boomers, she advises they focus on the decision of how many more rungs of their company they desire to climb, if any, then plan accordingly. Whatever the timeline, these more seasoned leaders should aim to “crescendo at the finale of Chapter One,” retiring on a high note with a strong sense of accomplishment. Elam also suggests that leaders discern Chapter Two, or envision what it is they really want to do—and turn that vision into action. According to Elam, merging leaders and senior leaders alike benefit when they adopt a framework that highlights three key areas: entrepreneurial skills, global experience, and technological understanding. Elam herself has used this framework throughout her career, although the content within may have changed through time. She feels she was especially talented at “seeing around corners,” an expression normally used to describe not only being current on technology but also anticipating how that technology will be applied in the future. In a broader sense of the term, Elam has seen around corners through her own journey, continuously looking forward to the next step—or two or three. The outcome is a singular decades-long career with GE and the realization of Elam’s Chapter Two, Corporate Playbook™, a place where leaders can find one-on-one executive coaching, companies can find strategic solutions, and event planners can find an exceptional speaker in Elam. There, you are also certain to encounter one magnificent unicorn.
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Spiwe L. Jefferson, JD, FLMI Attorney & General Counsel Blackwell Burke
What to Expect
from Your In-House
Lawyers By Spiwe L. Jefferson
You finally made it to the c-suite. There, you find peers and direct reports with subject matter expertise you know little about but should understand. You recognize that legal function is critical. Company issues that generate legal risk can have widespread negative ripple effects, posing regulatory, reputational, and financial risk. So what should you know about working with your company’s general counsel (GC) and legal team?
possess strong leadership and influencing skills, functioning as an integral part of the executive team; demonstrate a strong grasp of the company’s fundamental business drivers;
the role of legal function Every organization has its own unique corporate culture, politics, and cadence. Understanding yours is important in navigating the organization and its top players. Similarly, legal functions range in size and culture. A legal department can be as small as one, or it can span lawyers in multiple disciplines strategically located across the organization’s footprint. However organized, the legal function should serve two primary functions: 1) remove barriers and support the strategic objectives of the organization; and 2) mitigate certain internal and external risks.
Skills Your GC Should Bring Gone are the days when lawyers contemplated mysterious thoughts in a corner, emerging periodically with brilliant edicts the business followed because “legal said so.” Your GC should have relevant technical expertise but, at this level, leadership is the name of the game. Your GC should
be a visionary adept at managing complexity, engaging meaningfully in organizational strategy development; be a deeply knowledgeable problem solver able to generate solutions to solve business problems within the organization’s risk profile; and proficiently utilize metrics to report and monitor key legal initiatives, optimizing legal departmental staffing and external legal resources.
Don’t Wait Until There is a Problem Many stakeholders contact the legal department only when a problem arises. This is the best way to limit your options. This approach is also the surest way to encounter the “business prevention team” because the deeper a problem metastasizes the fewer the solutions there are beyond simply halting the digging. Engage your lawyers in planning a strategic project, mutually agreeing that they shouldn’t serve as the “no team” but should provide guidance to steer the project clear of potential risks.
Your GC Should Not Sit on the Board It’s important to have the GC on the governing board of directors to provide legal guidance, right? Wrong! The GC represents the company (not the CEO or any individual employee); therefore, the company is the GC’s client. The board of directors is the ultimate representative of the company, shareholders, and stakeholders. That is, the board is the GC’s ultimate client. The GC should not serve as both lawyer and client. It is a good idea to have a lawyer in service, but that lawyer should not be an employee of the company. In-house lawyers can serve on the boards of company subsidiaries or affiliates, but consider and mitigate any potential conflicts.
About the Author Spiwe L. Jefferson is general counsel of ChristLight Productions Ltd., LLC, Patron Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and board secretary and legal advisor to The BrandLab. She also serves as trial counsel for Blackwell Burke P.A., a minorityowned litigation boutique law firm, defending Fortune 500 corporations in products liability, class actions, multidistrict litigation, and commercial disputes nationwide. Spiwe is a past featured executive of the National Leadership Consortium, supportive of its vision and mission.
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The 2018 LEAD360 Summit will be headed up by the dynamic Dr. Shirley Davis. Davis is president and CEO of SDS Global Enterprises, Inc., a company built on the depth and breadth of her expertise: diversity and inclusion; performance management; twenty-first century leadership; career navigation; employee engagement strategies; recruitment, development, and retention strategies; personal reinvention; and more. In short, Davis’s trove of knowledge holds solutions for how to lead in a diverse, global, virtual, and connected world and would be invaluable to any leader, from any industry, at any level. This global workforce expert is also a masterful speaker. Davis currently serves on the board of the National Speakers Association and is a CertiShirley Davis fied Speaking Professional, a credential granted President and CEO by the same organization to only the top 12% of SDS Global Enterprises, Inc. speakers worldwide. An exceptional communiLEAD360 Summit Chair cator, Davis is an experienced facilitator of gatherings of all kinds—workshops, retreats, and seminars—and has been featured or quoted in many major media productions and publications, from NBC’s The Today Show to the Wall Street Journal. Davis was recently covered in Inclusion Magazine and is the author of The Seat: How to Get Invited to the Table When You’re Over-Performing but Undervalued.
THE World-Class Leaders Bakari Sellers, attorney, politician, and history-maker, will be the subject of a LEAD360 one-on-one about today’s climate. An authority on the political and cultural state of our country, we anticipate a sure-to-be compelling interview that will set the tone for and lead us into a town hall-style discussion. Sellers truly has his finger on the pulse of American politics, becoming the youngest African American elected official in the nation to represent South Carolina’s 90th district in the lower house of the state legislature from 2006 to 2014. Bakari Sellers Political Commentator CNN
Joining Davis and Sellers is an amazing lineup of executive talent—all willing and eager to share stories of their own experiences of walking through the world as Black leaders. They will help cast light on the shadows and bring messages of aspiration, inspiration, and celebration for two days of connection and community.
Tunji Akintokun, current Senior Vice President of Sales at NSC Global and eighteen-year leader in various roles at Cisco, is a natural and passionate leader. Akintokun is also founder and director of Aspire 2 Achieve, a platform created to inform and excite young people from diverse backgrounds about STEM fields. With roots straddling the UK, Africa, and America, Akintokun will bring his mastery of global leadership to the summit.
Bringing neuroscience to leadership, Tim Goodly is founder and president of the Goodly Consulting Group, a company that applies knowledge of emotional intelligence to enhancing leaders’ problem solving, decision making, and collaboration skills. Dr. Goodly attended West Point, served as a U.S. Army officer, and held several prominent assignments with Fortune 100 companies, including Turner Broadcasting System.
LEAD360 is honored to have Natasha Bowman, a consummate authority on workplace issues and actionable solutions. This professor and guru of human resources and organizational management is president and founder of Performance ReNEW, an NYC-based leadership development and talent management consulting firm, and author of You Can’t Do That at Work! 100 Legal Mistakes That Managers Make in the Workplace.
Marcus Johnson is the quintessential Renaissance man—jazz musician, producer, and entrepreneur. An independent Billboard-ranked musician and NAACP Image Award nominee, Johnson is also CEO and founder of FLO Brands, LLC, and more recently, FLO Wine, LLC. Backed by law and MBA degrees, Johnson has combined an eminently successful musical career with his love of wine, marrying the two in a unique endeavor.
Thomas W. Dortch, Jr., author, entrepreneur, and community activist, is president and CEO of TWD, Inc. Armed with a solid background in sociology, social work, and criminal justice administration, Dortch has worked tirelessly for decades to dismantle systemic barriers to Black empowerment. We look forward to his presence on the town-hall panel as six-time elected National Chairman of 100 Black Men of America, Inc.
Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeever is a career reinvention strategist and women’s empowerment expert. Jones-DeWeever is founder of the Exceptional Leadership Institute for Women, a personal and professional development firm that helps established and aspiring entrepreneurs and executives to experience accelerated success while building a holistic life they love. An advocate for the advancement of personal, professional, and social change, Jones-DeWeever makes regular appearances and contributions to a host of productions.
Deborah Elam has three decades of work experience from GE, where she climbed ever higher to become the company’s first woman corporate officer. Retired from dual positions of president of the GE Foundation and chief diversity officer, Elam brings to the summit her know-how of strategizing around diversity initiatives and charitable giving. Today, as president and CEO of Corporate Playbook™, Elam offers these services as well as game planning for pre-executive and executive leaders.
Africa, and South Africa.
Country President South Africa at AstraZeneca, Rodney Gillespie has held several senior roles in managed markets and sales leadership, which included national sales director for primary care, where he led an 1800-person sales force with outstanding results. Over the past few years, Gillespie has worked internationally in the UK, Sub Sahara
A practiced and proven leader, Darryl Matthews has served as executive director and chief operating officer of the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Medical Association, and the National Association of Black Accountants. A former general president of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Matthews currently serves as an outreach officer for the City of Atlanta’s Department of Procurement, whose mission includes the promotion of equity, fairness, and economic inclusion.
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Yolonda Johnson-Moton, director for external relations at Eli Lilly and Company, is devoted to transformational leadership, outstanding service, and health care education. An innovative thinker and dynamic speaker, the new head of operations of the National Leadership Consortium sets the table with the story of how she got involved with the organization. You will appreciate Johnson-Moton’s style as she presents a crystal-clear perspective on why taking control of your own leadership development program is essential for career longevity. Named to Ebony Magazine’s 2016 Power 100 list of the world’s most influential and inspiring African Americans, Bob Oliver serves the board of directors at Otsuka Canada Pharmaceutical, Inc., Hyalo Technologies, Neurotez, Inc., and V ClinBio. Oliver was formerly president and CEO of Otsuka Pharmaceuticals (US), where he helped create a successful commercial organization, especially in mental health. Initiated into Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. in 1967, Beverly Smith has made a lifetime commitment to the organization. She has held several leadership positions in the sorority, including national president and CEO for a 2017–2019 term. Smith is currently assistant commissioner and state director for Adult Education and GED Testing, a division of the Technical College System of Georgia. She is also a principal and co-owner of The HR Group, Inc., a management consulting firm. Kelci Trent is a marketing and branding strategist with over fifteen years of experience in marketing and sales in the pharmaceutical industry. During her career at Johnson & Johnson, she had the unique opportunity to launch three pharmaceutical blockbuster products that all became billion-dollar brands. Trent, Worldwide Director of Early Assets, Immuno-Oncology at Bristol-Myers Squibb, shares her story during LEAD360 Showtime. Jesse Tyson, directed a $10 billion business with clients in over 50 countries and 500 locations for Exxon Mobil. Mr. Tyson is an international business trailblazer, a global marketing and operations expert, and a highly recognized name in the multinational oil and gas industry.
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An ENGAGE™ strategist and CEO and cofounder of Cogency Group, Chuck Vivian consistently uses his executive leadership experience to maximize the impact of commercial leaders. His course design and facilitation are truly impeccable and extremely effective. Summit attendees will experience this for themselves when they participate in the Master Classes that address cutting-edge topics. Vivian will challenge us and take us higher. Tanya Spencer joined GE Security leading Marketing, Corporate Accounts, and Sales Operations teams in 2008, which were responsible for marketing, sales growth, sales operations, and sales force effectiveness. Tanya joined the Sub-Saharan Africa team in 2013, leading Marketing and Commercial Excellence where she was responsible for developing and implementing growth initiatives on new markets and distributing gas across the continent. Currently, she leads GE’s Global Sales Operations from right here in Atlanta. Andrá Ward is president and CEO of The Khafre Ward Corporation. As a seasoned facilitator and skilled consultant, Ward has conducted sessions for employees in organizations ranging from financial and educational institutions to health care and manufacturing corporations. The first African American alumnus to serve in an appointed term to the Northern Kentucky University Board of Regents, Ward also serves as an adjunct professor at Miami University in Oxford. Delivering the LEAD360 Summit keynote speech is Keith Wyche, change management executive and thought leader. A Walmart VP, Keith’s nononsense approach to business has brought him great success as an executive throughout his over thirty years in America’s best-known corporations. This renowned author of Good Is Not Enough, Corner Office Rules, and Swag Is Not Enough will inspire us to set our sight on the highest heights, confidently and competently armed with the unspoken rules to make it happen.
LEAD360’s intent is that, no matter where each of is individually in our professional and personal crusades, we energize and synergize each other, bringing stimulating ideas and actionable solutions to address the collective challenges that we all face. We gather with emphasis on peer-based learning, powerful collaboration, and meaningful community making.
So bring it in. Together, we can win anyway.
